Bermuda head coach Kovin Moodley insists it is imperative more children are given the opportunity to play hockey to safeguard the future of the sport on island.

Having helped guide the women’s national team to qualify for the Central American and Caribbean Games for the first time in April, Moodley is now turning his attention to creating sustainable long-term success.

To achieve that ambition he hopes to introduce more children to the sport with the hope of creating a sustainable pipeline from grassroots level, particularity within schools, right through to the national team.

“For us it’s all about safeguarding the future of the sport and having a sustainable approach to how we do that,” said South African Moodley, who took up the reins in February.

“We’ve had discussions about how we can create a pipeline of players from grassroots through to the national side. We want to have the right structure in place to achieve that within three to five years.

“We feel that getting hockey into schools makes sense in terms of developing the sport from a young age and so we need to nurture those relationships.

“Obviously we would love for hockey to be played more often in schools but the structure has to be right and that includes an understanding of teachers, coaches and everyone involved.

“If we can create those structures then it becomes more widespread and increases the profile of the sport to the younger ages.

“There are some unique challenges in Bermuda but we have to try to find what works to be able to try to create a sustainable pipeline of developing young players through to the national team.”

Moodley’s plans are already being enacted with the Bermuda Hockey Federation, in conjunction with the School Sports Federation, hosting a field-hockey festival at the National Sports Centre last week.

More than 450 primary and middle school students were introduced to the sport with the two days consisting of multiple skill stations and shortened matches.

While Moodley is well aware of the competition that hockey faces from other sports already established in schools, he is confident there is room for hockey to be a viable option for children to take up if they should choose.

“The days went fantastically well and to have that many children playing hockey and having exposure to the sport was incredible,” Moodley said.

“In South Africa there is a really strong sport culture and I feel we have a similar opportunity in Bermuda, where children in schools can be introduced to and play a number of different sports.

“In that regard we’ve ticked a box by hosting the festivals but we have a goal of giving those same children the opportunity to try the sport and then help develop their interest in it.”

If his ambition can be realised, Moodley sees no reason why national-team qualification for the Central American and Caribbean Games cannot become a regular occurence for Bermuda.

“Hopefully in the future qualifying for major tournaments will happen a lot more regularly,” he said. “We have ambitious targets and we want success like that to be the normality for our national teams.”