{"id":72431,"date":"2025-05-16T12:03:50","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T10:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=72431"},"modified":"2025-05-16T12:03:50","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T10:03:50","slug":"zwartkop-and-eldoraigne-meet-in-high-stakes-hockey-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=72431","title":{"rendered":"Zwartkop and Eldoraigne meet in high-stakes hockey showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HockeyPretoria rivals,\u00a0Ho\u00ebrskool Zwartkop<\/strong> and Ho\u00ebrskool Eldoraigne,<\/strong> will battle it out for derby honours over two days, with the boys’ and girls’ 1st XI hockey matches set to shine in the spotlight.<\/p>\n

The interschool rivalry kicks off on Friday, with the girls’ senior teams taking centre stage in an evening match. On Saturday, the boys’ first teams will complete the long fixture list.<\/p>\n

Both matches will be hosted at Ho\u00ebrskool Eldoraigne. Later in the season, the rivals will clash again at Ho\u00ebrskool Zwartkop.<\/p>\n

Zwartkop girls’ coach Martin Williams<\/strong> believes Friday’s showdown is more than just a regular match. It’s a symbol of tradition and school spirit.<\/p>\n

With the teams having played a number of league games, he’s confident that his squad is ready for the challenge: “We are in the middle of our league season,” Williams said, “so we are well prepared after a good pre-season and three league games already. This week’s preparations were mainly about small adjustments and match-specific tactics.”<\/p>\n

Last year, Zwartkop did the double, with both their boys’ and girls’ first teams emerging victorious. Despite that success, Williams insists that his team is not feeling the weight of expectation.<\/p>\n

“It was a great moment for us, as a school, winning both games for the first time. That said, we’re not putting ourselves under pressure to replicate that. Our focus is on playing good hockey and soaking in the atmosphere,” he explained.<\/p>\n

“It’s not every day you get to compete in front of a packed pavilion, filled with school pride and passionate supporters. For many of these players, this will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. My message to them is simple: enjoy every second.”<\/p>\n

The Zwarries boys’ side is also in good form, and they’ve enjoyed a strong run in the league. Before they were held to a 2-2 draw by Ho\u00ebrskool Pietersburg<\/strong>,\u00a0 coach Connor Flowers’ <\/strong>side beat Ho\u00ebrskool Wagpos<\/strong> 10-0. They also overpowered Ho\u00ebrskool Hugenote <\/strong>(7-0) and Ho\u00ebrskool Klerksdorp<\/strong> (12-0).<\/strong><\/p>\n

However, the annual derby between Eldoraigne and Zwartlop has been very closely contested in recent times. Since 2018, Eldoraigne has won three times, Zwartkop twice, and two matches have been drawn.<\/p>\n

FIXTURES<\/strong><\/p>\n

16 May – Girls
\n<\/strong>
\n19:15 –<\/strong> Eldoraigne vs Zwartkop<\/p>\n

17 May – Boys
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

13:45 –<\/strong>Eldoraigne vs Zwartkop<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pretoria rivals,\u00a0Ho\u00ebrskool Zwartkop and Ho\u00ebrskool Eldoraigne, will battle it out for derby honours over two days, with the boys’ and girls’ 1st XI hockey matches set to shine in the spotlight. The interschool rivalry kicks off on Friday, with the girls’ senior teams taking centre stage in an evening match. On Saturday, the boys’ first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":29069,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72431","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\/72431","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\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=72431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=72431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=72431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=72431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}