US-based Guyanese hockey player pays courtesy call on Minister Henry

Alysa Teresa Xavier, 24-year-old former student of Queen’s College, may appear like the ordinary modest girl, but she is the kind of child a father and country can be proud of; and not only because she graduated from that august educational institution with ten subjects at the CSEC.

Her love was always for hockey, but she was also an ace cricketer, and probably has the record for hitting the most sixes out of the Eve Leary ground in her Guyana school days.

Understandably, she hails from a family of sportsmen and women, of which Anthony Xavier, current administrator of Hockey, is a former National Volleyball player, while several of her siblings also have a love for hockey.

Originally one of eleven siblings from Subryanville, Georgetown, Xavier started playing hockey at age eleven (11), and started keeping goal at age thirteen (13).

Great promise

“Alysa showed great promise from an early age, exceeding the expectations of others; and rose through the ranks quickly to make the Guyana National Hockey team,” said Phillip Fernandes, her former coach and current president of the Guyana Hockey Board.

Fernandes said Xavier is still the youngest player — at age 14 — to have made the National team to date; and was, for several years, the number one goalkeeper of the Guyana National Team for sojourns in and out of Guyana.

In 2013 she was selected to be on the PANAMERICAN All-Stars team, a first for Guyana, and she remains the lone Guyanese to have thus far been selected.

She is now a US-based Field Hockey Goal Keeper who is holding her own, and is also a recent graduate of the Miami University, Ohio.

Through links established by the Guyana Hockey Board, she was offered a Hockey scholarship to the Miami University, Ohio in 2013. There has since been no looking back for this young woman. Academically, Xavier has excelled in Kinesiology, maintaining an above 3.0 grade average over the four years prior to her graduating in May with a Bachelor’s of Science degree.

She was no less brilliant on the field, and her efforts, along with those of other teammates, ensured that Miami University’s team won Mid-American Conference Championships in 2013 and 2015.

Some of Alysa’s accolades include:-

– MAC Champions 2013, 2015,

– MAC Goalkeeper of the Year 2015 & 2016,

– NCAA Statistical Champion (Goal save percentage) 2015.

– All- MAC 1st Team, 2015&2016.

– NHFCA Senior All-Star Team 2016.

– Three-time Defensive Player of the Week for 2015 and 2016.

– Scholar-Athlete Citation for maintaining at least a 3.0 scholastic average while participating in Field Hockey (2016).

– English 111 project “just writing- nothing more nothing less” was selected and published in the textbook College Composition at Miami University.

– Panam elite team- 2013.

– Runner-up Player of the Year (Guyana) 2013.

Inspiration

“This kind of inspiration is needed among our youth, and I commend this young woman for her outstanding exploits; (which) project a positive light on herself, the sport (of Hockey) and the country (in general),” Minister of Education, responsible for Youth, Culture and Sport, Nicolette Henry, said of Xavier on Thursday when she paid the minister a courtesy call.

Ultimately, Xavier aspires to be the best goalkeeper in the world, while being a Clinical Exercise Physiologist.

Her strides in Hockey have been many, as have been her exploits; and her “forever” coach, who is the President of the Guyana Hockey Board, says what she has done is a first for Guyana, and the GHB is aspiring to secure similar opportunities for other prospective hockey players who are as determined and committed as Xavier is. “She has made us proud,” Fernandes said.

Though not where she wants to be eventually, she believes that “anything is possible if you work hard for it”. She notes that while life may not be always smooth sailing, giving up should not be an option.

“For the first two years on campus, it was tough coping, but then it came easy afterwards …operating outside your comfort zone always leads to greatness, and that makes the difference between winners and quitters,” she revealed.

Alysa can be found on Facebook by simply looking for her name.