Domestic league the focus but
WELLINGTON: The Black Sticks hockey teams are preparing for the Tokyo Olympics to go ahead but admit they are not sure what they’re preparing for.
Already postponed from this year until next, the Games continued to be surrounded in doubt due to the ongoing impacts of the Covid19 pandemic.
With the start of the domestic Premier Hockey League looming next week, New Zealand men’s team striker Jacob Smith said their preparations did involve a certain level of uncertainty.
‘‘From what we hear from the International Olympic Committee, they’re confident that they’re going to be able to get the Games going.
‘‘What the format looks like we don’t know but that’s pretty much the extent of our knowledge.
‘‘As an athlete you just have to put that out your mind, expect that it’s going to happen and train as if you’re going to the Olympics in just over half a year.’’
Training is something both Kiwi teams had been doing a lot of in recent times.
With travel across borders heavily restricted around the world, neither New Zealand team had played internationally for more than eight months. No matches for the near future had been locked in, either.
European teams, however, restarted international Pro League matches in September.
While Smith admitted some of their rivals may go into the Olympics having played a lot more international matches, he said that wasn’t all bad news.
‘‘That gives us the advantage of being relatively unknown and we get to have a really great internal hockey programme here and then have that element of surprise factor as well.
‘‘I don’t think that’s actually the end of the world. It’s certainly a question and we would love to play those international games but we’re also dynamic in our thinking at the moment.’’