SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge 2020 Dates Announcement

SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge

2020 Dates Announcement

Leaping into its tenth year, and notching up a momentous milestone, the SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge’s first tournament of the year significantly tips off its 100th overall tournament.

The first date in this jam-packed, action-filled hockey calendar that travels to ten regions in KwaZulu Natal takes place on the added bonus day this leap year, on Saturday 29 February. Host for this year’s Northern KZN Regional are Pioneer High School. 

The first of four regionals in March heads back to Durban for the Durban Central Regional where Durban Girls’ College will host teams at their astro on Saturday 7 March. The following day, Sunday 8 March, the tournament moves to Ashton International College in Ballito for the Durban North Regional. Ashton welcomes the tournament onto their recently unveiled international-spec astro turf. The fourth and fifth tournaments travels to Hilton where both the Pietermaritzburg Central and Pietermaritzburg North Regionals will take place at St Anne’s College on Saturday 14 March. 

After a short two week break, Kingsway High School will host the Durban South Regional at 3 Schools Trust on Sunday 5 April. Staying south, the tournament hits the road travelling to Matatiele for the Southern KZN Regional where King Edward High School will host teams on Saturday 18 April.

In May, schools from the timber-rich areas gather for the uMvoti, uThukela and uMzinyathi Regional on the astro at Wembley College in Greytown on Saturday 9 May. Back-to-back action takes the tournament to Curro Hillcrest on Sunday 10 May for the Highway Regional. Concluding the regionals, the tenth tournament takes place on the familiar turf at Grantleigh School that hosts teams for the Northern KZN Coastal Regional on Saturday 16 May.

Max Oliva, Managing Director of SPAR KZN said, “SPAR KZN is delighted with the success of this tournament that began in KwaZulu Natal in 2011 quickly became a highlight on the sports calendar; and has since been introduced to a number of our neighbouring provinces.”

“With the upcoming milestone of the 100 overall tournaments next month, we look forward to watching the action unfold and its success in the future. With 2020 being a big year for sports, with the Olympics taking place in Tokyo – we are delighted that our South African hockey teams will feature as well and look forward to seeing how many ladies donning the green and gold in Japan have been a part of our humble journey.”

Mid-July, the top team from each region will represent their school and their regional at the Grand Finals which takes place at St Mary’s D.S.G.. The two day final starts on Saturday 18 July with the pool games and then the cross pool and medal games on Sunday 19 July. 

For more info like the tournament’s Facebook page or follow on Instagram. 

ENDS

Ferrum High School finished eighth overall at the SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge.

Ferrum High School

In their eighth appearance Ferrrum High School finished eighth overall at the SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge.

In their pool they met defending champions, St Mary’s DSG (Highway Regional Winners), Epworth School (PMB Central Regional Winners), and teams that also travelled to the tournament – Wartburg Kirchdorf School (Umvoti, uThukela and Umzinyathi Regional Winners) and Kokstad College (Southern KZN Regional Winners).

In their first game of the tournament, they took on Wartburg where at the end of full time the score was 1 all. In their second game against Epworth, Ferrum battled to get the attack out of the circle as the Pietermaritzburg school dominated, slotting in 6 goals. In a riveting match against the defending champions, Ferrum pulled a rabbit out of the hat by scoring a surprise goal mid game and drawing first blood. For agonizing minutes Ferrum held strong as St Mary’s tried to get off their back foot and try to break the Ferrum defence. The host school netted four quick fire goals as the clock wound down to the end of the game, with the final score being 4-1 to the champs. In the last pool game Ferrum went up against Kokstad, and finishing their day as they started, the game ended level with both teams scoring one goal.

On Sunday, in the very first cross pool playoff, they met Crawford La Lucia who didn’t wait long to find the back of the net. At the end of full time, Crawford had managed to score 2 goals, sending Kokstad into the final playoff for position seven and eight. Here they met Richards Bay’s Felixton College. Felixton managed to go 1 nil up and then defend their score, with the whistle blowing and snaffling the seventh place, meaning Kokstad would have to settle of eighth overall.

