Belgotex Sport Easter Hockey Tournament – I need a hero…

Belgotex Sport Easter Hockey Tournament – I need a hero…

In years gone by school sport tournaments like the Belgotex Sport Easter Hockey Tournament would have been littered with names like Erin Christie, Onthatile Zulu, Kayla de Waal and Matt De Sousa. Tonight, the South African International quartet were in support of the largest co-ed school’s tournament in Southern Africa. The players, who all assisted in South Africa’s journey to Olympic Qualification came to inspire the next generation of stars after an exciting opening day of action in the Southern Suburbs.

Potential tournament heroes were on display as early as the first game of the day. Jordyn Wilson netting four goals for Hudson Park in a big win over Hugenote. Marine van Raavensway also was an early hat-trick scorer as Paarl Gimnasium defeated Oudtshoorn. And another potential hero was Caroline Morris netting four as Somerset overcame the challenge of Hoerskool Punt.

With potential heroes becoming pivotal heroes the pressure was on for the defending champions Monument who finished day one undefeated, but with a goalless draw against Kingswood College will have their work cut out to qualify for the Cup Quarter Finals. A similar challenge awaits 2023 runners up Woodridge having drawn their second game of the day 0-0 with Redhill.

Over in the boy’s tournament, there was no shortage of potential heroes on display. With 40 teams on display and all taking part in two games, it may come as a surprise that only five teams completed the day with a 100% record and two wins out of two.

The defending champions Paarl Gimnasium are one of them, with memories of the greatest comeback in hockey history from last year’s tournament still reverberating in our minds, they will be happy with the ease at which they finished off the challenge of first Bellville Boys (Juan Swanepoel scoring four) and Hoërskool Nelspruit to lay down a sizeable marker of their ambitions for the tournament.

Somerset College collected their full house of points with a resounding victory over the Settlers and a tough 1-0 win over Hoërskool Rustenburg thanks to a Connor Hendriks goal. Fairmont High School, who have a great pedigree and history with this tournament, made it 6 out of 6 in terms of points by defeating Oudsthoorn easily after a 3-2 game of the day victory over Stellenbosch with Kyle Maclean the two-goal hero.

Stellenberg are the fourth team to still be in with a shot of a perfect tournament thanks to their two tight victories over Paarl and Lanenhoven Gimnasium, Dean Potgieter netting their most vital goal of the opening day.

Worcester Gymnasium are the only other team with a perfect record and their journey there was straight forward against Curro Durbanville and Northcliff High, which included a Christiaan Joubert hat-trick.

Many of the young players representing the 80 teams across 280 matches this weekend will be dreaming of one day emulating Erin Christie, Thati Zulu, Kayla de Waal or Matt de Sousa. Some of them have taken a vital step to achieving that on day one of the Belgotex Sport Easter Hockey Tournament. Who will take the step on day 2?

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