Two of the North-West University’s top past and present women’s hockey players will have the fantastic opportunity to represent South Africa at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games from 23 July to 8 August.
Charné Maddocks, a current NWU women’s hockey player, NWU alumna and Proteas regular, and Celia Seerane (née Evans) will be the flagbearers of NWU hockey at the Olympic Games. Both players were excited at making the final squad of 16 and representing their country at the Olympics for the first time.
Maddocks is still new to the Proteas set-up, having yet to play a full inter- national, but she still made the final squad due to her impressive performances. Maddocks also led the NWU hockey women to Varsity Hockey glory in 2019.
“It feels unreal to be selected. I am still overwhelmed at the opportunity of going to the Olympics. All the hard work and sacrifice has definitely paid off,” says the NWU student, who is currently busy with her BEd honours degree in special needs education.
“NWU hockey has played a massive role in my hockey career with top quality coaching. I am really grateful to all the coaches who have helped me with my game,” she said.
Seerane was just as pleased to finally represent her country at the Olympics, having missed out in 2012 and 2016. The experienced NWU alumni graduated in 2015 with a BEd Senior phase degree and has won over 160 caps for her country.
Seerane is also a former SA women’s player of the year and has represented her country at two Commonwealth Games in 2014 and 2018.
“I am over the moon to have made the squad this time around. The main goal for the team is to qualify for the quarter-final. I would like to play stress-free hockey and truly take in the wonderful moment of making the Olympics,” says the Protea who plays left-half at the back.
According to Seerane, she is still eternally grateful to the opportunities NWU has presented her to launch her hockey career after school into the next stratosphere.
“The coaching at NWU has always been fantastic and helped expose me to so much more, sharpening my skills. I have a lot of respect for Sheldon Rostron who was my hockey coach at the NWU from my first to -third year of study.”
South Africa will take on Ireland, the Netherlands, India, Great Britain and Germany in group A, with the top-four countries moving on to the quarter-finals. 
