THE NATIONAL men and women hockey teams will leave for Scotland on Tuesday to compete at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
The women’s squad, co-captained by Alanna Lewis and Patricia Wright-Alexis, comprises a host of youth players with seniors Lewis and Wright-Alexis, long serving custodian Petal Derry, Candice Ashton, Kwylan Jaggessar and Brittney Hingh among the few with more than 25 caps under their belt. But make no mistake, where this team falls short in experience they make up for it with speed and energy.
TT, ranked 31st in the world, are grouped in Pool A with New Zealand (fourth), South Africa (11th), India (13th) and Canada (22nd), while Pool B consists of defending champions Australia (second), England (sixth), Scotland (16th), Malaysia (21st) and Wales (32nd).
The men’s squad, coming off of an historic bronze medal at the 2013 Pan American Cup will be led once again by skipper Darren Cowie.
Six players from the bronze medal earning team will not be making the trip due to various reasons including vice-captain Dwain Quan Chan, Kwasi Emmanuel, Kiel Murray, Christopher Scipio, Cogie Butler and Wayne Legerton.
Despite these absences coach Glenn Francis can still call on the experience of Trinidad and Tobago’s most capped player, Kwandwane Browne and 2013 Player of the Year Mickell Pierre.
TT, ranked 29th in the world, are grouped in Pool B with England (fifth), New Zealand (sixth), Malaysia (13th) and Canada (16th) while Pool A consists of defending champions Australia (first), India (ninth), South Africa (12th), Scotland (25th) and Wales (31st).
Both the men and women teams are expected to play a number of warm-up matches prior to the tournament’s start date on July 24.