`Odds were stacked against us’
—GHB president Philip Fernandes says hockey team gained valuable experience despite defeats
Despite a winless run in the 2021 Indoor Pan Am Cup hockey tournament, the Guyana national female team gained valuable experience.
This is the view of Guyana Hockey Board President, Philip Fernandes, who reasoned that the Corna virus pandemic had them against the odds.
“This year was particularly challenging for Guyana at the indoor Pan Am Cup hockey, we had a young team and we were in the process of rebuilding with youth [and] some new talent. We’ve changed some of the older players from the last Pan Am Cup who had retired and no longer available for international competition and so we tried to see what we could do in preparing a team with some experience and some youth to contest our skills against the top nations of Pan Am,” he said.
Guyana lost their four matches convincingly. First, suffering a 2-20 defeat to United States of America followed by a 0-14 loss to Argentina. On day two, the results were similar with Canada winning 13-0 and Uruguay securing a 7-1 win.
Fernandes, who is also the head coach, said that three key players were ruled out for various reasons including the goalkeeper which made the task of advancing almost impossible.
“We were hit with very difficult circumstances, the loss of our top goal scorer and then the captain were big blows because that meant our offence was seriously compromised and our ability to score goals and really put pressure on the opposition
would really become a lot more difficult but the really and final and most devastating blow was the loss of our goalkeeper through a positive COVID-19 test.”
With these losses, Fernandes admitted that the team paid the price and was forced to have their manager take up the role of goalkeeper for the first time. While there were deliberations to withdraw completely from the tournament, it was accepted that the exposure and experience to be gained by the young side outweighed just leaving the competition.
“There were some deliberation on whether we should withdraw the team from the competition but we thought that the benefit to the young players in particular were greater than having spent the funds to come all this way that we should still in fact expose them so that in two years’ time, four years’ time we would have a team that have some international experience underneath their belt and understand what it takes to get to the next level,…so we took a change to step forward knowing fully well the odds were stacked against us,” he said.
The head coach related that the first match was tough and early goals changed the mindset of the team. It was even harder with one of the stronger players, Alysa Xavier missing.
Nevertheless, Fernandes saw an improved performance by the ladies as the tournament progressed, especially on the second day.
“Then when we faced Argentina there were some bit of improvement but again early goals would dictate the rest of the mood and the rest of play. On the second day the matches against Canada and Uruguay were much better for Team Guyana. The scores were still beyond us but it showed the girls were learning and had begun to believe in themselves again,” he noted.
Fernandes argued that there is a greater learning opportunity among the losses, particularly for the younger ladies who now had an understanding of what the level is like at international tournaments. This was particularly encouraging as he suggested that the quality among the international sides had advanced since the tournament was held in Guyana five years ago.
Among other improvements were in the communications department where the younger players adjusted well in the absence of senior players. Also, coming out of the tournament, the team is further motivated to reach the level that they came up against.