Mary’s Hockey Festival brings together top girls schools
The festival celebrates its 21st anniversary this year.
Following a two-year hiatus owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, St Mary’s Waverley is delighted to announce that the St Mary’s Hockey Festival is back.
South Africa’s premier girls’ school hockey event will take place from April 7 to 10. This year, 32 schools from around South Africa as well as Windhoek High School from Namibia will send their best girls’ teams to participate.
The festival celebrates its 21st anniversary this year. It was initiated by the ex-national player and Olympic coach Ros Howell.
The majority of games will be played at St Mary’s School, Waverley.
Head of marketing at the school Kathy Mittendorf said, “Both government and independent schools participate in the festival and it is seen as an opportunity to showcase schoolgirls’ sport.”
A number of schools including Brescia House School, Kingsmead College, Roedean School, St Stithian’s Girls’ College and a number of others will participate.
“This festival is a training ground for future provincial and national players. From previous festivals, 40 girls have gone on to represent the senior national women’s team, most at the Olympics, FIH World Cups and the Commonwealth Games,” said Mittendorf.
Springboks who played at the festival in their school years include Celia Evans, Cindy Brown, Roxy Turner, Kelly Madsen, Louise Coetzer, Shelley Russell, Dirkie Chamberlin, Lisa-Marie Deetlefs, Ongi Mali, Zimisele Shange to name a few.
A dedicated hockey festival app gives details of all teams, fixtures, pools and rules etc. as well as live scores that will be updated on the completion of each game. This app can be found in smart devices app stores by searching for St Mary’s Waverley Events.
Entrance to the festival is free. Food and drinks will be on sale throughout the day.
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