Former national goalkeeper, Glen "Fido" Francis has indicated to throw his hat in the ring for the vacant T&T senior men's hockey position which is expected to be advertised soon by the T&T Hockey Board (TTHB) ahead of next year's Pan American Cup in Santiago, Chile.
Under the guidance of Francis, the national men's hockey team placed fourth at the last edition of the Pan American Cup in Lancaster, USA in 2017 after a 3-0 loss to host USA in the bronze medal.
However, due to their top-six finish in the eight-team competition, T&T secured automatic qualification to next year's competition which is scheduled to take place from January 20-30.
Francis was also at the helm of the national men's team when it claimed its best-ever finish in the tournament, a bronze medal in Brampton, Canada in 2013 with a 3-1 defeat of the Americans in the semifinals, while in 2009 in Chile, Nicholas "Chico" Govia coached the men's team to a fifth spot finish, and in 2004, its other participation ended with a 2-1 loss to Chile in the bronze medal clash under David Francois in London, Canada.
For next year's tournament in Chile which will serve as a regional qualifier to the FIH World Cup, the T&T men will do battle alongside title-holders and three-time winners Argentina, 2009 champion Canada, USA, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru in their tourney.
Reached for comment on the national men's team preparations for the tournament, Cindy Martin-Faustin, the TTHB national team's administrator said the board is in the process of putting out applications for the men's coaching staff.
Commenting on the expected pool of applicants, Martin-Faustin said it is expected that recent coaches of the men's team inclusive of Francis, Raphael "Raffie" Govia, and junior men and women Pan American team coaches Darren Cowie (Under-21 men), Dwain Quan Chan (U-21 women) as well as assistant coach, Akim Toussaint could all be in the mix.
Reached for comment, Francis, the leading candidate for the head coaching position said he will be making himself available once the position is advertised while Govia, his main rival to his appointment says he is willing to be his assistant.
Francis added, "I believe based on my track record with the team that I have a fairly good chance of being given the nod and will be glad to have another go at the Pan Am Cup."
Govia, who in the past has filled in as senior men's coach due to the unavailability of Francis, said he was willing to accept a position on the coaching staff, but only in a supporting role to Francis.
Govia said, "I believe Francis is the best person for the job as I do believe that we will be wasting the services of Cowie at this level if we don't look to carry him as a player."
"So for me, I will love to see Francis as coach with myself and Quan Chan in supporting roles while we utilise Cowie and Toussaint as players because they have a lot of experience to offer to the team as players still," ended Govia.
Cowie said he was undecided as to whether he will be making himself available both as a coach and player.
"It all depends on what kinds of plans and preparations that the TTHB will be putting in place because as it stands I do think the men's team preparation is already behind the other teams, with only four months to competition, " stated Cowie.
With respect to the preparations of the teams, Martin-Faustin noted that the TTHB's budget for preparing and sending both teams should be in the region of $TT1.5 million to $TT1.8 million depending on the cost of flights and hotel accommodation when they are ready to make their bookings.
She explained, "If we are going to judge the cost by what was paid to send the junior men team to Chile for the Pan American Games qualifiers, then we can expect a figure of close to $TT1.8 million.
"This week we are doing our debriefings with the junior team's technical staff that recently competed and this will be followed by the senior women's team debriefing after which the final preparations and planning will be discussed for both senior teams' involvement in Chile next January."
As for the women's team which only booked their place in Chile with a second-place finish at the just concluded Pan American Challenge behind host Peru, Martin-Faustin said the coaching staff headed by Anthony “Bumper” Marcano and inclusive of USA-based assistant coach Ellis Chance is expected to stay in place.
During the one-week tournament, T&T defeated Peru 1-0 in their opening round-robin encounter on September 26, followed by a 2-2 draw with Paraguay on (September 28) and 1-1 with Brazil a day later to end in second spot at the end of group play with five points, one behind the Peruvians.
In the semifinal, T&T battled past Paraguay 4-3 on sudden-death penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw in regulation time while Peru blanked Brazil 2-0, before avenging their round-robin loss to the "Calypso Stickwomen" for the gold medal.
In addition to Peru and T&T, the eight-team Pan American Cup will feature the six highest-ranked teams from the previous Pan Am Cup (2017) and as the host country (Chile) had already qualified.
They include five-time Pan American Cup winners and the lone team to have ever won gold in the competition, Argentina, Chile, USA, Canada, Uruguay and Mexico.
The T&T women who have appeared at the Pan American Cup three times previously; in 2004 in Barbados when they ended eight; 2009 when they placed fourth in Bermuda; and four years later when they ended seventh in Argentina.