The Guyana Hockey Board (GHB) Junior Development programme has been given a boost with the donation of over 100 hockey sticks from Sports Company Dita-USA.
The donation was made recently to the Guyana Hockey Board and according to GHB President Philip Fernandes the 147 hockey sticks will be used in the newly embarked schools programme.
Fernandes said that the GHB was contacted by officials of the Pan American Hockey Federation (PAHF) informing them of Dita’s decision to contribute 1,000 junior hockey sticks to regional associations for their junior programmes and of which Dita was able to make 147 available to Guyana.
According to President of the GHB, Philip Fernandes, this donation from Dita has come at a most opportune time as the GHB has recently encouraged clubs to adopt schools and reintroduce hockey as part of their physical education program.
“It is the GHB’s intention to run off an inter-school’s championship once the program encompasses enough schools.”
According to Fernandes, three schools have already been engaged, being North Ruimveldt Multilateral, St. Joseph’s High school and Marian Academy while there are immediate plans to increase this to around 10 schools, the hockey official revealed.
Clubs will receive 20 of the donated sticks for each school that they engage.
While the programme will be buffered by equipment already belonging to clubs, Fernandes indicated that the Dita donation will greatly “increase our ability to reach a greater number of young people.”
Fernandes lamented the delay in having the game reintroduced into more schools but indicated that the lack of human resources and equipment remain the primary hindrances.
He added that while coaches are willing, they are finding it difficult to make time for training in the early afternoon when students are dismissed from classes, as they all have jobs.
Hockey is not among the fortunate sports to have a fulltime coach provided by the Ministry of Sport.
The arrival of the new equipment however creates greater incentive and hopefully the sacrifice can be made to ensure they are put to good use.
Fernandes expressed gratitude to Dita-USA for its timely intervention.
