With the local sporting world at a standstill, the Barbados Hockey Federation (BHF) is looking to utilise the down time to work on its facility at Wildey, St. Michael.
BHF President Mark St. Hill said that through the kind assistance of the Barbados Olympic Association (BOA), the local federation was able to build and improve its hockey turf.
However, he told Barbados TODAY that work has to be done on the pavilion and changing room and added that perhaps this was the best time to do so considering sporting activity was non-existent at the moment.
“We have been working closely in conjunction with the BOA who again is assisting us. And it would be nice during this time to work on improving the infrastructure because we will get through this and to have the infrastructure ready would be another big boost. Not only for the festival but in essence when you have a great infrastructure, the national teams that want to train during winter, we could rent out the facility,” he said.
Taking into account that the International Hockey Festival, one of the biggest events on the national sporting calendar which is normally held in August might not take place, the BHF president still remains hopeful that they would be allowed to stage at least one event before the year concludes.
Mark St. Hill
St. Hill explained that if the international teams were unable to travel for the International Hockey Festival, BHF might consider hosting a tournament exclusively for local teams at the end of the year. He was also open to the idea of what he described as a condensed season but said that this would be based on the protocols set out by the Government.
“Like all other sports, especially team sports, we have had to put a pause on the season. All national training and any event that involved training for coming together as a group we have had to pause.
“So with respect to the season we have not fully said the season is cancelled for the year. It is dependent on how things shape up and what is the protocol set out by the government. We may consider a condensed season to keep the players going. Again we will take the cue from the government. So, whatever is the protocol of the day, whatever is the protocol set out by the Government will dictate whether that is possible. If it isn’t possible then we would not have a season for the year, “ he said.
Already four international teams had booked flights to compete in this year’s hockey festival. St. Hill said they were hoping for a total of seven teams.
“We have about four or five teams that already have bookings for the festival. What I will say is it is highly unlikely it will happen in August. Although we’re seeing good strides being made by Barbados. We still have to also think about opening of airlines, flights and different things like that.
“So a decision will be made on whether the festival will be pushed into November, December which again would be unlikely for foreign teams. But it may allow us to hold a hockey festival for the local teams. This is really dependent on the strides that we make in terms of combating the virus, and whether the protocol of the day would facilitate public gathering as such,” St Hill said.
A Barbados team was expected to compete at a Pan American-hosted event and that has been postponed as a result of the pandemic.
St. Hill explained that the Coronavirus situation has resulted in a financial setback for the local federation but assured that they will get through it.
“It is not only a financial setback from the international teams but also subs and so forth that the local teams would claim for the festival. So, financially it would set us back. The other side of the P&L (profit and loss) is the expense side. The expense however would also be declining because we wouldn’t be funding the national teams to go overseas and other things like that.
“We would get through it. Of course the BOA has always given us subsidies. So from a P&L (profit and loss) perspective, we will manage it very carefully. We really need the revenue to continue the programmes that we have in terms of the maintenance of the turf. Also, we were looking to start construction of the pavilion and changing room to improve infrastructure of the turf,” he said.
morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb
