Black Sticks Ladies captain eyes Commonwealth Games

Captain of the national female hockey team – Black Sticks Ladies, Rachael Bamfo says her target for year is to help her team qualify for the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games to be held in Australia.

She said as captain of the team, her wish to see herself play at the international level.

The Black Sticks Ladies are currently on a non-residential camping at the Theodosia Okoh Hockey Stadium.

The team is preparing for the 2017 Hockey Africa Cup of Nations to be held in South Africa from August 17 to August 28, 2017. The team's target is to qualify for the Commonwealth games and to move up of the world field hockey women's ranking.

Ms Bamfo known for her spectacular ways of celebrating goals said her next target for the tournament is to be either player of the tournament or top scorer since she’s an attacker.

She said although her targets are yet to be met, they are still preparing for the tournament and per their training she knows she will meet my target.

“So far so good, it's been six weeks since we started training. We are in shape and we hope for the better,” she noted.

Rachael Bamfo also known as ‘Shennel Teddy’ has been named as the best female hockey player for the year 2016 by the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG).

Speaking on the award, she said “I feel very happy and proud of myself for been named hockey player of the year 2016. I didn't achieve any laurel but my hard work and dedication got me the award.”

“My coaches and teammates have been my motivation. Also, my club is performing well but there are some challenges on my side since most of them are older women who can't run and play as I want it but we doing our best”.

She mentioned that this year's league is very competitive as compared to last year since every club now wants to go for the Africa club championship which is for the first two teams in the both ladies and men's division.

“Hockey in Ghana is now becoming interesting and been watched by most people through the works some media partners and the executives of the association,” she said.