{"id":57790,"date":"2024-09-30T14:28:44","date_gmt":"2024-09-30T12:28:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=57790"},"modified":"2024-09-30T14:28:44","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T12:28:44","slug":"abigail-holderness-aims-to-inspire-dsg-makhanda-to-more-glory-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=57790","title":{"rendered":"Abigail Holderness aims to inspire DSG Makhanda to more glory in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"DSG
DSG Makhanda’s Abigail Holderness in action for her school this season. Photo: Supplied<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After helping her side to some impressive results in 2024, DSG Makhanda <\/strong>star Abigail Holderness<\/strong> will be aiming to turn it up a notch when she captains her side in the 2025 hockey season.<\/p>\n

Holderness, who made her first team debut for the school as a grade nine pupil in 2022, has been given the responsibility to lead the team next year by head coach Geowynne Gamiet.<\/p>\n

Apart from her leadership duties on the field, Holderness will also assume the responsibility of being the Head Day Girl<\/strong> and will be involved in the Sports Prefects Portfolio.<\/p>\n

All of this comes after a stellar season during which she shone for her school and the provincial team at the annual SASHOC National Week<\/a><\/strong> in Bloemfontein in June. She played a pivotal role in several matches, found the back of the net regularly, played alongside her sister, Lucy, and was included in the SA Schools’<\/strong> u17 squad to top off a season to remember.<\/p>\n

Speaking to SuperSport Schools Plus<\/a><\/strong>, she reflected on the year that was for the DSG first side. “It was a really good season. It had its ups and downs, but I enjoyed it,” said Holderness.<\/p>\n

“We played some of our best hockey. I do think we were unfortunate in many matches when we didn’t take our chances, but all in all, I think we did well, and I’m happy with how it went.”<\/p>\n

The 17-year-old started playing hockey outside her home at the age of four, trying things out with a stick and ball. Growing up, she attended Junior Prep when she was of pre-primary age. Then, in grade four, she moved to DSG.<\/p>\n

“I made my first team debut after the Covid-19 pandemic<\/strong> died down a bit, and it was very difficult,” Holderness said.<\/p>\n

“It had always been a dream for me to play for DSG. I remember when I was young in Junior Prep, I used to look up to the first team girls, and I would always watch their matches sitting on the benches.<\/p>\n

“After my first game, I never looked back, and I’ve been very happy representing my school, and helping my team in every way I can.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In June, she represented the Eastern Province u18A<\/strong> side at the SASHOC National Week<\/strong>. Afterwards, she was named in the SA Schools’ u17 <\/strong>side.<\/p>\n

Previously, Holderness had represented the province at inter-provincial tournaments in 2022 and 2023, during which time she made the SA Schools’ u16A<\/strong> side.<\/p>\n

Coming from a small town like Makhanda has its challenges for hockey players. “I’ve had my ups and downs, I’ve had many challenges, and I have to remind myself all the time that great things take time – that’s a quote I reflect on,” Holderness said.<\/p>\n

“It hasn’t always been easy. It’s been pretty difficult sometimes, but I love the journey and process of working hard to achieve my goals.<\/p>\n

“In Makhanda, we don’t always have a lot of opportunities, and sometimes it’s a struggle to find places to play, and people to train with if, you want to get better. Many times I’ve had to work a lot on my own, and do my training with my sister and dad.”<\/p>\n

Despite those challenges, Holderness has excelled and separated herself from the pack. Since her debut, she’s scored 82 goals <\/strong>for the first team, and 42<\/strong> of those came this season, during which she also inspired her side to the Spar Hockey Challenge<\/a><\/strong> title in July.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Holderness sisters in action for DSG Makhanda at this year’s K-Day versus Kingswood College.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She has also enjoyed playing in the same team with her sister, Lucy<\/strong>, and Abigail believes it helps to have a family member to lift her when things aren’t going her way.<\/p>\n

Casting an eye towards next season, Holderness said she wants to lead her team honourably and to continue to contribute as much as she can.<\/p>\n

“I have been given the opportunity to captain my team next year, and I’m looking forward to playing with my sister again, having a new team, and new goals.”<\/p>\n

“It’s sort of a fresh start to make the most of everything. I’ve got my personal goals that I would like to achieve, but the main thing is to go out there, have fun, enjoy my matric year, help the team, and put DSG on the map,” she concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After helping her side to some impressive results in 2024, DSG Makhanda star Abigail Holderness will be aiming to turn it up a notch when she captains her side in the 2025 hockey season. Holderness, who made her first team debut for the school as a grade nine pupil in 2022, has been given the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":58201,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57790","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\/57790","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=57790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57790\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=57790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=57790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=57790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}