Earlier in March Hoërskool Nelspruit welcomed young boys and girls from all around the country to Mbombela for four days of brilliant U14 hockey action.

The NHS U14 Hockey Festival was held from March 20 to 23, and a total of 12 schools and 25 teams took part, of which 12 were boy teams and 13 were girl teams. The schools travelled from as far afield as Bloemfontein to enjoy some hockey in the Lowveld.

Organised and hosted by the Nellies, the festival’s matches were split between the hockey turfs at Hoërskool Nelspruit and Penryn College. There was a great vibe and plenty of spirit on show from the participating schools and teams, but the element of competition was never forgotten as each player battled to the best of their ability to claim top prize for their school.

For the first three days, the boys’ and girls’ divisions were split into two separate pools, with teams playing against whoever else formed part of their pool in a round-robin format. Thereafter, on the fourth day, knockouts were played in the eight-second shoot-out format, adding an exciting element to the competition.

The two finals were then played in a regular match format. In the boys competition, the battle for top honours was between Hoërskool Fichardtpark and Uplands College.

Fichardtpark managed to edge past Uplands. In the girls’ final between Hoëskool Nelspruit and Merensky Agricultural Academy, the hosts were able to beat their competitors to finish in first.

The Nellies finished third in the boys competition with Penryn College finishing fourth. Penryn finished third in the girls’ competition and Uplands finished 11th.