The local hockey fraternity can look forward a spanking new $1,356,000.00 AstroTurf surface, it's first in 12 years for the start of the 2020 T&T Hockey Board season next February.
This after Douglas Camacho, chairman of the Sport Company of T&T (SporTT) confirmed the arrival of the turf from German supplier Polytan, and the commencement of the relaying of the surface.
The local Outdoor Hockey season flicked off on March 24 but was forced to an abrupt end on May 3 on the request of the Water and Sewage Authority (WASA) due to the low water supply across the country.
This after WASA banned the outdoor watering of sporting fields due to the harsh dry season and as such the outdoor field at the National Hockey Centre in Tacarigua could not be maintained for the season.
Since then clubs were given a July 3 deadline by the T&THB Competitions Committee to submit proposals with regards the stalled T&T Hockey Board Outdoor season.
Contacted yesterday Garth Baptiste, the head of the T&HB Competition Committee said no official decision has been taken on the rest of the 2019 Outdoor season, but with the National Indoor Championships set to flick off next month, it is very likely that the 2019 Outdoor season will be called off at their next meeting.
At the meeting with the representatives of the local clubs in June Baptiste had informed the clubs that should the T&THB decide to abandon the current Outdoor Season, there will be an option to proceed with National Indoor from September 2019, which is the more than likely scenario.
The clubs had suggested that the league resume from September and run to December 2019 with the games already played being applied, while the National Indoor season should be cancelled.
However, the new surface will not be completely relayed until the end of September, and with T&T’s qualification to the Pan Am Indoor Championship scheduled for March 2020, the need to commence the National Indoor Championships followed by national team preparations took priority.
Speaking at the Tacarigua venue yesterday, Camacho said the actual laying of the surface process may not take as long as it may seem.
He added, "If we manage to get nice weather throughout as we have been having in recent days, I anticipate it will take about four weeks to relay the surface.
He added, "We deliberately arrange for the surface to be relayed during this time as we are going into the local indoor season
Asked what caused a four-year delay in securing the new hockey surface, Camacho said several factors were behind it, and it was was very frustrating to the Sport Company of T&T, knowing that everything was in place.
"Eventually, we got the money out to the suppliers in Chile, Polytan manufactured the turf which took a couple of months, they shipped it which took close to two months, and now it's here and should be ready within five weeks.
With regards to the durability of the surface, Camacho, a hockey player himself said he anticipates the warranty would be for seven years, while the current actual turf has been going on 12 years.