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A high-school student participates in the inter-school competition held at the Mona AstroTurf.
The Jamaica Hockey Federation (JHF) is in need of approximately $25 million to replace the existing turf at the Mona Hockey Field. This has become necessary since the federation intends to attract and host several international tournaments in the very near future. The existing playing surface is 13 years old and is wearing out fast.
JHF president, Victor Tomlinson, said the turf is coming apart at the seams and there is significant wear in the high-activity sections such as the goalkeeping area, the penalty spots and the corners.
"Top level international tournaments cannot be held on that turf," the president said. Come November, the JHF will host the Pan Am Club Championships so repairs are being carried out to spruce up the existing facility. But as the federation embarks on a programme to raise the sport's profile in Jamaica it will need to acquire a new playing surface.
Hockey was a relatively popular sport in Jamaica right up to the mid-1990s but several developments forced the sport into a period of decline, decline that the JHF has been keen on reversing.
To get the sport back into the mainstream, the
federation began distributing hockey equipment to high schools. Jamaica has hopes of hosting an international invitational or a Pan Am Junior tournament in 2012, the Caribbean Cup in 2013 and the Pan Am Challenge by 2015 but none of that will be possible without a new turf being installed. "We will need buy-in from the Government and all the stakeholders," Tomlinson said, "but that is where we want to get to."
Tomlinson reveals that the federation received a quotation from Argentinean manufacturer Forbex last year for US$306,000 to install a water-based turf preferable for high-quality international competition.
