Chronicle EditorEllina Mhlanga Sports Reporter—
AS the national Under-21 women’s hockey team leaves for the Junior World Cup in Santiago, Chile, today coach Trish Davies has challenged her charges to give their best.Zimbabwe booked their place at the global event slated for November 24 to December 4 when they came second in the qualifiers held in Namibia early this year.
Zimbabwe goes into the tournament as the underdogs drawn against the world’s number one Netherlands in Pool A.
United States and Korea are also in this pool.
Davies, a member of the Golden Girls hockey team that took part at the 1980 Olympic Games in Russia, said team work is all they need going into this tournament considering the mammoth task ahead of them.
“They have got to go there, represent the country, give a 100 percent effort and enjoy the game. When we went to Moscow (for the 1980 Olympic Games) we weren’t expected to do anything and we did because we played as a team.
“And that’s what I have been saying to them. Play as a team, work hard, give 100 percent effort on the field and anybody can win a game.
“I think they are ready to go. There is a lot against us, paying for the turf and we don’t get on the turf enough because we are scattered all over the place, people have exams and we don’t have enough time together.
“The Netherlands are obviously one of the top players in the world. They have been for a while. Korea, they are very fit, skilled, all the teams are skilled.
”But you can see their fitness I think they work two hours, three times a day we just don’t have that time to do that sort of stuff because the girls are at school or varsity. And it’s too costly,” Davies said.
The team has been working out at Arundel School for the past week and Davies is pleased with her side despite coming together for a short period as some of the players are based outside the country.
“I think the other sides are a lot more skilled than us but if we can work with our position, we keep our structure tight, we can keep the score down.
”You never know we mighty even win a game. I am hoping we will win a game.
“I am very impressed with what I have seen, that’s why we have been playing the boys to get the speed. I am very pleased with the team. They have been working really hard. We started off obviously with the girls that came all the way back from varsity. Some of them we hadn’t seen since June, so the first few days we had to get used to each other.
“We have been working mostly on attacking and defending and then of course we have to work on the short corners, defensive attacking….midfield play to force the players to always go down the sides,” said Davies.
The team’s fitness coach Jenna Palmer believes they have done all they can for the competition.
“I think we have done so much work this week. They are just ready to go and start playing. The build-up is there and now they just want to get started because we have been working so much on self-belief and the mental preparedness and the physical (aspect).
“It’s incredible, it puts Zimbabwe back on the map of hockey. It shows them that we are on a competitive level and yes situations may not be ideal in Zimbabwe but we are still able to produce this calibre of hockey players from our country and send them to places like the world cup,” said Palmer.
Pools
Pool A: Netherlands, USA, Korea, Zimbabwe.
Pool B: Argentina, France, Germany, Japan.
Pool C: Australia, Chile, England, South Africa.
Pool D: Belgium, China, New Zealand, Spain.
Online Reporter