Fabian Stewart, president of the Jamaica Hockey Federation, is certain that Jamaica’s national men’s hockey team will make a strong appearance at the International Hockey Federation’s (FIH) Hockey World Cup.

The 2024 Hockey5s World Cup, the first edition of the FIH Men’s Hockey5s World Cup, is the quadrennial world championship for men’s national hockey5s teams organised by the FIH. It will be held from January 28-31 in Muscat, Oman.

Stewart said that his entire coaching staff has done an outstanding job with the players, keeping the team together and allowing them to just stay focused.

“It is a very good squad. A lot of the things I leave to the coaches because they have my confidence. The guys that have been selected have been selected through the matrix provided by the coach,” Stewart told the Jamaica Observer.

“As I said, the coaching staff has my full confidence in terms of the amount of work they have been doing and the sort of approach they have. They have a very systematic approach; the best players are usually selected based on the matrix they all know. At the end of the day, all you are seeing there are those who have put in the work,” the president stated.

Jamaica will play in pool “B” alongside Egypt, India, and Switzerland. The Jamaicans are to take on Egypt on January 28 at 10:30 am before tackling Switzerland the same day at 4:30 pm. They are to conclude their group stage against India the following day.

“Once the nation was over that we qualified, literally making history, the next move in terms of competing at the World Cup was on the minds of the team because the team believes that they can compete. So they are preparing to compete as best as possible, given the resources, because we are up against very highly resourced teams, but the team is of the mindset to compete,” Stewart said.

“We have gotten the assistance of an international physical trainer, a high-level physical trainer from England. He came, he did some sessions here, and he’s also trying to work with the players in terms of their individual preparation for England,” he added.

Squad: Ajani Burton (goalkeeper captain), Rasheed Johnston (goalkeeper), Richard Harris (co-captain), Christopher Reid (co-captain), Tyrone Vernon, Kemar Mitchell, George McGlashen, Daniel Powell, Shemar Gordon, and Tuseef Graham.

Reserves: Kevon Reid, Kevaun-Reidy Reid, Phillip Dawson, Jahchin Mullings, and Nickoy Stephenson.

Management team: Duvaughn Henlon (head coach), Ebony McLean (manager), Kameisha Erskine (assistant coach/manager), Yyael Jagbir (physiotherapist), and Dr Michelle Holt (doctor).