KZN U18m Hockey report.

Hockey Report

The Kwazulu-Natal Coastals U18A Boys Hockey Team recently took part in the annual Inter Provincial Hockey Tournament in Pietermaritzburg from the 21^st to 25^th of June 2010.

Glenwood had 3 representatives in the KZN side, namely Alexander Van der Merwe, Ross Hetem and Sumanth Sunkari. Ryan Lees and Dylan Gouws were also selected as non travelling reserves.

We went into the first game, against a passionate Border side, full of confidence and positivity. But the result was definitely not a reflection of this as the boys from East London made their presence felt with a resounding 4-1 win. To summarise, the loss brought us back ‘down to earth’ and in hindsight was probably a blessing in disguise.

We headed into our afternoon game knowing that anything short of a loss would almost immediately eliminate us from reaching the semi finals. We knew we had to raise our game and we did. It ended in a 5-1 win over Western Province B and we started to show glimpses of what we were capable of.

Our next game was against our neighbours and the hosts, KZN Inland. This was the ‘make or break’ game for us and we knew we had to get maximum points. Since we had already lost to Border, for us, it was a battle for 2^nd place in the Group and we knew KZN Inland were our biggest rivals. Not many could have predicted what went on to happen, a thumping 5-0 victory over last year’s champions. I’m sure many of us were also quietly surprised at what just happened but this definitely set the tone for what was to come.

In the afternoon, we played against a very defensive Southern Free State side that frustrated us for almost half the game. Our strengths were definitely our speed on attack and the natural ability of many of our players but the guys from Bloemfontein made considerable efforts to nullify these factors. We finally broke the shackles and scored early in the 2^nd half, whilst knowing that one goal would probably be enough to secure the victory. Nevertheless, we stayed positive and were rewarded with a winner late in the game to seal a 2-0 victory and partially guarantee ourselves a spot in Thursday’s semi-final.

Our last group game was against Eastern Gauteng. We came into the match knowing that a draw would be enough to take us through but we kept at it and finished off with a ‘scrappy’ but sufficient 5-2 win.

We had qualified for the semis and were set to face Western Province, this year’s favourites. A tough but exciting encounter was on the cards. We went into the game confident and motivated even though most of the crowd was against us. The game was played at a high tempo with end-to-end action. We took the lead early but they equalized within minutes. It was all tied up going in to half time and it was felt that the team who scored next would probably go on to win the game. After many chances, we eventually scored and took a 2-1 lead with 15 minutes to play. The Capetonians threw everything at us but we managed to hold on to the lead and secured ourselves a place in the Friday’s eagerly awaited final against Southern Gauteng.

From the beginning, we had set our goals on reaching the final and now that it was a reality, we did not want to stop there. We knew we were one step away from victory and all that was going through our heads the night before was gold.

Friday afternoon, 1 o’ clock, bright sunshine, thousands of people packed into Papes Astro at Maritzburg College. The scene was set.

We sang the national anthem prior to the start and the time had finally arrived. A ‘nervy’ start from both sides gradually translated into disciplined, structured hockey and once again, we took an early lead. We went into half time leading by one goal but we knew that that was definitely not going to be enough. They came out firing and dominated us for the first 10 minutes but we held tight and more importantly, didn’t concede a goal. We finally had some possession and made full use of it by scoring a second goal halfway through the second period. There was still some doubt but all that disappeared when we scored a 3^rd just before the end. The final whistle went and the celebrations started. Finally, KZN Coastal were able to get their hands on the trophy and were crowned Inter Provincial Champions for 2010.

The post match function took place where the medals were handed out and the SA Squads were announced.

Glenwood had 2 representatives in these national squads with Ross Hetem and Sumanth Sunkari being selected for the SA U17 Squad as well as Sumanth also being chosen for the SA U18 squad.

A big thank you must go to Mr Carolan for all his hard work and effort behind the scenes in preparing us for the tournament and to the province of Kwazulu-Natal for hosting such a successful tournament.

Thank you.

Report by Sumanth Sunkari (Grade 12PR).