St Mary’s Investec hockey tournament is back for the 18th time
HIGHLANDS NORTH – Girls from 32 schools from South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe will participate in the four-day festival.
St Mary’s School, Waverley in partnership with Investec, will be hosting the 18th St Mary’s Investec Hockey Festival from 6 to 9 April.
Thirty-two teams from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia will be competing in four days of fast-paced hockey.
The festival is South Africa’s premier tournament for girls’ high school hockey teams from across southern Africa. The event is hosted primarily at St Mary’s but also on the Kingsmead College and Roedean School AstroTurf hockey fields. The event culminates with the final at St Mary’s School on 9 April, starting at 6.15pm.
Hockey fans should prepare to be inspired at this year’s festival as the four-day event will again see brilliant hockey being played in front of a crowd of more than 3 000 fervent school and hockey supporters.
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“This annual gathering of South African school girl hockey talent has delivered wonderful, exciting and fast-paced hockey over the past few years and we expect the same from the 32 participating teams this year,” said Ros Howell, deputy headmistress at St Mary’s and a former national women’s team player, captain and coach.
From previous festivals, 38 girls have gone on to represent the senior national women’s team, mostly at the Olympics, FIH World Cups and Commonwealth Games. Some of the current national women’s squad will be visiting the event on 7 April to meet the players and fans and sign autographs.
Investec has been involved as a sponsor since 2008. The tournament has attracted some of the best hockey talent around the country in the 14- to 19-year-old age group.
Last year, for every goal scored at the festival (443 goals were scored), Investec sent a child from a rural area on a coaching for conservation rapid awareness programme.
This year, Investec Rhino Life Line will be supporting the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre and have pledged to donate R200 for every goal scored, to the centre. Over the past four years, Investec and St Mary’s have contributed R180 000 to the plight of the rhino in South Africa through the festival.
