Published:
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Celebrated T&T men’s hockey player Kwandwane Browne has his eyes set on fulfilling a lifelong dream of qualifying for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games. And with the upcoming Pan American Games, being his last chance to do so Browne who has played more than 300 times for T&T, is ever optimistic about his team’s chances.
At the Pan American Games to be held in Canada in July, the “Calypso Stickmen” ranked 29th in the world will compete in a very tough Pool A with Argentina, Cuba and USA while Pool B comprises Brazil, Canada, Chile and Mexico. It will be the first tournament for T&T since it participated in the FIH World League Round Two qualifiers in San Diego, California in March.
At that tournament, the “Calypso stickmen” who were without some of their top players due to injury and work commitments were beaten in all six matches they contested. T&T went under to Russia (6-1), USA (7-1) and Canada (3-0) in Pool B round-robin player before losing to Ireland (12-2) in the quarterfinal, 2-1 to Italy in the fifth to eighth semifinal, and 5-3 to USA in the seventh place playoff.
But despite the tough draw, Browne through his own hockey pedigree and coaching excellence having a huge influence on his team, believes there is no doubt that T&T will be mixing it with the bigger teams right to the final whistle. Currently, the England Under-21 assistant coach and coach for National League Premier Division’s Canterbury, Browne in 2012/13 won the award for England Hockey High Performance Coach of the season.
He has also been the mainstay of the national team for more than 18 years, playing in four Commonwealth Games as well as four Pan American Games and three Pan American Cup competitions and this year’s event in Canada, will no doubt be his last.
However, his coaching commitments in the United Kingdom has meant he needs to plan his time carefully between representing his club and country.
“Because our international tournaments are normally in the summer, it doesn’t regularly affect my club commitments, but the last year has been challenging as I have been working as the assistant coach for England U-21 Men and the England Senior Men Development squad and we have quite a few camps and tournaments during the year. Early planning has been crucial so I will arrange to go back to T&T where possible and do intensive camps over ten days.”
The fact that Browne is working with another national team has had added benefits for the T&T team as Browne explains: “I am able to keep up to date with the new developments and when we have the intensive camps I am able to pass on the things I have learnt. “Occasionally the T&T national coach will come over to England for three to four months and spend time looking at the Premier League and gathering information from some of the coaches.”
The biggest hurdle that T&T faces is the inconsistency of government funding, which makes it difficult to do any long term planning. “When we had consistent funding our ranking jumped to 18th, we were doing really well and were hoping to get into the top 15. With funding, players can receive a stipend and have some of their travelling expenses covered. While the players did not earn money, this was enough to play and train hard,” says Browne.
“However, now that the funding is a bit ad hoc, players are forced to get full time jobs, so getting time off is a massive problem. We haven’t got thousands of players to choose from, so if a few key players are missing from a tournament it has a massive impact on our quality. “The Pan Am Games in July will be the first time in about eight years we will have all our players available, so we are all quite excited.” ended Browne, who is expected to return to T&T next week to conduct a ten-day camp.
Sport