It’s 104 hockey matches and counting for Northcliff High School learner, Caitlin Ellis (18).
The young hockey star has played more than a century of matches at the school since her first game in 2014.
Caitlin is the school’s 1st team captain and centre forward. Having scored about 15 goals this season, her game style is to hang high in her opposition’s defensive circle and to pass, pass, pass.
The young player not only plays for the school, she lends her skills to Panorama Hockey Club as well as the prestigious Southern Gauteng U19 side.
She has been selected to play for Southern Gauteng since the age of 13 and has been playing since she was nine.
Now in her matric year, she plans on taking a gap year when she completes her National Senior Certificate to later study physiotherapy at Stellenbosch University while pursuing a hockey career at the same time.
“I want to play for South Africa some day,” she said.
Her favourite national players are Clinton Panther and Pietie Coetzee. Internationally, her blood is orange in support of the International Hockey Federation’s number one world ranked team, the Netherlands (women). Her favourite Dutch player is Ellen Hoog.
Caitlin has a few short steps of the hockey ladder to climb for a spot in the national side and maybe soon Northcliff High School will be known for having a national hockey player as part of their alumni.