Lack of international training facilities a disadvantage for players – Phillip Fernandes

The Guyana Women’s Hockey Team concluded an excellent campaign on Saturday last when they defeated host nation Bermuda to finish third in the 2024 Pan Am Hockey Federation (PAHF) Challenge, which was contested in Hamilton.
National Coach Phillip Fernandes has deemed the team’s performance a good showing of talent.
Guyana’s campaign for the bronze medal was nothing short of remarkable; they won against Brazil and Bermuda in the third-place match, and Alysa Xavier has taken home the Best Goalkeeper’s Award. They lost only once in four games, and that was against Mexico. They also secured a one-all draw with Bermuda and a scoreless draw against Paraguay.
Speaking exclusively with Guyana Times Sport, National Hockey Coach Phillip Fernandes, detailing the great performances displayed despite the challenges faced,
said, “So the Guyana Women just completed a successful tour of Bermuda, where they won the bronze medal in the Pan Am Challenge. These kinds of things are satisfying, especially to know that we have faced much bigger challenges than all the other teams that we met over there in competition.

“With Guyana having difficulties: some days we had flooded fields where we couldn’t train, or we had to sweep water off to train. You know, some days we had blackouts, and then of course we do not have an artificial surface on which to train, to practise. And we’re playing against all teams who do.
“So, to go in there, to punch above our weight and to come away with the bronze medal, having only lost one single match, which was to the eventual winners, Mexico, for me (it) gives me great satisfaction.
“And I think that the girls have really overachieved; and it was a fantastic performance and a very good outing for them.”
Fernandes has reiterated the disadvantages the team has faced with the lack of training facilities for members to improve their performances ahead of international tournaments.
“The big challenge that the team has now with future tournaments is that everyone (every other team) gets to go back to their training facilities. They get to practise on the exact surface that competition is done on, the full field, and to improve and to revise what they have been doing. And Guyana unfortunately comes back to the grass fields and this very small piece of carpet that we use, which is way smaller than an actual pitch.
“And so we still have much greater challenges to improve the team incrementally. To improve the team by a large margin, we actually would need the kind of facilities that we don’t have so we will do our best. We will take the team as far as determination, commitment, passion; these things can take them, but there always will be that limitation. And so we’re kind of in a desperate situation, where we need to find a way to have a proper facility for the sport to be played.
“Because other teams are having the opportunity to compete against us and then revise, retrain, and then test themselves against us again and again and again; and there’s only so much we can do,” Fernandes has said.
The bronze–medal Guyana team read: Goalkeeper – Alysa Xavier; defenders – Kezia Chinian, Kirsten Gomes, Makeda Harding, Tekeisha Deleon, Trisha Woodroffe; midfielders – Clayza Bobb, Gabriella Xavier, Madison Fernandes, Sarah Klautky; strikers – Abosaide Cadogan, Carolyn Deane, Chantelle Fernandes, Makayla Poole, Princessa Wilkie and Samantha Fernandes. (Omar McKenzie)