Sports
Jelani Beckles
ALL the training done by the national women’s and men’s hockey teams may go down the drain as there has been no confirmation from the TT Hockey Board (TTHB) concerning flights to travel to Uruguay for the Pan American Cup.
The men’s and women’s tournament will be held simultaneously in Montevideo from July 24-August 3.
The Trinidad and Tobago men’s team is scheduled to play Chile on July 24 and the women are carded to face the same opponent on July 25.
A member of the TTHB, who spoke to Newsday on the condition of anonymity, said all funding requests to the Sport Company of TT were done in a timely manner and is now hoping for a positive outcome.
A member of the TT contingent hoping to travel to Uruguay, who also wished to remain anonymous, described the situation as “heartbreaking.”
He also confirmed the teams also have no uniforms. “Like it have no money for nothing right now.”
Another source who has experience playing for the national team said the players and coaches have repeatedly faced situations like this, wondering if they would be able to participate days before a tournament.
“The problem is that this not the first time. This seems to be the common thing, regardless if it is the government or the board with last-minute organisation or last-minute details, whoever is at fault because they did not send in documents in time…this has been the common theme over the past few years.
“It is the same thing over and over. Our teams are never fully prepared to go and play out there because we are always rushed into a tournament, to rush and play the first game and never settle in with practice matches or even a little warm-up on the field.”
The source said it is mental strain on the players.
“Out of the 18 players that going, six of them called me today, anxious and asking me if I could step in and help in some way. That whole mental anxiety is another aspect that affects the players when they want to compete in the tournament.”
The source, speaking about his past experiences, said, “It has happened to me multiple times before, when you are packed and you are waiting and you just not sure what is going to happen or if it is going to happen.”
The communication lines are a bit cloudy, said the source. “What does not help is between the board, players and staff there is always this huge lack of communication in the past few years…that is why they call me because they not getting enough information, all they saying is no word yet…not really anything definitive, if they going or not going.”
According to the source, it will be difficult for the men’s team to arrive in time to play their opening match.
In the past, TT have requested that matches get delayed to accommodate them, which has caused tension between the Calypso Stickmen and other teams.
“(In the past) the team reached the day the tournament started and they had to postpone our first game against Chile…Chile was not happy with the postponement, but still they allowed it and we ended up beating Chile for the first time ever and that made them even more angry…a lot of teams don’t really like us for those kinds of reasons.”
