NWU Hockey hosts women’s festival this weekend

The North-West University (NWU) Potchefstroom campus will host a quadrangular hockey festival at the Astro this weekend, where the best U21 women’s teams of the northern region of South Africa will be in action.  

The festival, organised by the NWU Hockey club, will bring together the U21 sides of Southern Free State (SFS) women’s teams and Southern Gauteng (SG) women’s A & B teams. The NWU hockey club will field the North-West women’s U21 team. 

The festival, to be held from 7 to 9 May, was organised to get hockey going again after the Coronavirus lockdowns across the province and country, and also because the South African Hockey Association (SAHA) had postponed the U21 Inter-provincial tournament (IPT), which would have been held in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth).

This map shows the way to the NWU Astro turf, for teams coming from outside North West for the weekend’s hockey festival. (Map: Lilitha Bodlani and Google Maps)

Nelson Komane-Nel (30), North-West U21 head coach, is glad to get his team playing sport again. “We’re trying to get going as a team. Last week we participated in the NWU girls hockey festival, however this weekend will prove to be a bigger test,” Komane-Nel said. 

Without any U21 provincial tournament this year, it will be difficult for the SAHA to choose any of the junior national U21 sides who will compete in world cups later this year. 

Komane-Nel stressed that without any hockey action it would have been tough for the hockey players in South Africa. “NWU Sports decided to organise a hockey festival to help our U21 players get much needed game time ahead of the nationals later in the year,” Komane-Nel said. 

Luke Makeleni (32), Southern Free State U21 women’s head coach, has set his sights on a good weekend of hockey in Potchefstroom. “I was here for the girl’s festival last week with Eunice and we ended up being one of the top teams. I’m just hoping for yet another successful weekend with the women’s team,” Makeleni said.      

Shaun Hulley (47), director of hockey at the NWU, is delighted to have hockey back in town. “After the successful girl’s festival we hosted a week ago, we knew that it had to happen for our U21 men’s and women’s teams,” Hulley said.

While players are allowed to take part in competitive events, due to the Covid-19 protocols put in place by the government as well as NWU, there can be no spectators at the NWU sport facilities.   

In the previous festival NWU hockey hosted, there was live streaming thanks to Squared Sports. They are a broadcasting and media production company that broadcasts sports events in the North West province.  

Hulley is hoping that with the help of streaming services like Squared Sports hockey will continue to be showcased for those spectators who cannot watch live matches. “It is true that the way sport is going, we can’t get any fans due to the Covid-19 protocols but streaming has become a popular tool,” Hulley said. 

North-West U21 women’s team:

Mishka Ellis, Merlise Kock, Martiné De Bruin, Matilé Prinsloo, Christa Ramasimong, Tara Myburg, Vicky Nel, Chesley Adams, Chanté Ferreira, Jacolene McLaren, Liz-Marie Poss, Carla Smit, Zimkhitha Weston, Morgan Paterson, Tioné Swart, Pretty Morema, Gerdi Steenkamp and Anya Bruwer.

• Live streaming of the weekend’s events has not been confirmed yet, but make sure to visit NWU Sports Facebook page and Squared Sports YouTube channel to check whether any matches will be streamed.