{"id":43656,"date":"2024-05-01T13:29:50","date_gmt":"2024-05-01T11:29:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=43656"},"modified":"2024-05-01T13:29:50","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T11:29:50","slug":"at-home-pearson-on-the-hunt-for-the-u16-hibbert-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=43656","title":{"rendered":"At home, Pearson on the hunt for the u16 Hibbert Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The
The Pearson u16 boys’ hockey team ready to host the Hibbert Cup in Gqeberha. Photo: Pearson High School<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Pearson High School<\/strong> u16 boys’ hockey team will be motivated, and banking on their home supporters, when they begin the hunt for their first-ever Hibbert Cup<\/strong> at the tournament in Gqeberha this week.<\/p>\n

The u16 action begins on Thursday morning at Pearson and the Nelson Mandela University<\/strong> and finishes on Saturday at 16:15 on the Rectory Astroturf<\/strong> at Grey High School<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The format replicates the u18 section, with teams competing in pools of three, from which the top two sides will automatically qualify for the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

Catch all the action LIVE on SuperSport Schools<\/a><\/p>\n

The hosts, led by coach Karl Lavender<\/strong>, will enter the tournament seeking to make a statement on home soil and to spring some surprises on the country’s best.<\/p>\n

They’re drawn in Pool 2, along with KZN’s Durban High School<\/strong> (DHS)<\/strong> and Clifton College<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

“We are in a strong pool, and there will be no room for error,” Lavender told SuperSport Schools<\/strong> ahead of the tournament.<\/p>\n

Clifton hasn’t had the strongest of seasons, but DHS remains at the forefront of KZN schools’ hockey. They beat Clifton 4-1 in a pre-season game at the beginning of March.<\/p>\n

“The top two teams move out of the pool, so we need to get a result against either DHS or Clifton to push through to the quarterfinals,” Lavender said.<\/p>\n

“It will come down to the small margins. We’ll be sticking to the basics and running hard.”<\/p>\n

The Pearson u16 side has been undergoing a rebuilding phase this season, with only two of coach Lavender’s charges remaining from the 2023 squad.<\/p>\n

At the Coastal Cup<\/strong>, in the latter part of March, Pearson enjoyed a good run, winning two and drawing two matches. Most recently, they cruised to a 4-0 victory over Stirling High<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Hosting a tournament of the magnitude of the Hibbert Cup comes with its pressures but, Lavender said, Pearson’s goal is for the boys to enjoy themselves.<\/p>\n

“The Hibbert tournaments<\/strong> (Shield, Cup, Plate) are arguably the best schoolboy tournaments in the country.<\/p>\n

“With hosting them, there are expectations. However, that lies with me and not the boys. They are here to enjoy themselves, and we hope to put on a display of quality attacking hockey.”<\/p>\n

The hosts will kick off their campaign on Thursday at 10:30 against DHS<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"Pearson's
Pearson’s Deanu Bezuidenhout is one of the players to keep an eye out for during the tournament. Photo: Pearson High<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To pick up a victory, they will need Deanu Bezuidenhout<\/strong>, whom Lavender described as a “calm player”, to fire on all cylinders and control the contest.<\/p>\n

They will also look to Zach Mclean, <\/strong>Aenry Biggs<\/strong>, and skipper Philip Keen,<\/strong> who is one of the remaining players from last year’s side, to spearhead their challenge.<\/p>\n

The other pools are also very interesting.<\/p>\n

Pool 1 is filled with three powerhouses: SACS<\/strong>, Paarl Gimnasium<\/strong>, and Selborne College<\/strong>.\u00a0In Pool 3, it’s Grey High<\/strong>, Westville Boys’ High,<\/strong> and Garsfontein<\/strong>, while Paul Roos<\/strong>, St Andrew’s College<\/strong>\u00a0and Waterkloof<\/strong> are in Pool 4.<\/p>\n

Pools<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pool 1:<\/strong> Selborne College, SACS, Paarl Gimnasium
\nPool 2:<\/strong> Pearson High, Durban High School, Clifton College
\nPool 3:<\/strong> Grey High, Westville, Garsfontein
\nPool 4:<\/strong> Waterkloof, Paul Roos, St Andrew’s College<\/p>\n

Day 1 Fixtures, Thursday, 2 May<\/strong><\/p>\n

08:30 – Paarl Gimnasium vs Selborne College (Bottom Astroturf)
\n08:30 – St Andrew’s College vs Waterkloof (NMU Astroturf)
\n09:30 – Grey High vs Garsfontein (Top Astroturf)
\n10:30 – Pearson High vs Durban High (Top Astroturf)
\n12:30 – SACS vs Selborne College (Bottom Astroturf)
\n12:30 – Paul Roos vs Waterkloof (NMU Astroturf)
\n13:30 – Garsfontein vs Westville (Top Astroturf)
\n14:30 – Durban High vs Clifton College (Top Astroturf)
\n16:30 – SACS vs Paarl Gimnasium (Bottom Astroturf)
\n16:30 – St Andrew’s College vs Paul Roos (NMU Astroturf)
\n17:30 – Grey High vs Westville (Top Astroturf)
\n18:30 – Pearson High vs Clifton College (Top Astroturf)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pearson High School u16 boys’ hockey team will be motivated, and banking on their home supporters, when they begin the hunt for their first-ever Hibbert Cup at the tournament in Gqeberha this week. The u16 action begins on Thursday morning at Pearson and the Nelson Mandela University and finishes on Saturday at 16:15 on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":43658,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43656","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\/43656","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\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=43656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43656\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=43656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=43656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=43656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}