Ferrum High School – Northern KZN Regional Winner – Fifth (2012, 2015), Sixth (2011, 2018), Eighth (2019), Ninth (2017), Tenth (2013, 2014)

SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge - Southern KZN Regional Creston College: Saturday 13 April

SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge - Southern KZN Regional

Creston College: Saturday 13 April

The sixth regional in the SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge, the Southern KZN, heads to Creston College on Saturday 13 April.

Geographically, this is one of the biggest regionals, with six teams travelling from Scottburgh, Kokstad, Matatiele and iXopo joining four local south coast teams to participate in a spectacular ‘hockey-filled’ day.

The teams are host school Creston College, Kokstad College, Scottburgh High School, St Patrick’s College and Suid-Natal High School in Pool A and iXopo High School, King Edward High School, Port Shepstone High School, Southcity Christian School and St Monica’s High School.

This region has turned out three winners over its nine year history. The first team to ‘don’ the Southern KZN regional title was the feisty team from inland, Kokstad College, with two appearances in the 2011 and 2014 Grand Finals. They earned themselves a seventh and eighth spot overall out of the ten regions. Host school, Creston College has also represented the region twice in back-to-back appearances in 2012 and 2013. Creston ended up with a sixth spot in their first Grand Final and a fifth in their second.

Travelling the farthest is the gutsy team from King Edward High School in Matatiele. For the last four consecutive years, this team has topped the log. Faring well at the Grand Finals they have an eighth, two sixth places and a seventh in last year’s Grand Final.

The two ladies heading up the King Edward team, Coach and Manager Lizel du Randt and new Coach Tarryn McArthur said, “Our KEHS girls have an unbelievably positive, upbeat spirit this year. Our girls know that when their legs run out, they play with their hearts and this year we have loads of heart.”

The action will be split over two fields, with the first games seeing Creston going up against Scottburgh High, and on the second field Southcity taking on travelling team iXopo. Once all the pool games are complete, the semi finals will get underway, followed by positional games and the gold / silver game capping off a full day of hockey.

The winner of the Southern KZN Regional will join teams from around KZN at the Grand Finals taking place at St Mary’s DSG in Kloof on 20 and 21 July.

The regional winner will join other teams that have already got a ticket to the Grand Finals. They are St Anne’s (PMB North Regional), Epworth School (PMB Central Regional), Crawford La Lucia (DBN North Regional) and Durban Girls’ College (DBN Central Regional) and from last weekend Amanzimtoti High School (DBN South Regional).

For more info like the tournament’s Facebook page or follow their Instagram account.

ENDS

Pietermaritzburg Central and Northern Regionals St John’s D.S.G. and The Wykeham Collegiate: Sunday 3 March

SPAR KZN School Girls’ Hockey Challenge

Pietermaritzburg Central and Northern Regionals

St John’s D.S.G. and The Wykeham Collegiate: Sunday 3 March

Firing up the 2019 SPAR KZN School Girls’ Hockey Challenge, the first two regionals tip off in Pietermaritzburg on Sunday 3 March.

Host for the Pietermaritzburg Central Regional is St John’s D.S.G. while up the road, The Wykeham Collegiate will play host to the Pietermaritzburg Northern Regional. The central games get under way at 07.30am and half an hour later for the northern regional. The top two teams for both regionals will duel it out for their regional final at 01.25pm at The Wykeham Collegiate, and at 02.50pm at St John’s D.S.G. The prize givings will follow the finals for each regional.

Central hosts, St John’s are one times winners having advanced to the Grand Finals in 2017, they take on defending champs Epworth School together with six times victrix, Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High School. Also part of the central regional are Russell High, Alexandra High, Maritzburg Christian School and Carter High.

Wykeham have also earned the regional title once in the second tournament in 2012. St Anne’s College have dominated the area winning the regional crown seven times. Hoping to topple Saint’s domination are schools from Voortrekker High, Grace College, Howick High and Treverton and of course host The Wykeham Collegiate.

Both regionals will be using the round robin format with a win earning them 4 points, a draw with goals 2 points, a goalless draw 1 point and a loss zero points. The match duration will last 20 minutes rolling time.

