{"id":40113,"date":"2024-04-03T18:47:48","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T16:47:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=40113"},"modified":"2024-04-03T18:47:48","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T16:47:48","slug":"hosts-ready-for-epic-22nd-edition-of-the-st-marys-hockey-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=40113","title":{"rendered":"Hosts ready for epic 22nd edition of the St Mary’s Hockey Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\"\"The road leads to St Mary’s Waverley, in Johannesburg, for 32 of the nation’s top hockey-playing girls’ schools, who will be contesting the annual St Mary’s Hockey Festival<\/strong> from Thursday.<\/p>\n

The hockey showcase was launched in 2000 with just 12 teams and has grown exponentially over the years to become, arguably, the most prestigious girls’ hockey event on the South African sporting calendar.<\/p>\n

Forty-nine festival participants have gone on to represent South Africa, and another two have donned the colours of Namibia, on the international stage.<\/p>\n

Catch all the action live on SuperSport Schools<\/strong><\/a> (www.supersportschools.com<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Defending champions Eunice<\/strong> heads into the festival hunting back-to-back titles. The Bloemfontein team will be looking to assert itself in Pool A, which also includes the inaugural champions, Pretoria High School for Girls<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The hosts, St Mary’s Waverley<\/strong>, have a point to prove in Pool B. They’re on the hunt for a sixth title, but last won it in 2011.<\/p>\n

They won’t have things easy and will have to fight their way past, among others, DSG Makhanda<\/strong>, Paarl Girls’ High<\/strong>, high-flying St Anne’s<\/strong>, and St Mary’s DSG, Pretoria<\/strong>, also a previous winner.<\/p>\n

Pool C is led by the seven-time champions Oranje. <\/strong>Since capturing the title for the first time in 2008, Oranje has been a dominant force. Between 2014 and 2017, they produced an unprecedented run of four consecutive titles. Another potential streak, between 2019 and 2022, was broken by Covid-19.<\/p>\n

While Oranje was rampant in the Balling Hockey Festival<\/strong> and the Greg Beling Festival<\/strong> earlier this season, winning all of their games comfortably, another Greg Beling participant that shone was Rhenish<\/strong>, who are also in Pool C. They were convincing winners of all of their games, including a big 5-1 win over Eunice.<\/p>\n

Fellow Pool C participants, Somerset College<\/strong>, this past weekend, lifted the Belgotex Sport Easter Hockey Tournament<\/a> title.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Pool D is hard to call. Collegiate Girls’ High School<\/strong> opens their challenge for a place in the history books with an outing against Our Lady of Fatima DCS<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Paarl Gimnasium<\/strong>‘s quest begins against the St Mary\u2019s Waverley Festival XI<\/strong>, while former finalists, St Stithians Girls College,<\/strong> go up against Pearson High School.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Later, Saints will face the two-time champions (2007 and 2018) St Mary’s DSG, Kloof.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The hosts’ co-captains, Tyla Gibbs<\/strong> and Amy Smith<\/strong>, have extended a welcome to all festival attendees, saying: “We, as the captains and players of St Mary’s School, are delighted to welcome teachers, coaches, parents, and, most importantly, players to our school.<\/p>\n

“The St Mary’s Hockey Festival is, undoubtedly, the best tournament of the season! Each and every one of you has worked so hard to get to this point, so go out and make the most of this experience.”<\/p>\n

Pool A:<\/strong> Eunice High School; Herschel Girls School; Clarendon High School for Girls; Pretoria High School for Girls; \u00a0Ho\u00ebrskool Meisieskool Bloemhof; Roedean School (SA); Afrikaanse Ho\u00ebr Meisieskool, Pretoria; DF Malan.<\/p>\n

Pool B: <\/strong>St Mary\u2019s Waverley 1st<\/sup> XI; Durban Girls’ College; Paarl Girls’ High School; Menlopark; The Wykeham Collegiate; Windhoek High School; St Anne’s Diocesan College; St Mary’s DSG, Pretoria.<\/p>\n

Pool C: <\/strong>Oranje; \u00a0Ho\u00ebrskool Garsfontein; Rhenish Girls’ High School; St John’s DSG; St Andrew’s School for Girls; \u00a0Ho\u00ebrskool Waterkloof; Somerset College; Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High School,<\/p>\n

Pool D: <\/strong>Collegiate Girls\u2019 High School; Paarl Gimnasium; St Stithians Girls College; St Mary’s DSG, Kloof; St Cyprian’s School; Pearson High School; St Mary’s Waverley Festival XI; Our Lady of Fatima.<\/p>\n

Fixtures | Day 1\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The road leads to St Mary’s Waverley, in Johannesburg, for 32 of the nation’s top hockey-playing girls’ schools, who will be contesting the annual St Mary’s Hockey Festival from Thursday. The hockey showcase was launched in 2000 with just 12 teams and has grown exponentially over the years to become, arguably, the most prestigious girls’ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":40137,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40113","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\/40113","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\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40113\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}