Female hockey team for UK tour

The desire to be prolific in goal scoring during tournaments has inspired the female national hockey team, Black Sticks, to embark on a two-week tour to the United Kingdom of Friday.

The team will fly to the United Kingdom with the sole aim of learning the techniques in goal scoring, which has been identified as the bane of the forward match of the team during international competitions.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic on the trip, the Head Coach of the female national hockey team, Mr Emmanuel Ahadjie, said the training tour would pit the team against high profile teams in the United Kingdom.

“We will play five matches in all in the hope of learning the techniques in goal-scoring to improve our game. This will enable us to perform creditably in an African tournament scheduled for Egypt and the Olympic Games qualifiers,” he explained.

“The tour is scheduled for August 15 to 29, and so far we have prepared so well for the tour, which will pit us against four male sides, including the UK army team and two female university sides.”

He said in their preparation for the tour, the team played two matches against the national U-21 hockey team and lost, but noted that the Black Sticks showed improvement in each game to show that they were prepared for the tour.

“We hope to learn a lot from the English teams and hope to perfect in goal-scoring during the Olympic qualifiers. Goal scoring is a serious challenge because we are not able to convert many penalty corners, hence the desire to improve on the technicalities in goal-scoring,” he added.