THE Trinidad and Tobago Under-21 Boys and Girls Hockey Teams got some much needed practice ahead of the Junior Pan American Games in Guadalajara Mexico, September 13-23.

This tournament will be used as a qualifier for the Junior World Cup which will take place next year in Holland.

The TT teams were expected to compete in a regional tournament in a move to get needed practice over the Easter vacation but the tournament did not come off. General secretary at the Trinidad and Tobago Hockey Board (TTHB), Arnette Knott, explained that all the invited teams pulled out at the very last moment.

“What we decided to do was to allow the Under-21s to play against their seniors in a series of warm-up matches. We broke the men and women’s teams up into two groups and played against the senior men and women’s teams,” Knott said.

Knott assured that her board will continue their attempts to put on the regional tournament later this year and will also try to arrange tournaments in Canada or Cuba for both the under-21 male and female teams in August.

She explained that the aim is to give the local under-21s the opportunity to get international exposure before the qualifiers.

“This international outing will depend on whether we can get the funding from government to send the teams off,” she said.

The men’s team will comprise four players who represented the TT seniors in the past such as Aidan De Gannes, Shaquille Daniel, Tristan Grant and Andrew Viera while the women have been strengthened by Britaney Hing, Tamara De Noreiga and Stephanie Whiteman who also earned international experience with their senior counterparts.

Meanwhile the hockey board also held its development tournament over the Easter vacation with three categories being contested- the Under-13, U-15 and U-21s. In the Under-13s tournament Arima Centenary won among the girls with Malvern and Sangre Grande SDA securing second and third respectively.

South East Port-of-Spain were the winners among the boys while Malvern claimed the runner-up spot and Guaico in third. In the Mixed division- Futuristik Tigers walked away with the winning trophy while Futuristik Bears and Atwells were second and third respectively.

Malvern rebounded in the Under-15s by winning both the boys and girls categories. Futuristik secured the runner-up position among the U-15 girls and HNC Paradise were third. In the boys equivalent, HNC Paradise and Fatima took the other two positions- second and third respectively.

-Walter Alibey

Source: www.newsday.co.tt