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USA Field Hockey News
USA Field Hockey Men keep dream alive with Olympic Qualifier invitation COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Nov. 1) – The Olympic dream lives on for the USA Field Hockey Men’s National Team. Originally knocked out of contention for the 2008 Games in July, the USA men will get a rare second chance to pursue a berth in Beijing following an invitation by the International Hockey Federation to compete at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, February 2-10, 2008 in Auckland, New Zealand. The U.S. men must win the six-team tournament to advance to the Olympic Games. "We are extremely excited to receive an invitation to participate in an Olympic Qualifier,” said U.S. head coach Nick Conway who will lead the men’s team into an Olympic Qualifier for the first time since 1991. “From the program's perspective, having the ability to continue with the development of our Men's National Team is hugely beneficial, specifically as these high pressure tournament competitions are a commodity that have been hard to come by for our group in recent times.” The revival of the team’s Olympic hopes came after the team originally missed earning a spot in one of the three Olympic Qualifiers after placing a hard-luck seventh place in the eight-team Pan American Games in July. The finish put the U.S. as an alternate to one of the three qualifying tournaments, but the team’s standing and spirit were lifted when Cuba declined its invitation to the New Zealand Qualifier and USA Field Hockey accepted the offer to compete. With the reversal of fortune, the U.S. team will quickly regroup for a November training camp at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. to begin its preparations for the Qualifier. “We are very pleased and excited to be given this opportunity,” said USA Field Hockey Technical Director Terry Walsh, who coached the Netherlands men’s team to a silver medal at the 2004 Olympic Games. “The timing is difficult for our team in many ways, but those difficulties are completely overshadowed by the opportunity to compete. Coach Conway will be creating the very best opportunity for our team to be prepared for the Olympic Qualifier and this is all part of the continuing process involved in bringing the men’s game back into the international arena.” The U.S. men
will be joined in Auckland by Pan American Games runner-up Argentina (No. 7
world ranking), France (No. 16), Ireland (No. 19), Trinidad & Tobago (No.
23) and host New Zealand (No. 10). The USA is currently ranked No. 27 in
the world. The winner of the six-team tournament will join the winners from
two other Olympic Qualifiers in Santiago, Chile (March 1-9) and
Kakamigahara, "It is certainly a positive is that our players have a current base of knowledge and experience with our Pan American competition with Argentina and Trinidad and Tobago in this group,” said Conway on the team’s competition at the qualifier. “Additionally, we can draw on the cultural make-up of our coaching group (Conway (ENG) and assistant coach Tjerk van Herwaarden (NED) with European entries France and Ireland and Walsh (AUS) with Oceania representative New Zealand) to prepare for the remaining teams that we will face with a great deal of confidence.” Given a second chance at the Olympic dream, Conway also believes his team will be relaxed, open to the challenge and unburdened by the pressures and expectations weighing on 2004 Olympic entries and tournament favorites Argentina and New Zealand “All the teams are very good and for the most part reasonably experienced,” said Conway. “However, all the teams are definitely beatable on any given day, particularly if we play with everything to gain. We will continue to work on the areas of our game that will enable us to apply pressure to these teams on a consistent basis. After all, the reality is that we will be playing with the least level of expectation on us.” |
