Under-21 men’s hockey team camp on cards

Ellina Mhlanga Senior Sports Reporter

UNDER-21 men’s hockey team coach Prince Mwale believes this weekend’s camp to build towards preparing for the next Junior Africa Cup (JAC) will go a long way in coming up with a formidable team in the future.

Mwale, who is organising the camp in conjunction with the Hockey Association of Zimbabwe, is going to lead the camp that will also see other coaches assisting with the practice sessions.  Depending on the numbers, the camp is expected to run from tomorrow up to Sunday at St John’s Astro Turf.   Mwale said they came up with the initiative after the Under-21 struggled at the previous Junior Africa Cup held in Egypt last year in March and would want to start planning for the next edition early.

“So we just want to start the year early and get our Under-21s prepared because I think the thing that we struggled with in Egypt, we weren’t as adequately prepared as we thought we were.

“So this camp is just basically open to all the players that are eligible to play for Under-21s. This one is not going to be a selection camp as per se…But we are getting in some of the top coaches in the country to come in.

“So we are going to run practice sessions and games, and we are going to sort of tell the kids exactly what is expected if you want to make the Under-21 side for this level. What skills they need to be working on, what sort of fitness they need to be working on. That’s basically what the whole camp is about.

“And then moving on from there, our next one, I think will be sort of moving more into a selection camp…I think the (next Junior Africa Cup) JAC is going to be either late 2024, or early 2025, so we are just trying to get ahead and plan accordingly. That’s the main concept,” said Mwale.

The Under-21 men’s coach believes the initiative will have a positive impact on how they prepare for major competitions and change their fortunes.

“I think it will massively impact how we prepare for our major tournaments, that’s without a doubt and I think that’s why we are putting it into place. We have realised that that’s one of our weak points.

“So we do have good sides but we are under-preparing them, so I think this will definitely impact our preparations and our results at Junior Africa Cups.”

Zimbabwe were represented in both the men and women’s categories at last year’s Junior Africa Cup, which also served as a qualifier for the Junior World Cup.

The women’s side qualified for the global tournament while the men’s side found the going tough.