Toti High puts it sticks in for hockey tourney final

THE top ten girls’ first teams from around KZN will converge on Kloof in the grand finals of the 2015 SPAR KZN regional hockey tournament over the weekend of 25 and 26 July.

Twenty-nine games will be battled out at St Mary’s DSG and Thomas More College in the hunt for the 2015 champion.

The ten teams that were victorious in their regionals around KZN will take each other on in the conclusion to this annual tournament, which is now in its fifth year. Ten regionals have been played through the early part of this year, with the finalists from each region participating in the grand finals.

Favourites are the in-form teams from St Mary’s DSG and Durban Girls’ College that are just outside the top 10 rankings in South Africa for girls’ first teams. Not far down the list are Pietermartizburg Girls’ High School and St Anne’s College.

Durban Girls’ College are the defending champions, having raised the trophy in the last two years. Promising to give them a run for their money are previous winners St Mary’s DSG and St Anne’s College.

Teams that will compete in the tournament are Ferrum Hoërskool from Newcastle; Amanzimtoti High School from the Durban South regional; Ashton International College from the Durban North regional; defending champions Durban Girls’ College from the Durban Central regional; Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High and St Anne’s College from the Pietermaritzburg Central and Northern regional; St Mary’s DSG from the Highway regional; King Edward High School from the Southern KZN regional; Empangeni High School from the Northern KZN regional and Wartburg Kirchdorf High School from the Inland KZN regional.

Another vital ingredient to this tournament is the growth of umpires. At each regional, one umpire was selected as the most promising umpire and they have been invited to officiate at the grand finals.

The most promising umpires are Ansie Joubert (St Dominic’s Academy) from the Northern KZN regional; Jason Naidoo (Kingsway High School) from the Durban South regional; Ziyaana Booley (Northlands Girls High) from Durban North regional; Pam Daniel (Durban Girls High School) Durban Central regional; Craig Warren (Treverton) Pietermaritzburg Central regional; Bryn Merton (Grace College) Pietermaritzburg North regional; Chiara Benati (St Mary’s DSG – making her second appearance) from the Highway regional; Tessa Van Vuuren from the Southern KZN regional who also is making her second appearance; Storm Blignaut (St Catherine’s) Northern KZN regional and Sarah Wheeler (Greytown High School) Inland regional, who makes her fifth appearance.

“As with the actual game of hockey, a tournament of this size requires some great teamwork and good strategies to win,” says MD of SPAR Rob Philipson. “I would like to thank everyone involved – tournament director, Les Galloway, the technical team, the schools, coaches, managers and teachers and the girls and their parents who have worked together to create and develop this winning event. So successful has this model been, that other provinces are looking to emulate it.”

“We look forward to a great weekend of top schoolgirl hockey,” says Les Galloway, tournament director. “It has been truly exciting to see how this tournament has helped to grow a love for hockey in KZN. The festive atmosphere created by SPAR has really given schoolgirls an opportunity to have fun playing in a competitive tournament and have seen the interest in the game increasing. In fact this year, we were pleased to welcome Inanda Seminary, a school that has not played hockey in recent years, participate in the Durban Central regionals, giving some of the more experienced teams a good competitive match.”

Pool matches will be played on Saturday, July 25 from 8.30am at St Mary’s and Thomas More in Kloof. On Sunday, July 26 the play-offs will start at 8.30am at St Mary’s.

For more info and the fixtures list, ‘like’ the SPAR KZN regional hockey tournament Facebook page or follow the tournament on Twitter @SPARGirlsHockey.