'Amazing Grace': Ghana hockey launch female dream team for 2018

In their quest to participate  in the 2018  World Cup Hockey  tournament  for the first time , the Ghana Hockey Association (GHA) have started grooming a number of young ladies  for them to appreciate the rudiments of the game.

Out of over 600 young ladies who were recruited from six regions in Ghana almost a year ago, 40 have now been selected to form the nucleus of a dream team.

The team, dubbed 'Amazing Grace', now feature prominently alongside other female teams that participate in the Greater Accra women's hockey league at the Theodosia Okoh Hockey Stadium on Saturdays.

Briefing the Daily Graphic about the innovation, the Assistant Technical Director of the GHA, Mr. Dennis Amoa Ababio, said the ages of members of the team ranged between 12 and 14, saying their intention was to build a strong team capable of taking the world by storm during the  2018 hockey tournament.

'Our main objective is to groom the young girls for them to gain the requisite  skills and experience. That is why we have introduced them into the Accra female hockey league where they rub shoulders with experienced teams such as Extinguishers, Ark,  Reformers, GRA, Police Ladies," he said.

According to Mr. Ababio, the desire to introduce Amazing Grace into the female hockey league was to keep them together for a long time with the view of working on their weaknesses.

'They were the best out of the number we recruited from the six regions, across the country, and so far, we are on course of building them into a formidable team capable of competing favourably with the best in the world' he explained.

Explaining further, he said he was in Germany last year when the Junior Female Hockey tournament was held.

He said the experience gained was that the team that featured in that tournament had played together for some time.

'If we succeed in keeping these girls for the next four years and nurture their potentials, we will be ready to face the best of the world and come out unscathed at the tournament in 2018,' Mr. Ababio stressed.

Credit: Daily Graphic