JHF engages Argentinian hockey coach

President of the Jamaica Hockey Federation (JHF) Fabian Stewart says the federation will be working closely with Argentinian coach Pablo Mendoza during the off season as they look to increase youth development opportunities in the sport.

Mendoza is a world-renowned hockey journalist, who has also been coaching for over 15 years.

Stewart told The Sunday Gleaner that the JHF had made plans with Mendoza to work with the youth players during their Saturday development programme.

However, because of the constant threat of the COVID-19 pandemic and Mendoza’s inability to travel, players will be provided with the opportunity to interact with him virtually.

“We are just waiting to finalise the document and we want him to start reviewing some of the youngsters that are playing,” Stewart said.

“We are trying to put measures in place for sustained development, individual technical development and enhance information in terms of players’ knowledge base of the game (as well as) coaching sessions that can be done virtually and remotely,” Stewart added.

During these sessions, Mendoza will be tasked with instructing the coaches while teaching the young players the various elements of the game to keep some level of momentum during the off season.

“What he would do is have the youngsters set up their cameras and do drills that he would possibly recommend and that information would be sent to him through the coaches,” said Stewart. “We are trying to interface him with particularly the junior national players, so he can assist them in terms of technical development.”

Stewart added that the business of hockey will continue despite the challenges and that the JHF will create fresh ideas to keep the players and coaches engaged.

INNOVATIVE WAYS

“We’re not really stopping. We are trying to find innovative ways to allow groups or individuals to be able to be seen by international coaches to try to continue to develop the players,” he said.

While the players and coaches interact with Mendoza remotely, the JHF will be working with the Ministry of Sport to design a safe plan to resume training this year.

“As it is now, we can’t hold any competition and we are just now putting together our protocols and making changes to the hockey field in order to try and facilitate small training sessions,” he said.

“We have to ensure that while we are looking at the development of the athlete, we have to focus on the safety of all stakeholders involved with the sport.”

– Athena Clarke