Category: Hockey

The opening day of the 2021 Indoor Pan American Cup could not have gone further from expectation for the Guyana women’s national hockey team. Guyana bravely took the court in their opening match against the pre-tournament favourites and hosts the USA without 25% of its players who were lost due to injury and positive covid-19 tests. So severe was this announcement that the team deliberated withdrawal from the tournament as an indoor team of only 12 players could ill afford to lose three of its best and most experienced.

The game against the USA was beyond the Guyanese from the very beginning when it was apparent that the superior passing and game experience of the USA made it a mismatch against the young Guyanese side. The USA would score through a penalty corner in the very first minute of the match past stand-in goalkeeper Princessa Wilkie, who unexpectedly had to don the goalkeeping gear to replace Guyana’s star goalkeeper Alysa Xavier who remained at the hotel in quarantine.

The USA steamrolled Guyana to an 11-0 halftime score and a 22-2 final score as Guyana managed few meaningful attacks, two of which were made successful through young striker Abosaide Cadogan. Eight of the USA goals came by way of penalty corners which was the most difficult aspect of the game for the new goalkeeper Wilkie to handle. Wilkie did however pull of a few good saves as she remained the best example of on-the-job training.

Guyana returned later in the evening for their second match of the day against the highly regarded and ranked, Argentina. This time the outcome was marginally better as Argentina pushed the Guyanese back into their own half of the field and used diagonal penetrating passes to strikers lurking near the goal. By now it was apparent that the absence of Xavier in goal was Guyana’s Achilles heel and the Argentines were keen to exploit it. Although Guyana did have a few counterattacking runs that threatened the Argentine goal, they could manage no better than a 14-0 loss, their second for the day in as many matches.

National coach of Guyana, Philip Fernandes, indicated that it was the most difficult conditions under which to compete for the team. “We were faced with losing our top goal-scoring striker, our most complete all-round player and our strongest contributor to the team’s success in goalkeeper Xavier in one fell swoop. These are three of our top five players and represent a quarter of our team. They are impossible to replace and we had a lot of discussion as a team on whether to take the court.” Said Fernandes. He indicated that the decision to play despite the insurmountable odds was made based on the vital learning experience it could play to the rest of the team, including the four teenagers who are playing in their first international tournament. “It would certainly have been a much nicer experience to finish with decent scores” said Fernandes “And, while I doubt we could have won against the USA and Argentina, even at full strength, we could have done significantly better.”

When asked about the key takeaways for Guyana on the first day, Fernandes indicated that eighteen-year-old striker, Abosaide Cadogan, was the biggest surprise of the tour so far. This is not just because she was Guyana’s lone striker to score, with two goals, but Abosaide looked threatening anytime she received the ball in the open floor due to her speed while in control of the ball. Princessa Wilkie got the nod for bravery as Fernandes indicated that the debutante goalkeeper was given an impossible task, but enthusiastically stepped up to the challenge and even made a few surprisingly good saves.

The full results of day one are as follows:

Canada vs Uruguay 1 – 1
Guyana vs USA 2 – 20
Argentina vs Uruguay 2 – 2
Canada vs USA 4 – 5
Guyana vs Argentina 0 – 14

Guyana will face Canada in their next match at 11:30AM on June 26th, followed by Uruguay later that same day at 4:00PM.

Despite the global carnage and shutdown of sports due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Guyana Hockey Board (GHB) has remained undeterred and proactive in their handling of the national teams and athletes.

The 592 Dugout had an exclusive interview with the GHB President, Philip Fernandes, who revealed how his administration has been handling the respective national teams and the plans for the resumption of the sport after Covid.

Fernandes pointed out; “This is indeed a difficult time, especially for team sports. On the good side for hockey, it is an open-air sport and so this is not as risky as playing in enclosed and confined spaces. During our sport however, players occasionally come into contact with each other and in certain areas, like the goal area, there are sometimes quite a few players in close proximity to each other”.

To that end, the GHB revealed; “As a result of these risks, and the recommendations of the WHO and the local authorities, we have suspended all training and activities in hockey. This will remain in place until the authorities permit such activities again and if it is determined at that time to be safe enough to resume”.

“Our national teams have remained in contact virtually and both the men and women have physical programs and skill challenges that they have been following during this time. Daily physical training exercises are circulated with each athlete performing them at his or her time on that given day in their own private space. Our aim is to try to ensure our athletes stay fit so that when national training resumes, the focus could be purely on tactical elements while the physical training would just be maintenance work”.

Quizzed about possible rule changes upon resumption of hockey in Guyana, Fernandes noted; “I do not expect there to be rule changes on the playing field as it is hoped that some measure of control will soon be achieved. This might be a vaccine or cure, which would remove the need for any rule changes. I do believe however that there will be changes prior to and after each game where the use of dressing rooms and washroom areas are concerned and also the use of drinking fountains or other sources of drinking water”.

With an eye on the future after the rescheduling of all Pan American Hockey Federation tournaments, Fernandes expressed optimism on fielding teams at those postponed tournaments; “The very next competition date on their calendar so far is the Junior Pan American Championships in Chile which was originally scheduled for November this year, and is now set for April 2021. Guyana is hoping to send its Under-21 boys team to this event. The PAHF Challenge which was originally scheduled for July in Peru has been postponed also but no new dates have been announced as yet. Guyana is hoping to send both a male and female senior team to this event”.
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has issued guidelines which are regularly updated as the days go by, however, according to Fernandes, the FIH also indicated that the local regulations should always supersede any external recommendations.

Some of the regulations laid out by the FIH include; “Players are not allowed to take the field more than 10 minutes in advance of training. All hands must be washed and temperatures checked. Players are not allowed to touch the hockey balls or training props with bare hands and also no high fives or other voluntary physical contact. Training is restricted to technical skills which each player can execute while maintaining distance from each other and no exercises where tackling or any physical engagement between two players are done”.

In concluding, the GHB head honcho stated; “These are the steps that we will follow whenever we determine it is safe enough to resume. I expect the national teams to resume at the earliest possible time and the clubs to follow suit shortly afterward”.