Following the first two Pietermaritzburg regionals, the tournament then travels to Durban for the Durban North and Durban Central Regionals taking place the weekend after. Once all the regionals have concluded, the regional finalists converge on the Grand Finals which takes place on 20 and 21 July at St Mary’s D.S.G.

ENDS

SPAR KZN School Girls' Hockey - Southern KZN Regional

Kokstad: Saturday 21 April

King Edward High School claimed their fourth regional title in a riveting final against host school Kokstad College at the Southern KZN Regional of the SPAR KZN School Girls' Hockey Challenge on Saturday 21 April.

The two finalists earned top position in their pools, advancing through to the semi-finals where King Edward met Suid-Natal and Kokstad took on Southcity. King Edward won 2-0, where the Kokstad College Southcity game went to a penalty shootout resulting in a 2-0 victory for Kokstad.  

In the last game of the day, fierce rivals King Edward and Kokstad notched up a nil nil score at the end of full time, with Kokstad earning two short corners, the first of those was directly after no-nonsense umpire, Jani Dorning awarded two cards to King Edwards players, a green was dished out first, followed by a yellow for continuously infringing the five yards at a free hit. Both shorties were successfully defended by the Matatiele team. Both teams didn't really make any impact at the business ends of the field, with majority of the action taking place mid-field.

The game progressed to a penalty shootout with the defending champs taking the first run. King Edward’s Anathi Madikizela charged into the circle, only to meet the advancing Anga Gogela who didn't allow Madikizela any space to fire off a shot. Kokstad's Sibabalwe Cabangama was next to go and meet the sturdy defense of Thuto Kanetsi. Cabangama knocked the ball directly at Kanetsi, who easily stopped it and prevented any further chances. Second for KEHS, fiesty Azisa Cokota successfully knocked the first goal in, after running in and decisively sliding the ball right of Gogela. Kokstad's Tyler Rorke levelled the score after her first attempt was stopped, and she pounced on the ball slapping in her follow up shot that went left of the keeper. King Edwards's Lukhona Ndumdum stepped up to the mark, moved the ball in, drawing Gogela out, then rounding her on the left and slipping the ball in to take KEHS 2-1 up. Finally, Simamkele Kwababa's chance was denied by alert Kanetsi. Kwababa's slap attempt was easily blocked and then Kanetsi charged the ball down not allowing Kokstad player any space. The final score was 2-1 to King Edward.

In the bronze game Sheppie team, Suid-Natal took on fellow south coasters Southcity where the game also went to a penalty shootout. The game ended at nil nil with both teams not threatening to score. Suid-Natal's Kayla Parson and Valerie Ahrens scored while Michaela van Der Heever sadly missed. The mirror image results saw Southcity's Hannah Nero and Sarah-Joy Pringles score and McKayla Du Bruyn not able to get a third for her team. The bronze medal game then went to a sudden death, with Parson side stepping around Tamryn Steenkamp and determinedly finding the back of the net. Focused Nero veered left, but her shot went wide of the box allowing Suid-Natal third place.

After the finals, coach for Kokstad College Stephanie Peterson said, “It was a tough game. King Edward are worthy opponents to play against, but it is always the team with the most fight that wins. I was very proud of our team, even though they are young, they can only get better from here.”

Deidre Duminy, coach for King Edward High School said “The whole tournament, as always, was well organised and very exciting, and a good opportunity for us to practice our skills in play. The first game was slow for us, and then the goals seemed to open up after that. Kokstad College is a wonderful yet terrible opponent, as they are a tenacious team, and one can never be assured of the outcome. We enjoyed playing on their home ground and of course pleased that we managed to defend our title."

Joining the list of Most Promising Umpire from various regionals is Kyle de Kock from Kokstad College. The 16 year old Grade 11 pupil was impressive with his decisive decisions throughout the day and has been invited to the Grand Finals where he will further his umpiring career. 

King Edward are the seventh team to advance to the Grand Finals at St Mary's DSG in Kloof on the 21 and 22 July. They join Ferrum Hoërskool (Northern KZN Regional); St Anne's (PMB North Regional); Epworth School (PMB Central Regional); Durban Girls' College (DBN Central Regional); Amanzimtoti High School (DBN South Regional); Our Lady of Fatima (DBN North Regional).

