India\’s helping hand for Trinidad and Tobago hockey

NEW DELHI - Trinidad and Tobago womens hockey team scored their first goal in three matches at the Commonwealth Games here Thursday. With that they made a statement for hockey in their country that loves football, cricket and athletics and has only one synthetic turf.

And 14 of the team\’s 16 players crossed the Atlantic for the first time in their lives to play in the Delhi Games, thanks to the $100,000 and air tickets given by the Indian authorities.

\”We didn\’t go to the World Cup qualifier in Chile this year because we didn\’t have money, but we came to Delhi because of the $100,000 and air tickets we received from the Indian authorities,\” said the 38-year old team coach Anthony Marcano.

Marcano who represented his country at the 1998 Commonwealth Games where hockey was introduced.

The Indian funding also helped Trinidad and Tobago to compete in the Caribbean Games where they won the gold medal in July and it served as good preparations for the Delhi trip.

Fourteen of the 16 players crossed the Atlantic for the first time in their lives and we have just two (Nicole Aming and Stacey-Ann Siu-Butt) who took part in the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Malaysia. So, for the majority of the girls, it is a huge thing to be here in India, said Marcano.

He said \”Funding is a problem and as for facilities, hockey is played on grass or indoors on tiled floors. It is one of the highlighted sports in the government list, but the funding is insufficient for us to travel for international competitions.\”

The country has just one synthetic turf in Tacarigua, 45 minutes drive from the capital city of Port of Spain, and virtually every tournament in the country is played on this pitch.

\”Most of the players are from Port of Spain, so they travel to Tacarigua during the weekends. It is the same for others too as all our tournaments are played in Tacarigua,\” said Marcano, a former National level table tennis-player-turned hockey player and coach.

On participating in the Delhi Games he said The positives from this competition are that the girls have come to realise what it takes to compete at this level, in terms of discipline, attitude and skills. Hopefully, we will improve with more exposure, said Marcano who took over the team barely a month prior to the Delhi Games.

Whats next on the agenda for his team?

The girls are excited about visiting the Taj Mahal next week. We planned this when we decided to come to India and I can hardly wait, the coach said.