For the love of hockey
Local hockey player Gareth Heyns has earned his Springbok colours for the second year.
Born and bred Primrose boy Gareth Heyns (24) was only 12 years old when he first started playing hockey, and he’s never looked back.
This year Gareth received his Springbok colours for men’s senior hockey for the second year.
The GCN sat down with Gareth, who is currently finishing off his masters degree in marketing at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) to find out why he loves hockey.
“I really didn’t know much about the sport when I started playing as it was only starting to be introduced into our school,” he explained.
Gareth compares hockey to football and enjoys the fast-paced action the game offers.
“You have to be fit and strong, overall it’s a nice physical sport which I enjoy,” he said.
Hockey is a huge part of Gareth’s life, in addition to the Springbok side Gareth plays for UJ’s senior side and coaches the first side at Jeppe High School for Boys.
“Monday and Wednesday nights I train for provincial and Tuesday and Thursday I train for UJ and on the weekend play games,” he said.
“It’s really busy but I enjoy it.”
The Springbok team recently played against Germany in Cape Town, Gareth described the match as tough.
“It was tougher than anything I’ve ever done.
“It was such a big step-up, as Germany are the reigning Olympic champions, to play against them was unbelievable.
“They are so skilful and though their style is very basic it’s flawless, they exposed any weaknesses we had.
“I would love to play at that level a lot more and playing in this series is one of my best memories of being in the team,” he said.
Gareth feels that SA’s hockey players are not far behind their European counterparts and feels with more investment in the sport the team could be a top contender in the world of hockey.
In the future Gareth plans to head overseas but would love to continue to play hockey.
“It is difficult because we aren’t paid to play as it is seen as a semi-professional sport, and there is not a lot of investment into the sport and we struggle to find sponsors.
“But as long as I can play hockey I will,” he said with a smile.
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