miércoles, 30 de junio de 2010

FIELD HOCKEY IN PANAMA

By: Felipe Argote



It is not required to the general public to follow in detail the national tournaments of dominoes, checkers, or poker. Neither it is necessary for everyone to know when are the national water polo tournaments, racing canoes or equestrian. Usually most of the population follows up the most popular sports like baseball, football and boxing. Otherwise, we are talking with a sports journalist. In this case ignorance is not a merit.

I have witnessed in recent weeks to confirm that, due to the common sense of the Panamanians, very few sports journalists who bother to investigate what happens in sports and many just read the news in the paper and discussed with generic arguments.

So it is a shame that more than a sports journalist insist on saying that Panama cannot play hockey just because ... I’ve never seen it. That is to want to make ignorance a talent.

For six years, I knew that at the Episcopal San Cristobal Institute made the first calls were to start the practice of a sport that is becoming more and more popular in Central and South America; the hockey. In the Caribbean is already one of the most popular sports because of its relationship with Europe which magnified the sport, which is considered originated in India and Pakistan and imported by the Europeans when they were colonies. In fact previously dominated Pakistan and India in international championships , but now they do Germany, Holland , England, Spain , Argentina , Australia and China. In Spain it is called grass hockey. If we had Brazil we have no almost all the finalist of the football World Cup finalists.

It is very likely; due to field hockey is a dynamic very similar to football, although both the technical as the rules differ in this popular sport. As in the United States soccer is not very popular, field hockey is viewed as a sport for women's eminently as they play that wild ice hockey, where players make a cover themselves from head to toe to withstand the hard knocks to the players.

I attended in Panama as a spectator at least two national championships in field hockey where I have seen teams of Coclé, Chiriquí, Colón and Panamá both women and men. Although they do not play as current world champions Germany and the Netherlands neither do the Panamanians football players, or any other sport.

Perhaps these writers should attend these sporting activities and not shocked by what they not know, only to return from the Central American and Caribbean Games to say, “The sport in Panama is a shame!” I have found that in the Games Central American and Caribbean neighboring countries like El Salvador and Costa Rica presented teams of field hockey and Panama was only with the same baseball and football teams! How bad we are! What a shame! Stupid.

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