Northcliff High School (NHS) doesn’t play around when it comes to hockey.
The school’s hockey teams have already undergone some independent pre-season training to stay active and get ready for the 2018 hockey season.
NHS got top Dutch coaches from 11 to 14 January to help players brush up and teach them new skills, just three days before the 2018 school year begins for public schools in Gauteng.
The Princess SportWays Dutch Hockey Clinic took place at the NHS astroturf and many of the school’s enthusiastic hockey players attended.
Last year the school’s first team girls not only played in the prestigious Pullen Hockey Tournament but also finished in sixth place out of 24 top hockey schools.
Unlike other schools, NHS’s first team – although important – is not the be all and end all of the school. Its U16 girls’ team also secured a place in the top 10 – coming in 8th – in the prestigious Howel Hockey Tournament.
Although hockey is a team sport, it is only natural that some individual players stand out and in 2017 some of the school’s players had their fair share of successes.
Some individual NHS hockey successes:
- Laylah Majiet – selected to be part of the Southern Gauteng U14C team
- Keslyn Leong-Colom – selected to be part of the Southern Gauteng U14C team
- Tamsin Bangert – selected to be part of the Southern Gauteng U16A team
- Mint Yodya – selected to be part of the Southern Gauteng U16B team
- Miché Smith – selected to be part of the Southern Gauteng U16B team
- Botlhale Mofokeng – selected to be part of the Southern Gauteng U16B team
- Lesedi Mensele – selected to be part of the Southern Gauteng U16D team
- Imogen Bangert – selected to be part of the Southern Gauteng U18A team
- Caitlin Ellis – selected to be part of the Southern Gauteng U18C team
- Shannon Winnaar – part of the Southern Gauteng team that won gold at the Regional U18 hockey tournament
- Nadia Murray – part of the Southern Gauteng team who won gold at the Regional U18 hockey tournament
- Miché Smith voted the most valuable U16 Player for Season 4 of the Southern Trappers Fives hockey tournament
2017 was a successful year for NHS hockey and the school seems to be preparing their current teams for yet another successful season.
NHS kicks off its hockey season towards the end of February and from then on it’s full speed ahead to secure some wins in the new season.
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