{"id":37648,"date":"2024-03-13T14:18:46","date_gmt":"2024-03-13T12:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=37648"},"modified":"2024-03-13T14:18:46","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T12:18:46","slug":"top-kzn-hockey-teams-equally-matched","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=37648","title":{"rendered":"Top KZN hockey teams equally matched?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo:
Photo: Martin Ashworth Sports Photography<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 2024 boys’ hockey season is going to be one of the more closely fought in years, with the top KwaZulu-Natal boys’ hockey teams all being well prepared, well coached, and up for the challenges.<\/p>\n

The Westville Boys’ High School<\/strong> vs Michaelhouse<\/strong> first team hockey match will, no doubt, be a real humdinger with both teams eager to set the tone and standard for the season.<\/p>\n

What will differentiate these U18A hockey teams?<\/p>\n

Former Ho\u00ebrskool Garsfontein<\/strong> first team coach,\u00a0Nick B\u00e9richon<\/strong>, is excited about his charges’ first match at the home of the Griffin, with push back at 11:15 on Saturday morning.\u00a0He and Lwando Saunders<\/strong>\u00a0are the new first team coaches for Michaelhouse.<\/p>\n

B\u00e9richon <\/strong>is quietly optimistic, stating that the Michaelhouse first team players have set high standards for themselves, and they are confident they can put together controlled and exciting performances. He expects the experienced Cam Mackay<\/strong> and his Westville support staff to be sharp and well organised all over the pitch.<\/p>\n

Brunton Bigalke, Sithsaba Simukonda and Thandanani Zuma<\/strong> played for KZN Inland<\/strong> u16A last year, with Zuma also being selected for the SA u16B squad. They are some of the youngsters in the Michaelhouse lineup and will be led by quality senior players, with the talented Pat Lambert<\/strong> appointed as the captain of hockey for 2024.<\/p>\n

Cam Mackay<\/strong>, meanwhile, reflected on a disrupted pre-season, which saw a large number of elite cricketers unable to fully participate in the preparations. It was a case of not overloading the boys.<\/p>\n

Owen Slack and Josh Beck<\/strong> represented KwaZulu-Natal Coastal<\/strong>\u00a0u18A last year, and Nic Ackerman<\/strong> played for the KZN Coastal u16A team.<\/p>\n

\"Owen
Captain Owen Slack is a commanding presence in the centre of Westville’s defence.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Westville Director of Hockey anticipates a tough season opener, especially with\u00a0Nick B\u00e9richon\u00a0<\/strong>now at the helm of the red and white quarters.<\/p>\n

“He’s got a winning mindset and a great mentality; I think we are just always trying to improve from year to year and be competitive in every game we play.<\/p>\n

“We have some great new permanent coaches at WBHS, with Harold Siyaya and Wandile Ngcungama<\/strong> joining us, so we can only hope for another successful year,” Mackay said.<\/p>\n

TEAMS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Westville Boys’ High School 1st team<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Ameron Moses (GK), 2. \u2060Max Robertson, 3. \u2060Kaeden McAllister, 4. \u2060Nicolas Ackerman, 5. \u2060Owen Slack (c), 6. \u2060Curt Rogers, 7. \u2060Josh Beck, 8. \u2060Sibusiso Cele, 9. \u2060Heath Stott, 10. \u2060Caleb van Loenen, 11. \u2060Seth Simpson, 12. \u2060Misbah Nair, 13. \u2060Thabo Dlamini, 14. \u2060Roxton Payne, 18. \u2060Tyhil Naidoo, 19. \u2060Bo Mokoena<\/p>\n

Michaelhouse 1st team<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Luke Camerer, 2. Nicholas Fearnhead, 3. James Bigalke, 4. Sebastian Hofmeyer, 5. Keaton Porrill 6. Benjamin Heuer, 7. Christopher Angel, 8. Thandanani Zuma, 9. Tristan Roques, 10. William Gilson 11. Patrick Lambert (c), 12. Sithsaba Simukonda, 13. Murray Hall-Jones, 14. Gordon Deutsch, 15. Pikolomzi Nkompela (GK), 16. West Mitchell-Innes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2024 boys’ hockey season is going to be one of the more closely fought in years, with the top KwaZulu-Natal boys’ hockey teams all being well prepared, well coached, and up for the challenges. The Westville Boys’ High School vs Michaelhouse first team hockey match will, no doubt, be a real humdinger with both […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":37680,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37648\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}