Douglas Camacho, president of the T&T Hockey Board (TTHB) says the sport is suffering from a paucity of umpires and he is appealing to his young athletes to help reverse this worrying trend.
Too often, he said, when his executive approached athletes on the issue of educating themselves to become match officials, they almost always shied away from the discussion.
Speaking at the TTHB Annual Awards Ceremony held at the VIP Lounge of the Hasely Crawford National Stadium on Sunday, Camacho said while he understood the reluctance of players to take this step citing what they themselves put umpires through when unpopular decisions are made during play, Camacho urged them to reconsider their position and ensure that hockey in T&T was not denied of talent in any aspect.
He lauded the quality of match officials in this country and boasted that the FIH turned to T&T for coaches to conduct training sessions around the world.
"It will be fair to say that a small nation of 1.3 million people and to use a boxing term–are punching above our weight. And not just represent at these bodies by but represent our country with distinction. This year was a gruelling year by T&T standards. We competed in three major tournaments in the space of seven months or less.
We had the Commonwealth Games where we competed in both men and women and we had to earn the right to be there, and we gave a good account of ourselves. We then went to the World League where we won gold and went onto the PanAm Games for silver (men) and the women finished fourth," he said.
Camacho added, "If we did not have a domestic league that was up to scratch and well, run, well organised and well officiated, the then success we see at international hockey could not happen. I would like to recognise all those who over the last year have made the league in T&T run very smoothly."