{"id":92215,"date":"2026-03-26T08:03:53","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T06:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=92215"},"modified":"2026-03-26T08:03:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T06:03:53","slug":"heavy-hitters-aim-for-a-strong-showing-at-founders-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=92215","title":{"rendered":"Heavy hitters aim for a strong showing at Founders Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Litha Kraai will be in action for SACS when they kick off their 2026 season at the Founders Festival. Photo: Ray Chaplin<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The small town of Komani in the Eastern Cape is expected to receive an economic boost this weekend when Queen’s College<\/strong> hosts the Founders Hockey Festival<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The annual event, which began in 1982, brings together some of the country\u2019s top hockey-playing schools, along with those that have emerging hockey programmes.<\/p>\n

The action takes place from 28 to 30 March at the Chris Harker AstroTurf.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In attendance, alongside Queen’s, will be the Eastern Cape duo of Kingswood College<\/strong> and Dale College<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Kingswood has enjoyed a positive start to the season under head coach Jose Smith<\/strong>. After five matches, they’ve racked up three wins, one loss, and a 2-2 draw, which came against Hudson Park<\/strong> at the Tony Godding Festival<\/strong> a fortnight ago.<\/p>\n

Dale, meanwhile, will be aiming to hit their stride after a mixed bag of results at the Tony Godding Festival.<\/p>\n

An exciting Western Cape contingent – South African College High School<\/strong> (SACS), Paarl Gimnasium<\/strong>, and the underdogs Somerset College <\/strong>– will make its way to Komani.<\/p>\n

Many will be keen to see what SACS delivers after enjoying a splendid season in 2025.<\/p>\n

They finished the year unbeaten with 33 victories and 2 draws<\/a><\/strong>– one of their draws was on a pre-season tour of The Netherlands – and they captured the prestigious Hibbert Shield title<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Litha Kraai<\/strong>, who has lit up schoolboy hockey over the past couple of seasons, is the SACS headliner. As an early-season festival, the event will offer coach Sam Holmes<\/strong> a chance to assess his side in match conditions.<\/p>\n

Another Western Cape team eager to make a mark will be Paarl Gim<\/strong>. They’ve experienced some early-season teething problems, suffering shock defeats at the hands of Worcester Gimnasium<\/strong> and Durbanville<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Coach Jacques Grobler<\/strong>, however, will back his youngsters to bounce back when they tackle St Stithians College<\/strong>, Northwood School<\/strong>, and Dale.<\/p>\n

Somerset College, led by coach Kyran Fortuin<\/strong>, will have a point to prove after a building season in 2025. They would’ve taken some confidence from their pre-season outings in the Western Cape.<\/p>\n

Speaking of confidence, St Stithians College heads to Komani brimming with confidence after some impressive performances over the past week.<\/p>\n

Coach Pat Ogwan<\/strong>‘s troops showed character to draw 2-2 with Jeppe High School for Boys<\/strong> before beating Pretoria Boys High<\/strong> 3-2 on the weekend.<\/p>\n

The likes of Jason Joiner<\/strong>, Thomas Becker<\/strong>, and Mahlatse Maapola<\/strong> will play crucial roles for Saints<\/strong><\/em> during the festival. Their biggest test will come against SACS in the final match on the opening day.<\/p>\n

Parktown Boys\u2019 High<\/strong> and Helpmekaar College<\/strong> will also fly the Gauteng flag and will aim to shake off early-season rust as quickly as possible. Northwood<\/strong>, always well-drilled, will represent KwaZulu-Natal’s interests.<\/p>\n

The action kicks off on Friday afternoon with a clash between Queen’s and Kingswood at 16:30.<\/p>\n

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

Friday, 27 March<\/strong><\/p>\n

16:30<\/strong> – Queen’s College vs Kingswood College<\/p>\n

Saturday, 28 March\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

07:30<\/strong> – Queen’s College vs Helpmekaar
\n08:50<\/strong> – Dale College vs Kingswood College
\n10:10<\/strong> – Somerset College vs Northwood
\n11:30<\/strong> – SACS vs Parktown Boys’ High
\n12:50<\/strong> – Paarl Gimnasium vs St Stithians College
\n14:10<\/strong> – Dale College vs Helpmekaar
\n15:30<\/strong> – Somerset College vs Kingswood College
\n16:50<\/strong> – Queen’s College vs Northwood
\n18:10<\/strong> – Paarl Gimnasium vs Parktown Boys’ High
\n19:30<\/strong> – SACS vs St Stithians College<\/p>\n

Sunday, 29 March\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

07:30<\/strong> – Helpmekaar vs Kingswood College
\n08:50<\/strong> – Paarl Gimnasium vs Northwood
\n10:10<\/strong> – Queen’s College vs Somerset College
\n11:30<\/strong> – Dale College vs St Stithians College
\n12:50<\/strong> – SACS vs Kingswood
\n14:10<\/strong> – Paarl Gimnasium vs Helpmekaar
\n15:30<\/strong> – Dale College vs Parktown Boys’ High
\n16:50<\/strong> – Somerset College vs St Stithians College
\n18:10<\/strong> – SACS vs Northwood
\n19:30<\/strong> – Queen’s College vs Parktown Boys’ High<\/p>\n

Monday, 30 March\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

07:30<\/strong> – Dale College vs Paarl Gimnasium
\n08:50<\/strong> – SACS vs Helpmekaar
\n10:10<\/strong> – Somerset College vs Parktown Boys’ High
\n11:30<\/strong> – Northwood vs St Stithians College<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The small town of Komani in the Eastern Cape is expected to receive an economic boost this weekend when Queen’s College hosts the Founders Hockey Festival. The annual event, which began in 1982, brings together some of the country\u2019s top hockey-playing schools, along with those that have emerging hockey programmes. The action takes place from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":92302,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92215","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\/92215","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=92215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/92302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=92215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=92215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=92215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}