Mpumalanga hockey boys make their mark at U18 IPT

The Mpumalanga U18 hockey team put on a great show at the 2024 U18 Boys Interprovincial Tournament (IPT), achieving the province’s highest-ever finish at the competition. The tournament took place in Bloemfontein from June 16 to 21.

Both Mpumalanga’s boys and girls teams competed in the B section of the U18 IPT, and while the girls have previously played in the A section, the boys have never made the jump up. The best the boys did until this year’s IPT was reach the semi-finals before they were knocked out and ultimately won bronze.

But, this year’s group of Mpumalanga boys were a determined bunch. Drawn in a tough and highly competitive Pool A, they had to take on the likes of Boland B, KwaZulu-Natal Inland B, Southern Free State B, Eastern Province B and North West. Coming to the end of the pool stages, the Mpumalanga boys won three of their five matches, drawing one and losing the other.

They were one of three sides to finish on 10 points in the pool, but their goal difference ensured that they were second in the standing.

This meant that they qualified for the semi-final stage, where they’d have to take on Northern Gauteng B – also not the easiest task. But a 2-0 win ensured that they made history for Mpumalanga and progressed to the B section final for the first time ever.

There, they had to face Boland B who topped Pool A, but Mpumalanga beat 3-1 them in the pool stages. Things didn’t start out great for the Mpumalanga boys as Boland scored two early goals in the first quarter, but they bounced back well and responded with two goals of their own to draw level at 2-2 at half time.

Boland dominated the second half though, scoring three goals in the third quarter to take a 5-2 lead.

Mpumalanga found some hope in the final quarter with a goal of their own, but it just wasn’t enough as they lost 5-3. In spite of the loss, they still finished second and made their mark as Mpumalanga’s best-ever result at an U18 Boys IPT.

In the team, five players were from the Ehlanzeni District. These were team captain Bruce Nel, Caleb Erasmus, Marley Waspe (all three from Uplands College), Selwyn Gininda and Thando Pathwa (both from Penryn). Bruce finished as the team’s top goalscorer for the tournament with four goals, which is the tied-fifth-most for the tournament.

Three of the four coaching staff were from Ehlanzeni too, namely head coach Brighty Mashaba (Curro Nelspruit), assistant coach Tjoff van Staden (Uplands) and video technician Anthony Ruschenbaum (Hoërskool Nelspruit).

On the girls’ side of the U18 IPT, Mpumalanga did fairly well too. They also finished second in Pool A, but lost to Eastern Gauteng in the semi-final. They lost the bronze final to KZN Coastal B, which means they finished fourth this year.

There were two Ehlanzeni girls who formed part of the team – Unathi Taledi from Penryn and Michelle Skosana from Curro Nelspruit.