Age: 30
Birthplace: Trinidad
Occupation: Technical Director for Hockey
First International Game: As Junior: Canada. As senior: Cuba in 1993.
Other Tournaments: 4 Pan American Games; 4 Central American Games; 2 Commonwealth Games; Indoor World Cup and this Olympic Qualifier.

When did you first start playing and why?
A: I started from four years old, because of my family. All of my aunts they all played hockey for their club teams and the national teams, yeah, so it’s in my family.

Which teams have you found the hardest to play against? And why?
A: Since I’ve been playing the hardest international team I have played against is New Zealand. Although I played against Australia and some other top teams. But New Zealand was definitely the hardest this time.

Which player(s) do you most admire? And why?
We used to watch tapes from Pakistan and India, and it was Danraj Pillay when he was older but my main player was Shabaz because of the style and the speed of the ball.

It must be pretty hard being an international player, traveling in different time zones and not knowing whether it’s day or night so to speak, tell us what a typical playing year would be for you?
A: It’s quite enjoyable actually as you get to travel a lot and get to see different places, to see different people, experience different hockey styles. Just coming here was a bit of a trek, because we had to leave at least fifteen days before, first go to England, time change; to Malaysia, time change; Australia, time change; and New Zealand, time change. So it’s a bit of a journey but all part of preparations so that we can give our best performance when we get here.

If you could change one thing about hockey to make the game more attractive, what would it be?A: To improve the game of hockey: Maybe because at times it gets so compact, maybe reduce the number of players on the pitch then there would be more goals.

What would be the highlight/lowlight of your International Career to date? (Highest appointment/game etc).
A: The highlight would be qualifying for the Indoor World Cup because we were able to make it on the world scene. The worst moment was us losing in golden goal to Canada in the Pan American Games because had we won that would have been direct entry to the Olympics and Canada went.

Do you get nervous before games?
A: Every game.

What advice would you give to the “next generation” of players coming through the age-groups who aspire to be international players?
A: Well always national players I’m sure: hard work and you have to sacrifice. Sacrifice a lot sometimes. Your school work. Some people even sacrifice their families until they get to the age of thirty-odd to have their families, so a lot of sacrifice. For my country because the cultures are a little bit different, the advice I would give for any player is to really concentrate, just from experience in this part of the world, just concentrate on the basic parts of the game, because that’s where we suffer.

What are your goals in over the next few years?
A: Well I’m thirty now so I’m trying to keep in good shape so I can at least play for a couple more years and I’m hoping that I can play the next Pan American Games and have a chance to qualify for the Olympics.

What do you like most about hockey and what frustrates you the most?
A: I just love international games because of the intensity and passion of representing your country, so that’s what I like most about it - being able to represent my country. But what I hate the most is losing! Losing without a fight I should say! Losing is OK if you give your best effort, but losing without a fight.

What are your other hockey interests? And interests outside of Hockey?
A: Football, cricket, little bit of tennis.

You are stuck on an island for five years. Who are the two people you would most like to be with?
A: I’ll take my brother and my mother.