PAHF Junior Challenge preparation: Teams to have experienced and inexperienced players – Head Coach Phillip Fernandes

The Guyana Girls U21 Hockey Team has intensified its training in preparation for the 2025 Pan American Hockey Federation’s (PAHF) Junior Challenge, which will take place in Bridgetown, Barbados from March 8, 2025.
Head coach Phillip Fernandes has said he is certain this squad would earn a spot at the Junior Pan American Games. The girls’ competition is set as one pool comprising hosts Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Mexico, Guatemala and Puerto Rico.

Guyana would be opposing Guatemala in the opening match of the competition, at 10:00hrs on the morning of March 6th. These two teams have never faced each other, but Guyana is ranked 36 in the world while Guatemala is unranked.
The Guyanese girls would face Mexico on the following morning. Despite their world ranking of 40, Mexico is expected to be Guyana’s toughest challenge.
After a rest day, Guyana would face Puerto Rico, then hosts Barbados, before rounding out the pool matches versus Trinidad & Tobago.

Barbados is the highest-seeded team in the competition with a world ranking of 33.
Guyana Times Sport caught up with Head Coach Phillip Fernandes at a training session, and he disclosed that despite losing six players, the corps that competed in the Pan American Games of 2023 is present, and the girls are generally excited about the outcomes of the group and the vast improvement made by new players.
Fernandes said, “Yeah, you know, I think that we had a pretty good squad the last time. And I think that this time we’ve lost about five or six players. But we still have a core base of players who competed in the last Pan Am/Junior Pan Am which was in 2023. I’m quite excited to see what this group can do. We have a few players coming in that were beginners the last time, and they have improved significantly. And I’m really excited to see some of them.
“Very athletic players; players that have picked up the skills very quickly, and I think that I feel very positive. I think that we have a hard month ahead of us to prepare to be at the quality we need to be, but I’m positive about it.”
The group comprises experienced and inexperienced players, and Fernandes disclosed that sessions would be facilitated to merge these players to make them tactically aware going into the tournament.
“Yes! Well, we’re trying to see if we could try to merge them as much as possible. The junior ones can learn from the seniors just by association, and we’re trying to see if we could do a lot of separate sessions apart from the physical sessions. Separate technical sessions, theoretical sessions, to try to make sure that everybody is tactically aware and on the same page going into the tournament,” he explained.
Fernandes has said a top–two finish is possible for the team, and has emhasised that patience is needed to work within the team.
“I think that we’re very confident. I think that the title is very difficult, but not impossible for us. Our target right now is to make the final, finish in the top two. So, I think that it’s doable for us to finish top two, and I would be a little bit disappointed if we don’t at least, you know, medal in this tournament.
“I think that patience in the game needs to work. These girls are young, they’re a bit impatient and they commit a bit too many unforced fouls. And so we need to train (for) that which usually comes with maturity. Train that into them, the patience and basically working as a team rather than a group of individuals. So, tactically, defending as a team, attacking as a team, these kinds of things is what we’re going to do with the fine-tuning,” Fernandes explained.
The teams continue to train at the GCC ground at Bourda during the week, and at the Providence Stadium on weekends. (Omar McKenzie)