Gia Greenidge created history as the youngest player to compete at the recently concluded Junior Pan American Hockey Championships.
The now 13-year-old Greenidge, a student of the Coleridge and Parry School, was just 12-years-old when she suited up for Barbados in the Under-21 tournament, which was played at the Hockey Centre in Wildey.
And even though Barbados’ women’s team didn’t have the best of tournaments, as they lost all four of the matches, that did little to damper Greenidge’s spirit.
In an interview with Barbados TODAY, the diminutive forward/midfielder who has been playing hockey from the age of six, said she was grateful for the experience.
She said it was even more rewarding to know that she had followed in the footsteps of her mother Dareece ‘Wrecker’ Greenidge and her grandmother Hazel Barker-Dyall, who both played hockey for Barbados.
“To know that I was the youngest person in the tournament I felt really proud to know that at my age I could reach that level and I could accomplish those things. It was overwhelming and exciting and a great experience. It was always my dream to play for my country and I’m glad that I was able to achieve that goal,” Greenidge said.
“When I found out that I had been selected to play for Barbados I was very excited, especially because my family had also played for Barbados. My grandmother did and my mother did, so I was happy I was able to carry on that tradition.”
Greenidge, who said she hopes to make the senior national team in the not too distant future, admitted that the team’s performance in the competition was expected.
“We already knew that we were not going to win because we were playing against teams who qualified for the World Cup, but it was just for improvement so that we could see our competition and see how much harder we have to train to reach that level,” she explained.
“The level of competition was a very high level but I think once we put in the work we can reach that level.”
The teenager revealed that while hockey was her “first love” she also enjoyed track and field.
Greenidge, a member of the Quantum Leap Track Club, said she enjoyed the 100 metres and 200 metres and hoped to make the CARIFTA team within the next two years.
Her mother Dareece, who played for Empire, Pickwick and ABC, attended all of the matches and could be heard screaming from the stands in support.
She told Barbados TODAY she was extremely proud to have watched her daughter come up against much bigger and experienced opponents during the tournament and hold her own.
“I felt very, very, very proud. I was on the moon,” she said.
