GUYANA’S national men’s hockey squad, at present preparing for the Pan American Challenge in Chicklayo, Peru from October 3 to 11, 2015, has been reduced to 22 players ahead of final selection in the first week of September, when they will be reduced to 16. The squad have been in training since the beginning of April, with strength & agility sessions conducted thrice weekly by physical trainer Rudolph Blackman, in addition to field sessions, four times per week.
The players spent the first two months improving their individual techniques and one-on-one attacking and defensive skills, before moving on to small unit play and will spend the next three weeks focusing on positional play and situation, specific systems and tactics.
Goalkeepers Anthony Cole and Timothy Baker have been brought back into the squad to increase position competition with only one keeper expected to make the cut
Also vying for spots on the final sixteen will be England-based Marvin Dannett and Matthew Taylor both of whom were in Guyana recently to be assessed by the coaching staff as they also played matches with the local players.
Nine of the 22 players named were also part of Guyana’s national Under-21 squad that placed second at the Players Tournament in Trinidad and Tobago over the weekend.
Guyana are scheduled to play their preliminary matches against Uruguay on October 3 and against Venezuela on October 4, with countries like Barbados, Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, Peru and Puerto Rico also in the tournament.
The top two teams in the competition will qualify for the Pan American Cup scheduled for 2017 in the USA.
This will be the first time Guyana’s National Men’s team will be competing in an international outdoor tournament since 2007, when they won silver and bronze medals at the ALBA Games and the Caribbean Cup respectively.
The squad is as follows: Field Players – Orland Semple, Stuart Gonsalves, Andrew Xavier, Mark Sargeant, Kareem McKenzie, Daniel Hooper, Shane Samuels, Robert France, Devin Munroe, Randy Hope, Colonel Heywood, Rayon Branford, Jamarj Assanah, Aroydy Branford, Andrew Stewart, Leon Bacchus, Hilton Chester and Ato Greene. Goalkeepers – Medroy Scotland, Jason Hoyte, Anthony Cole and Timothy Baker.