#GameOn: Turf ‘war’ coming to Newcastle
Nine girls’ school first teams will battle it out as of February 27, the first major competition on the newly-completed AstroTurf at the school, the first for Newcastle.
St Dominic’s Academy has been confirmed as host of the SPAR KZN School Girls Hockey Challenge.
Nine girls’ school first teams will battle in a turf war as of February 27, the first major competition on the newly-completed AstroTurf at the school, the first for Newcastle.
Tournament director, Les Galloway expressed her joy at the growth of hockey in the region.
“It is fantastic to see how the game is growing throughout our region. Since its inception, we have seen turfs being laid out at a number of the ‘outlying areas’, which is a very encouraging sign. It is just awesome to see the schools are encouraging the sport to grow and advance.”
St Dominic’s Academy will be joined by the five-time winner of the tournament, Ferrum High School, last year’s runners-up, Dundee High School and Pionier Hoërskool, which placed fourth in 2015, as well as Pongola Akademie, silver finalists in 2014, plus Utrecht High School, Vryheid High School, Newcastle High School and Sarel Cilliers High School from Glencoe.
Games of 25 minutes will be played on two fields, with teams broken into two pools.
The pool winners advance to the semi-finals – pool A includes Ferrum, Dundee, Pongola and Utrecht, while pool B includes Vryheid, St Doms, Newcastle, Sarel Cilliers and Pionier.
Schools have also nominated their best umpires to represent them.
At the end of each regional, an umpire will be awarded the title of Most Promising Umpire, and receive an invitation to boost their umpiring skills at the finals in Durban, this July.
“Our tournament has certainly grown and it is truly great to see how every corner of our province has become involved in this fantastic game,” enthused SPAR Managing Director, Rob Philipson.
“I wish the nine teams participating in this regional, and every team taking part this sixth SPAR KZN School Girls Hockey Tournament this year, the best of luck.”
The winner of the Northern KZN Regional will travel down to Durban, to participate in the Grand Finals of the tournament, taking place at St Mary’s DSG over the weekend of July 23 and 24.
For more information, like the tournament Facebook page.
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