‘We couldn’t believe it. Our goalie was excellent and she blocked all the shoot-out attempts. I have been in the team a long time and we have tried and tried and have never made it. I actually still struggle to believe it.’
It is with these words that Chile’s Camila Caram sums up the euphoria felt by her team as they beat the USA in the Pan Am Cup semi-finals to qualify for the FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup taking place in Spain and the Netherlands in July and August this year.
It will be Chile’s first appearance at the World Cup and for Caram, this is a golden reward for years spent trying to drive the national team to the top international level and into a major international event.
As she says during our exclusive interview with her, having achieved qualification, now the hard work really begins.
’The staff have sent us a training program for the World Cup, says Camila. ‘There are 27 players training for the World Cup and then there is a second group of another 15 players, that will also be training for future tournaments but if needed, they will also be able to step up.
‘Our coach will be expecting us to train,’ she pauses before adding emphatically, ‘a lot’.
‘It is something we have worked towards for a long time, now we are near the goal, so we will give it our all for these five months and make it our priority.’
Chile will be heading to Europe or Canada around April for a series of international fixtures. This will be their main preparation time for the World Cup and it will be a perfect opportunity to play different teams with different styles of play. ‘We are at the end of the world here in Chile, so it is hard to get teams to play against,’ says Camila.
Ideally, Chile would be able to step across the border and play regular matches against Argentina, the Olympic silver medalists, but as Camila says: ‘The reality is that Argentina will be playing Pro League, so we will not get to play them much. We must make the most from our tour and get as many games as possible.’
Chile’s heroics in the Pan Am Cup showed the team to be resilient and tactically astute, but Camila says there are things the team must improve upon if they are to be competitive at the World Cup – particularly as they are in a pool with the reigning World Cup and Olympic champions, the Netherlands.
‘We just played the Pan Am Cup, and from that we definitely identified some flaws in our game. Our penalty corner is a very strong point, so we will look to maximize the advantage that gives us. The shoot-out, that can be a defining point, and so we will work on that too.’
Developing the team’s ability to play through the midfield is something Camile sees as a crucial element to work on. ‘We play straight up the sides to our forwards, so we need to work on playing the ball through the midfield. We also need to make sure that our attacking periods of play are more efficient – either resulting in a shot on goal, a penalty corner or a goal.’
In 2019, Chile played Great Britain in an Olympic qualifier. This rare international experience provided a lot of learning points for the Diablas.
‘Great Britain are a very physical group of players, so we had to learn to deal with that. We have been working hard to improve our own physical strength. They are also willing to take risks when they are going forwards. Also, they studied us a lot through video footage. That is something that we are doing a lot more now. We watch other teams and see what their strong points are and we try to incorporate those points into our play as well.’
Camila has been part of the Chile national team since 2013. In that time, she has seen Chile go through a lot of changes, most of them positive and pushing the team upwards through the world rankings.
‘We have been gaining confidence over time. We haven’t changed our style of play very much in the past few years but playing with confidence is a big thing. As a culture, Chileans are very humble and we try to stay low. So we are now trying to instill a sense of self belief. We can go to a World Cup! That is a new thing for us, to believe we deserve to be at a major event. Lacking self-belief can play with your mind, so we have been working really hard at that.’
Camila says the new found sense of belief is not just in the mind, it translates onto the pitch, with the players showing a greater level of self-confidence which leads to a higher level of skill.
‘We now believe that we can play at a higher level no matter who the opposition is. Whether it is Argentina, or Great Britain, whoever it is, we feel confident enough to use our skills.’
Much of this mindset has been developed over the past two years during the Covid restrictions. Camila explains that the team asked the staff for ways to develop self-confidence. The fact that the team couldn’t train together on the pitch meant they had time to think about other aspects of their play.
‘We asked the coaching staff to give us the confidence but also, for the staff to talk to us in more positive terms and to give positive reinforcement when they give feedback.’
As a team, Chile have received two further boosts to their confidence as they approach the FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup. The biggest confidence boost comes from their own performance at the Pan Am Cup, where they took the silver medal after a hugely competitive match against Argentina. The second inspiration comes from further afield as Camila explains.
‘Ireland women went to their first World Cup in 2018 and they made it to the final. From their experience we can see that anything is possible. If you dream about it and have the desire, then anything is possible.’
Not only is Camila one of the longest serving members of the team, she also recently became the only mother to be representing her country after she gave birth to a son – Leon. She admits that being a recent mother and an elite athlete is a tough ask.
‘It is pretty challenging but there are things that make it better. My son behaves beautifully and doesn’t cry very much. My husband supports me completely. When I am at a tournament, he stays home the whole time. But it is tiring.
‘However, you have a goal and you commit to it and then you just go for it. I also want to give an example to everyone that this is possible. At my age, within the national hockey team, no-one has had a baby and gone straight back to training, so I wanted to show people that it didn’t have to limit your possibilities. It is up to you, if you want to do it.’
