Being a member of a National Team is a lot of work. Being a member of two is considerably more, especially when they train at opposite ends of one of the world’s biggest countries.
Seems daunting. Now, imagine doing it all at the relatively young age of twenty-five.
That’s precisely what Mississauga’s Devohn Noronha-Teixeira is doing as a member of the Canadian Men’s National Indoor and Outdoor Field Hockey Teams.
Teixeira is getting set to travel to Leipzig, Germany with the Indoor National Team for the 2015 World Cup. It will be his third Indoor World Cup.
“We’ve been training hard for almost eight months now. It’s exciting the last three weeks coming up,” he says.
But before he can shift his attention fully to the chance to medal on indoor field hockey’s ultimate stage, he has some other business to take care of.
As a member of the Men’s Outdoor Senior Development Squad, Teixeira is currently on a tour in Chile, during which the outdoor National Team is playing five matches and preparing for the upcoming World League 2 tournament.
It’s a juggling act to say the least, with the Indoor Team training in Toronto, and both outdoor squads in Vancouver, let alone switching from one variation of the sport to another.
“It’s a little bit easier to switch to outdoors because some of the skills you can take from indoor to outdoor,” he explains. “The Outdoor Team is always a bit harder to make because there’s more competition because all of Canada plays it.”
But like with the Indoor Team, the payoff can be immense.
With 2016 Olympic Games right around the corner, Canada’s outdoor men have a very important task to achieve in 2015: Olympic qualification.
World League 2, which will be held in San Diego, California during the first week of March, is just one step in that process, a process that Teixeira wants to be a part of.
“Definitely I have goals,” he says. “My goal is to make the World League 2 and Pan American Games [which will be held in Toronto in July] teams.”
Of course, it’s nice to be wanted. But having to split his focus on two teams, two pathways, and two ends goals can take a lot of an athlete, young or old. But Teixeira isn’t worried as much about outcome as he is one of the oldest sports clichés in the books: the process.
“Right now I’m just enjoying it and living in the moment.”
Whatever the result at the upcoming Indoor World Cup and in the journey to be a part of the outdoor team that vies to qualify for the 2016 Olympics, the year ahead is set to be a memorable one for him.
