AFTER a two-year hiatus from international competition, mostly due to the global pandemic, the Guyana national women’s indoor hockey team is scheduled to compete in the Indoor Pan Am Cup (IPAC) from June 25 to 27 in Pennsylvania, USA.

Guyana will face the host nation, USA, in their first match on Friday at 11:30hrs. The USA are the defending champions who represented the Americas in the last indoor World Cup in Berlin, Germany.
The USA are the top-ranked Pan American team at 12 in the world and will further benefit from competing on their home court where the team have been encamped.

Guyana are the lowest-ranked team in the competition at 31, with Argentina at 16, Canada 18 and Uruguay 22.
After their clash with USA, the Guyanese ladies then face Argentina at 18:00hrs the same day, before Canada and Uruguay the following day.

According to Fernandes, while he does not place a limit on the team’s potential, he considers toppling any of the four powerhouse nations to be considered a success.
The winner of this year’s IPAC secured the spot to represent the Americas in the next Indoor World Cup scheduled for Belgium in 2022.

With training being suspended for most of 2020, the ladies resumed training under strict COVID-19 social-distancing measures earlier this year and have been working hard to make up for lost time.
Of course, all countries participating would have experienced various levels of disruption and so Guyana will not be the only participant needing to prepare a team in a short time.

The ladies have been training at Cliff Anderson Sports Hall under the guidance of head coach Philip Fernandes.
Goalkeeper Alysa Xavier, Trisha Woodroffe, Marzana Fiedtkou, captain Gabriella Xavier and Aliyah Gordon are the only players returning from the team that contested the last IPAC held for the first time in Guyana in 2017.

Added to the team will be defensive-stopper Makeda Harding, the young Spartan trio of Abosaide Cadogan, Madison Fernandes and Sarah Klautky, experienced defender Ashley DeGroot and the baby of the team, Saints striker Clayza Bobb.

Despite this being the youngest squad ever to represent Guyana, Fernandes said the team is packed with talent and he’s very excited by the several teenagers in the line-up.
According to the Fernandes, “It was a challenge to get the young players to understand systems and team attack and defence concepts in such a short time as there is no substitute for experience,” Fernandes said “But these girls have the skills and hockey intelligence to be competitive.”

Guyana Indoor Hockey Team: Abosaide Cadogan, Alysa Xavier, Gabriella Xavier, Ashley DeGroot, Trisha Woodroffe, Sarah Klautky, Madison Fernandes, Aliyah Gordon, Clayza Bobb, Marzana Fiedtkou and Makeda Harding.

The team’s manager is Princessa Wilkie.