New national junior hockey coach Cher King will be using the forthcoming Under-21 Junior Women’s Pan American Championships to boost the sport among girls in Barbados.
For the first time since 2000, Barbados will be hosting the championships at the National Hockey Centre’s Wildey Astroturf and King said she was gradually seeing improvement by the girls in the preparation process.
“Our junior Pan American Championships preparation started off a little tricky because we only had roughly seven months to train. So I was asked in February to take over a team and the training really commenced in May,” King explained.
The competition, which is for both boys and girls, is set to run from April 10 to 18. Barbados will welcome teams from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Mexico, Canada, United States, Trinidad and Jamaica.
Since the competition’s inception in 1988, Argentina have won seven of the last nine championships, and they will be the team to watch. Canada, the current champions, will also have something to say in April.
Former national player and current assistant coach Dareece Greenidge said the Barbados squad was carrying some second generation players in Mariana and Megan Sealy, whose mother was former captain Maria Browne. (DG)
