To expose hockey to a wider audience, South African Hockey and Gauteng Sport and Recreation sanctioned a hockey development programme for Region C. Together with In Touch, Wings, Westbury Villas and New Rovers Hockey Clubs, the programme is run every Saturday morning at Cecil Payne Stadium. With the majority of the young participants coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, the programme is run free of charge. The stadium is also the venue for the clubs’ annual Youth Day hockey festival.
Equipment to learn and play hockey was provided as almost 200 children from 26 schools from Region B and C participated. Current and former national hockey players put the children through their paces in the fun hockey games and coaching drills.
Mervyn Mooi from the Ward 70 Sports Council said he was happy with the turnout and the success of the event but lamented over the lack of public hockey fields in Roodepoort.
“Outside of Cecil Payne Stadium there are no hockey facilities that cater for children who come from disadvantaged areas. At schools the facilities are there for school children and the clubs that have an astro turf charge a fortune for outsiders to use. This is a major constraint for us as we’d love to grow the sport especially in disadvantaged areas,” he said.
The festival is not only hosted on Youth Day but other public holidays such as Human Rights. The next festival will be on 9 August, Women’s Day. This is to keep the children occupied during their free time with healthy activities.
“In numbers, hockey is bigger than soccer because it is a family oriented sport and is not biased towards one gender. It’s a marginalized in Gauteng as it faces lots of adversities in poor areas. We need funding, kits, equipment, transport and coaching resources. For the sport develop we need these things. That is what we’re working towards,” said Mooi.
For more information on the programme, contact Mooi on 083-308-2525.
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