For the first time ever, Junior Hockey Players in the U13 and U16 Boys divisions from the Queens Park Cricket Club in Trinidad, will be visiting Guyana to enjoy friendly competition against the local youths. It is the first time that the club has embarked in taking juniors overseas for competition to play in an indoor and outdoor hockey tournament.
The historic visit which is scheduled for January 25 and 26, is made possible by their sponsors C3 Centre, BMW Trinidad, Terra Caribbean, 10 Sixty One Consulting and Prosport Caribbean.
QPCC’s Junior Hockey Academy was founded by Rob Wyatt about 5 years ago, with Darren Cowie (Former National Captain) as the Head Coach of the programme. From very humble beginnings the QPCC Junior Academy has grown from strength to strength, winning a number of domestic national club titles in Indoor and Outdoor Hockey.
Rob Wyatt, founder and Head of the Academy Programme indicated that ”It is critical for the development of all our Junior players in the region to gain some exposure to overseas competition. It gives us an opportunity to assess how our players are developing and to learn from other programmes in the region, so that collectively hockey in the Caribbean region can continue to improve.”.
It is hoped that this is the start of more regular fixtures between Trinidad and Guyana, with the Guyanese Junior Players reciprocating a visit to Trinidad later in the year. Wyatt added, ”This is the first time that Junior Club Hockey Players in Trinidad have been supported by a number of corporate sponsors. This is a direction that we have to head in to enable us to better facilitate and fund our programmes. We are extremely proud to be representing our sound sponsors who are responsible for the success of our efforts and the development of our academy.
President of the Guyana Hockey Board expressed similarly the huge benefit to the local hockey-playing community that this visit brings. For the first time the junior boys of this age group will be exposed to foreign competition which builds relationships and character along with bringing great motivation and excitement to the young players of Guyana. Fernandes was very complimentary to coaches Robb Wyatt and Darren Cowie for initiating this tour and says that the clubs of Guyana are all committed to making the effort to have the young Guyanese players pay a return visit to Trinidad to continue the exposure.
