In one of the most fiercely contested regionals of the SPAR KZN School Girls’ Hockey Challenge, seven west Durban schools will battle it out at Curro Hillcrest on May 21, in an attempt to claim the Highway title.
Schools participating in this regional include Westville Girls’ High School, Hillcrest High, Curro Hillcrest, Kloof High, Thomas More College and current overall challenge champs and five times winners of this regional, St Mary’s DSG.
Last year, in one of the most enthralling regional finals which could have ended either way, St Mary’s DSG just managed to edge out Westville Girls’ High School, who have claimed victory in this challenge. No doubt Westville, will be going all out in attempt to take top honours, and St. Mary’s will be eager to hang on to their title, promising some riveting hockey along the way together with the other strong teams from this area.
This regional tournament, hosted by Curro Hillcrest, will be played in a round-robin format, with 30 minute one-way matches. The two teams with the most points tallied at the end, face each other in a final to determine who will go through to meet nine other regional winners at the Grand Finals at St Mary’s DSG in Kloof in July.
Coach for St Mary’s DSG Kelly Reed says, “I am 100% confident in the team’s ability to qualify for the finals, however sport is sport and anything can happen and that’s why we all love it so much. The format of the regionals with only 30 minute games always makes it competitive and any team on their good day can be difficult to beat.”
Speaking about last year’s finals, Reed says that they were “intense but amazing – a really nice experience for the girls to play teams from all over and to learn from their different styles of play. These short format games and playing in pressure situations have taught the girls a lot about patience and how important it is to take your chances – so we look forward to the tournament and what it holds.”
The winners of this regional will join nine regional winners at the Grand Finals at St Mary’s in Durban on July 29 and 30. Regional winners include King Edward High School, winners of the Ugu and Sisonke Regional, Ferrum Skool (Newcastle), St Anne’s College (PMB North), St John’s DSG (PMB Central), Amanzimtoti High School (Durban South), Our Lady of Fatima (Durban North) and Durban Girls College (Durban Central) and a team from the Umvoti, uThukela and Umzinyathi Regional which will be played on May 13 and another from the Northern Coastal regional to be played on May 28 at Grantleigh in Richards Bay.
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