Hockey will take center stage on the Ghanaian sporting calendar this week as two of the country’s top clubs attempt to win the Africa Hockey Club Championship for the first time on home soil.
The biggest hockey clubs on the continent will begin their biannual quest for glory at the Theodosa Okoh Hockey pitch.
There will be the traditional giants from Egypt and those seeking to dethrone them.
Among them will be Ghana’s Trustees, who have played in the last six editions and not won any. The closest Trustees have come was a final finish eight years ago.
Alongside GRA will be hoping that will change.
Captain of Trustees Salya Nsalbini says his team is ready to win the ultimate.
“We will be taking one match after the other in the quest to try to get to the point where we can win and when we get to that stage, we will make sure we do not repeat the mistakes we made in the previous tournaments and win the cup,” he said.
With 53 national caps to his name, the Trustees will count a lot on Nsalbini, who is also captain of the national side.
With just two days to the start of the tournament, the team looked solid in training, stringing passes together and working their socks off to improve their confidence.
According to the assistant coach of the side, Joseph Abaidoo, the team is in pole position to help win medals for Ghana and fight for all they have missed in the past.
Mr. Abaidoo elaborated on why the players’ mental toughness will count on the pitch more than any over requirement.
“When you get to the turf and the game starts going on, your mental toughness is what counts when you are out there. We have done our part in training for the boys but it is up to them and partly to us the coaches to fight to win the ultimate for Ghana. We need it as a club and so does the nation. With what we have seen from the boys and what we have put them through, they are ready.”
This is looking in many ways like a host and win tournament for Ghana.
With two male teams and two female teams, the President of the Ghana Hockey Association, Richard Akpokavie, is hopeful the tournament will provide the perfect preparations particularly for the female team ahead of the Commonwealth Games later this year.
“This is part of the training programme. They started in December and started some non-residential training so the coaches are going to look at them during this competition and that will form part of the basis for choosing the team come February. So February they will go into residential camping. We really are looking at the tournament to help improve the girls ahead of the Commonwealth Games,” Mr Akpokavie said.
By Yaw Ofosu Larbi|3news.com|Ghana