BY LESLEY FOINAGWA
THE Solomon Islands national hockey training squad aims to select provincial players as part of their preparation for finalizing a team to represent the country at the upcoming 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara.
Solomon Islands Oceania hockey sports development officer and national hockey player, Allen Temoa told RAW SPORT that the current members of the national hockey training squad are mainly Honiara-based players, however, their next primary objective is select players from the provinces.
Temoa said the current national hockey training squad consists of 32 players (16 males and 16 females) mainly selected from the 2021 organized hockey school league in Honiara.
He said that there are financial challenges faced by the Solomon Islands Hockey Federation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, especially to organize hockey leagues and competitions in the neighboring provinces outside of Honiara.
“The delivery of hockey development programs in the provinces is our main challenge due to lack of funds, however, we hope to achieve our plans later this year once funds are available and then hopefully we can organize hockey competitions to select players in the provinces,” the Solomon Islands Oceania hockey sports development officer said.
Meanwhile, the national hockey training squad is continuing with their initial preparation under the Solomon Islands Institute of Sports complex (SINIS) High-performance elite program east of Honiara.
Temoa said the hockey athletes have continued to focus on their weekly scheduled training programs as part of their initial preparations to finalize a national squad to represent the country at the next year’s 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara.
“The goals for the training are to establish the fitness, strength, and conditioning of players, including screening of all players so that they can select final the teams, and to work on technical and tactical skills, as they start early preparations ahead of next year’s 2023 Pacific Games set for 19 November to 2 December 2023 in Honiara,” he said.
He said they aim to win a gold medal for the country at the next year’s Games, however, practicing discipline is the key to achieving that dream or objective.
“Our main objective as a team is also to maintain and uphold a high sense of discipline among our hockey athletes, especially in every respective training secessions undertaken at the SINIS complex.
“We don’t entertain athletes who don’t comply with our strict code of discipline. Hockey athletes who are ill-disciplined are automatically terminated from the current national hockey training squad,” he warned.
