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Argentina

By Graciela H. Ortiz

Finally, the mistery was unveiled. Though there were many rumours and speculations about the choice of the new Argentine teams coaches, predictions were confirmed.

Thus, former women's Argentine team coach Sergio Vigil will be now in charge of the men's squad, assisted by Claudio Junquet and former Las Leonas PT coach Luis Barrionuevo.

In women's, the Argentine Hockey Confederation confirmed the continuity of former Vigil's assistant coach Gabriel Minadeo, with Emanuel Roggero as assistant coach, Carlos Geneyro as penalty corners coach and Alejandro Torres as PT coach.

The announcement was made this week at the Hotel Presidente by newly appointed Argentine Confederation president Sergio Daniel Marcellini, with the presence of the coaches and Argentine teams players Magdalena Aicega, Luciana Aymar and Mariano Chao.

Some of the novelties announced by Marcellini: coaches are hired for two years instead of the usual four, as Marcellini deems it a suitable tenure length to see if the technical staff are doing well. However, the Mendoza official added that a negative performance will not influence the coaches'
continuity.

Another important change: the training camps will be located in Buenos Aires, several local areas, and also in Europe, as many players are in the provinces and abroad. Vigil said the players will train in the places where they are based, and the coaches will travel to test them.

There will probably be training camps in Spain, Holland or Belgium, depending on where the players are stationed.Marcellini added that the Argentine Hockey Confederation doesn't have the financial resources needed to allow players to travel every week for training sessions.

The Confederation president also confirmed that the coastal resort of Mar del Plata was offered as venue for the women's Champions Trophy 2007, but only if the International Hockey Federation (FIH) agrees to organize the tournament in January or February.Marcellini added that turf in the Mar del Plata Sports Complex will be changed in the coming months. The Complex was the site of the 1999 Pan-American Games.

"We have this idea of creating a national league in one or two years, similar to basketball and volleyball, in order to improve the national standard and to prevent the players from going abroad. Besides, a tournament like this will favour the hockey spreads throughout the country," Marcellini explained.

He added that "We are busily at work on the organization of international tournaments here; this will allow the national teams to achieve a high competitive level.

Meanwhile, Las Leonas coach Minadeo said their goal is to keep the team among the top three. "I'm very happy and anxious to start training. Now we'll meet with the technical staff to decide the next steps.

For his part, Vigil thanked former men's national coach Jorge Ruiz for securing the classification for the 2006 World Championship and Champions Trophy. "Though there are not many men who play hockey in Argentina, they have a great quality not only in the senior team but also in the junior and this will let us to form a team which allow us to dream."

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