They just have one synthetic hockey turf

NEW DELHI - It was the same old story for Trinidad and Tobago womens hockey team Thursday — but with a difference. They scored their first goal in three matches and, in their own humble way, made a statement.

The goal was credited to 26-year-old Charlene Williams, but she was far too disappointed with the teams third consecutive defeat to even think of her performance, much less celebrate a personal success.

It has been a long haul for the team from the sunny Caribbean to participate in the Commonwealth Games here, but well worth the journey despite the succession of defeats.

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 team coach Anthony Marcano.

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.

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.

Trinidad and Tobago otherwise has no hockey facility worth the name nor does the sport receives priority funding from the government that is focused on the more popular sports such as football, cricket and athletics.

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.

We didnt go to the World Cup qualifier in Chile this year because we didnt 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 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.

So, 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.