Regional association, Ehlanzeni Hockey, concluded what has been a great year for them with a fitting awards function on October 12.

The annual awards evening always serves as the association’s way to wrap up the year gone by, and boy, was it a great one for hockey in this district. Many an Ehlanzenian formed part of sides that performed well at national tournaments this year.

An example of this is healthy contingents in the Mpumalanga boys U16 and U18 IPT teams that both finished as runners-up in the B section at their respective tournaments (both got best-ever results for Mpumalanga in these boys age groups).

The Mpumalanga Lowveld team that participated in the SACD Ladies tournament were awarded the fair play prize, while the men’s side finished third in their tournament. Ehlanzeni was, thereafter, represented well in the SACD teams who competed in the Senior IPTs. The SACD Men’s team even won the B section of the tournament – only the second time they’ve ever done so, the last being in 2002. The team was coached entirely by Ehlanzeni representatives and featured five players from the district.

The Mpumalanga Ladies team who participated in the Senior IPT comprised no fewer than 13 players from Ehlanzeni and was also coached entirely by personnel from Ehlanzeni. These achievements underpin a very successful year of senior hockey for the region.

At a local level, the first-ever Ehlanzeni Super League was held with great success, as hundreds of local senior and schoolgoing hockey players took part and enjoyed the competition. The club competitions were at their most competitive in years, as was showcased best in the men’s second division, which went down to the final weekend of matches where four of the five teams in the league still had a chance to secure the title.

The awards evening on Saturday was hosted by Impala Hockey Club at Mozambik Restaurant and the region’s best of the best were rewarded. The umpires of the year were Carey Clarke (ladies) and Alan Bekker (men), while Jane Taljaard (ladies) and Hattingh Delport (men) were the junior umpires of the year.

The junior goalkeeper of the year awards were given to Kendra Shepheard (ladies) and Ulrich Reingruber (men), with Bhibhi Steinke (ladies) and Keagan du Preez (men) being the senior goalkeepers of the year. Jane Taljaard was the ladies’ junior player of the year and Marley Waspe the junior men’s player of the year.

But the very best of the best in 2024 in Ehlanzeni were Idali Janse van Rensburg and Mike Gill, who were named the ladies’ and men’s player of the year respectively.

There were special awards handed out as well, as LVCC was named the club of the year for 2024 and Mike van Reenen was given the Graham Tanner Award. This is an award handed out by the Ehlanzeni Hockey chairperson (Keith Erasmus in 2024) to the person they feel has served the region with unwavering hard work throughout the year.