–says GHB President Phillip Fernandes

PRESIDENT of the Guyana Hockey Board (GHB) Philip Fernandes says that besides an artificial grass surface if Guyana is to compete with the bigger countries, Hockey in Guyana also needs a home.

“This year was a real struggle for hockey, as the weather was bad during the first half of the year, while the Sports Hall was out of commission for the entire year,” Fernandes said, adding, “although there was an extended sunny period in the second half of the year, cricket naturally used its priority status to compensate for lost days, since hockey is played on cricket grounds in Guyana.”

Speaking exclusively with Chronicle Sport, Fernandes said: “The biggest challenges this year are the same that we will have next year, and those we [have] had for several years, and not having a home for hockey that includes an artificial grass surface on which the international games are played. This hinders us in many ways.

“The weather conditions on our grass fields, governed by cricket, disrupts training, including junior training, where consistency is so important. Without an artificial grass field, our exposure to international competition is severely curtailed; teams cannot visit us for practice matches. We are reduced to only being able to expose our players to high-level competition whenever sufficient funds are raised to travel overseas. International competition is critical for the development of high-performance athletes.”

Speaking to the impact various surfaces can have on the game, he said: “Training on grass or any other surface is quite different from artificial grass, and so one can never replicate the game conditions training here at home.”

According to Fernandes, regionally, Guyana is not in a position to seriously challenge the teams who each have thousands of players and multiple artificial grass facilities on which to train.
He however feels that the team is competitive and can even challenge for a top spot in the Caribbean, based on their performances.

This he drew from one of Guyana’s three international engagements in 2023.
“CAC games for men was held in the Dominican Republic and Guyana finished seventh out of eight teams. Guyana’s results were somewhat disappointing in this tournament but further highlighted the difficulty of being the only team in the tournament without an artificial grass surface,” he said.

This has been the single biggest hurdle in keeping our players competitive at the international level,” Fernandes sadly said, adding:

HOME FOR HOCKEY VITAL
“I would like to see a home for hockey become a reality; that way, our athletes can have no barriers that are beyond their control to improve themselves, and be the best they can be. The growth of the game would be significant it this were to happen.

“We have had several encouraging conversations with the Minister of Sport, but, so far, no definite plans have materialised. We are still engaging the government, and are cautiously optimistic.”
As to the synergy between the GHB and the National Sports Commission, Fernandes said: “The Hockey Board has always had a good relationship with the NSC; they have been supportive in making available whatever resources they have to support our game. These are mostly in the form of use of facilities, transportation for travelling teams, as well as financial support for international competition.

“For the very first time, we see sponsorship as a positive area. With the new oil & and gas activities, there seems to be heightened interest for companies to engage in CSR activities, and to contribute to the development of the young people of Guyana. While there is still work to be done to secure funding, there seems to be a few more doors now available on which we can knock.”

LOCAL TOURNAMENT SUCCESSES
The Bounty/Antonio’s Grill one-day tournament for men and women, the Oceaneering under-14 league, the Farfan & Mendes men’s first division league, the Woodpecker Trophies & Sports women’s league, the Hikers Mixed 7-a-side Hockey Festival and the Diamond Mineral Water Indoor Hockey Festival were the six tournaments held during the year.

These tournaments, he noted, achieved their desired success while stating that the latter is the only one to include international teams.

INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENTS
Guyana participated in three international tournaments this year.

According to Fernandes, the first of those was the Junior Pan Am Championships for boys U-21 in Barbados where the boys found it difficult to overcome the top Pan Am nations but produced good results against the second tier which comprised of teams having numbers closer to Guyana’s.

This team’s fifth place finish was Guyana’s best ever and was considered a good success.

The Junior Pan Am Championships for girls U-21 was held simultaneously with the boys and while the girls struggled to be competitive with the top nations, they secured an easy victory over the lone other Caribbean team, Barbados.

“I think the performance of our junior teams was very encouraging. Unfortunately, a lot of the smaller nations, which would have still had better resources than we do, withdrew from the tournament, leaving most of our duels to be against the big 5; Argentina, USA, Canada, Chile and Uruguay.

We believe that if the less prominent South American teams, the Caribbean teams and the Central American teams had attended, we would have won significantly more” opined Fernandes.

The third was the Pan American games.

More local clubs being sought
Guyana has four active clubs each fielding men’s and women’s teams. Two additional clubs are not currently active but efforts are being made for their revival, Fernandes said.

Unfortunately, while there still are hockey players outside of Georgetown, there aren’t any hockey teams at the moment.

“Hockey once boasted strong teams from Linden, Uitvlugt and New Amsterdam. The high cost of transportation to play matches in the city where most teams exist proves difficult to sustain. We are currently trying to find a solution for this as we intend to revive these hockey communities,” Fernanades continued.

“Despite the major setbacks of not having facilities to train regularly and not having any facility that has the surface required for international competition, Guyana has remained remarkably competitive in the region.

Club teams traveling out of Guyana to Trinidad and Barbados often enjoy success which demonstrates that the quality is there.

In August of this year three Guyanese [club] teams participated in the Barbados hockey festival and the GCC men’s team won the open men’s division” Fernandes explained.

Standout individual performances
According to Fernandes, “On the men’s side, Jaramrj Assanah probably remains the standout player but Andrew Stewart and Kareem McKenzie are also right up there with him. Among the junior ranks, we have exciting emerging players like midfielders Shakeem Faucette and Shaquan Favorite along with striker Warren Williams.”

“On the female side, the experience of Marzana Fiedtkou and the Xavier siblings (Gabriella and Alysa) still shines through but there is a batch of girls who carry the load of the junior national team and can match any in the Caribbean. Among these are strikers Abosaide Cadogan and Clayza Bobb, midfielders Sarah Kalutky and Madison Fernandes and defenders Makeda Harding and Kirsten Gomes,” he added.

Funding still plaguing the sport
“Funding for overseas trips has been a big struggle for many years. Hockey does not enjoy the status of some other disciplines which are considered more popular. As a result, funding is always in short supply.

To compete over the years, our teams would have to supplement any government or Olympic Association support with fund-raising activities which the athletes pull off themselves. This can be disruptive to training but remains part of the landscape for teams travelling out of Guyana” Fernandes said.

Schoo’s Hockey not where GHB would like
While the board has enjoyed success in some areas, it has fallen just short in others explained the GHB Boss.

“There is hockey in schools, although not at the level that we would like. This is an area in which we can improve. We have our gold standard in St Stanislaus College, which has now produced so many players among its alumni that they formed their own club.

Hockey is also played at Richard Ishmael, North Ruimveldt Multilateral, St Joseph’s High School, Marian Academy, Queens College and Cummings Lodge Secondary to name a few” Fernandes concluded.