International Hockey Federation (FIH) Grade One instructor Guillermo Fonseca of Argentina will arrive in Jamaica early next month for almost three weeks in order to “improve the quality and capacity of our local coaches”, the Jamaica Hockey Federation (JHF) announced yesterday.

The initiative, according to the JHF in a release, “is a part of the PAHF’s (Pan Am Hockey Federation) strategic plan to improve the quality of hockey in the Americas…”

Fonseca will conduct a series of coaching programmes from February 3-22 aimed at assessing the standard of Jamaican hockey and propose actions to improve the national standard; assisting GC Foster College with the teaching of hockey; the running of seminars for club and high school coaches; and preparing many coaches as possible to national level one and two standards.

After arriving in Jamaica on Thursday, February 3, Fonseca, who coaches Argentina’s Under-21 women’s team and assists the senior women, who are also world champions, will visit the minister of sports, the Jamaica Olympic Association, and the Institute of Sports before sitting in with a meeting of the JHF board on Friday, February 4.

For the next two weeks Fonseca will hold sessions with national teams, both men and women, as well as school and club coaches. He will spend three days at the GC Foster College and later meet with school coaches to introduce them to national level two accreditation courses.

Argentina are reigning champions of the Women’s World Cup held last year, after taking the bronze at the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008.