Richmond's Kaelan Watson is among 18 players named to the Canadian field hockey team roster for the upcoming Pan American Cup in Argentina.
The 23-year-old defender, who was featured earlier this month in the News, has made a fulltime commitment to the senior national program since concluding her outstanding career at the University of Toronto. She was part of a recent tour of Ireland and Germany and has been training with the squad on a regular basis at UBC.
The Canadian roster features plenty of youth with eight players having just played for their country at the recent Junior World Cup. The team will be trying to secure a spot in the 2014 World Cup in the Hauge. Long term goals include the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto where a first place finish would secure a spot in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio.
"We are still a new and young team, attempting to modernize our style of play. Our focus has been about perfecting our offensive and defensive structure and system and move these from the cognitive to the automatic stages," said national team head coach Ian Rutledge.
The success of the Ireland tour in June confirmed that the program is progressing well. There's a priority on increasing the team's depth and with that, exposing more athletes to the
speed and tempo of international competition.
"The final push to the PAC will be about focusing on individual and system refinements to ensure we are optimally prepared ahead of the tournament" added Rutledge.
The Pan American Cup takes place in Mendoza, Argentina, September 21-28. Canada draws Argentina, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago in Pool A.