For more info like the tournament's Facebook page.

Results: 

1 King Edward High School, 2 Kokstad College, 3 Suid-Natal Hoërskool, 4 Southcity School, 5 Creston College, 6 Port Shepstone High School, 7 St Monica’s Diocesan School, 8 St Patrick's College, 9 Ixopo High School, 10 Bergview High School

SPAR KZN School Girls' Hockey Challenge - Durban South Regional

3 Schools Trust: Sunday 25 March

After an absolute humdinger of a final, Amanzimtoti High School sealed their fourth win in a duplicated 2017 performance in the Durban South Regional of the SPAR KZN School Girls' Hockey Challenge at the  3 Schools Trust Astro on Sunday 25 March.

Toti took on neighbouring school, Kuswag Hoërskool for a Toti derby with a fast-flowing final being played where they won the game 1-0 after a persistent attack from Toti resulted in the solitary goal.

It took Toti all of four minutes to knock in the goal that earned them victory. Toti's feisty Mvelo Mtombeni powered forward into the circle where Kuswag defender was penalised for getting the ball on the back of the stick. Toti had earned their first short corner. Kuswag's defense stood firm as Toti attempted to score. In the second short corner, the ball was knocked from left of the goals to the nearest player, then was quickly passed along the top of the circle. At the top of the circle the Toti ball hit a Kuswag foot, taking them to the third taking of the short corner. 

In a similar fashion, the ball moved in from the short corner, getting tapped along the top of the circle to Megan Powell standing firm mid circle, firing in a shot that Kuswag fumbled and were unable to prevent the goal. 

Thereafter a fired-up Kuswag dominated the possession, but were unable to capitalise. Nine attempts by Kuswag sadly didn't amount to an equalizer. Both the Captain and Vice-Captain for Kuswag played outstanding games, with both of them attacking the Toti defense.

Leading up to the finals, in an exact replication of last year's tournament, Toti met Kingsway in the first semi-finals where the scoreline was level on 1 all at full time. The semi went to a penalty shoot out where Kingsway stepped up first, missing the goals. Toti also missed their first attempt. Kingsway then took their second penalty attempt, missing that. Amani Xozwa broke through netting the first goal for Toti, taking the score to 0-1 to Toti going into the final round. 

Nontobeko Mazibuko leveled the score for Kingsway, managing to get the ball behind the hard-working Toti keeper, Alexia Kesaris. The final penalty had Mthombeni lining up to take it. Her first attempt was thwarted by tenacious Kingsway’s goalie, Teneze Tsouros who put her body on the line, stopping the shot. Tsouros then dived forward pushing the ball out of danger but was deemed to have used the back of her stick in the clearance, resulting in the final penalty being retaken. Mthombeni didn't make the same mistake twice and secured her team’s win.

Kuswag had an easier time advancing to the finals, meeting Werda. Captain for Kuswag Crizelda Delport scored the only goal in their semi-final, with the final score ending on 1-0 in favour of Kuswag. 

Dale Fibiger, coach of Kuswag, the host school said “It was an exciting tournament - it is always a good platform for the players to play lots of hockey and get their skills right. The coaches can use the opportunity to see where the players are best positioned too. The final match between ourselves and Amanzimtoti was exciting - it was played with good spirit and our girls were very positive and played as a team until the end."

Chris Clarke, coach for Amanzimtoti said “The first match of this tournament against Kuswag was our first game of the year. It was a very enjoyable event although it was hot all the teams stepped up their games, especially New Forest. This year the hockey was much harder. We started out well, and even though the girls got tired during the day, they managed to hold it together. It was an incredibly tough final against Kuswag, who dominated once we had scored our goal - but the girls managed to maintain their composure to make it to the final whistle."

Amanzimtoti High School is the fifth team to secure a spot at the SPAR KZN School Girls' Hockey Challenge Grand Finals that will be held in July at St Mary's DSG. They join Durban Girls' College (Durban Central Regional), St Anne's Diocesan (Pietermaritzburg Northern Regional), Epworth School (Pietermaritzburg Central Regional), and Ferrum Hoërskool (Northern KZN Regional).

For more info like the tournament's Facebook page.