Hikers Club junior hockey summer camp closes on a high

The Hikers Hockey Club successfully hosted a two week long summer camp for children at the St. Stanislaus College and concluded on a high note on Saturday.

Some of the youngsters locked in a close battle during the closing off of the summer camp
Some of the youngsters locked in a close battle during the closing off of the summer camp

The Programme offered training to juniors who had a passion for the sport and saw in excess of 40 participants, eager to learn about the game and get into action.

The summer camp was supervised by Robert Fernandes, who is the Junior Development Coordinator for the Hikers Hockey Club.

Fernandes expressed his satisfaction in seeing the largest turn out in the seventh edition of the camp, being particularly impressed by the age at which these children showed an interest in the sport.

“We have over 40 children, 30 of which are playing hockey for the first time; these players aged 3 to 14 and we divided the groups into two categories”, Ferandes said.

The programme ran from Monday to Friday with the first session beginning at 09:00h for the beginners, lasting for two hours while the intermediate batch was trained from 11:00h to 14:00h.

Fernandes went on to thank the Pepsi brand for sponsoring this summer camp, noting that sponsorship has caused its share of difficulties in the past as the tournament was unable to run annually because of sponsorship. The coach also praised the management of St. Stanislaus College for facilitating this program and throwing their support behind this initiative.

The supervisor added that the camp was about developing young players who shared a passion for the sport even though most of the players would go across to other teams. He looked at this as a positive, highlighting that the more developed teams become, the better it is for the development of the sport, as it will bring better competition.

This year, a special twist was introduced where the younger players of the game, who’ve had experience, were given the opportunity to coach the new comers.

Fernandes, again, was impressed at the responsibility and maturity shown by these young coaches pointing out they have done an excellent job.

Guyana Times Sport sat down with one of these coaches, 16-year-old Hikers player, Annalisa Singh who coached the most successful junior team, the golden warriors.

Singh said that the experience was one she would never forget and noted what a pleasure it was to be working with such enthusiastic youngsters.

“I really enjoyed my stint as a coach and learned a lot from this camp. I think it is important for the sport to develop through these children and I am proud to be a part of something this great.” Singh said.

The talented teenager went on to say that this camp also helped her to develop her personal game and is positive that it did the same for all the coaches involved in this year’s camp.

“I learned a lot from this venture, I am happy to say that my knowledge of the rules and drills of the game has expanded and I have learnt to view the game from a different perspective as well as improve on my techniques. All of these components I will be looking to add to my game.” Singh added.