UJ welcomes former hockey player and Midrand resident as coach
JOHANNESBURG – Former hockey star Tsoanelo Pholo ready to lead University of Johannesburg Hockey team.
The University of Johannesburg welcomed former South African hockey player and Midrand resident Tsoanelo Pholo as coach of the Varsity women team.
The 35-year-old former South Africa hockey star had an incredible career with 53 international performance and seven goals before retiring in 2010. She joined the University’s management late last year.
She said, “The UJ hockey set-up is on its way back to being as professional as the top teams in the world.”
Pholo added that her main focuses for the year were the varsity hockey tournament, in which the women play every alternate year, as well as the University Sports South Africa week and Southern Gauteng Premier League.
She said, “I am a very competitive individual so I am here to achieve nothing but positive results.”
Her appointment came about after she received a call from UJ late last year. She said she had managed to make the transition from international player to coach without difficulty.
Pholo has also qualified at the highest level (level 4) in the Federation of International Hockey structures, which she achieved in 2018. She has taken charge of a number of teams in the past including the South African U18 team who made it to the semi-finals of Youth Olympic Games last year in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Pholo said, “My goal is to be a catalyst in spreading the sport to every corner of South Africa, every township, small or rural town, mining communities and urban areas. I am actively seeking opportunities that support this goal.
“Coaching is about seeing the potential in every player and being the catalyst to bringing the best out of individual players. It is about being the glue that connects all that talent in a team,” she concluded.
