High-flying Outeniqua aiming for more glory
The 2025 hockey season has been a splendid one for Hoërskool Outeniqua‘s first-team girls’ side under the tutelage of head coach Niel Smit.
The girls from George have played some excellent hockey, scored tons of goals, and have put on a show for their supporters every week, whether playing at home or away.
They’ve already played a whopping 27 matches, recording 22 victories, one draw, and just four losses.
It’s a record they’ll want to bolster further when they host Gqeberha’s Hoërskool Framesby on Saturday morning ,at 11:00.
“I’m happy with the season so far,” coach Smit told SuperSport Schools Plus.
“With that said, we are in a small district, so to get top-quality hockey fixtures every weekend is a struggle. We would like to get more quality games regularly to improve our overall hockey performance.”
Smit’s side played two fixtures last weekend, against Langenhoven Gimnasium and Hoër Volkskool, from Graaff-Reinet. They were impressive in both outings, scoring 23 goals and conceding only two.
“I think we did achieve what we set out to do in those two games, and the results show it with a 7-0 win over Langenhoven and a 16-2 win against Volkskool.
“In fixtures like those, we try to set up certain goals in areas where we feel we can improve.”
The word “improvement” has certainly been at the heart of Outeniqua’s hockey programme in recent seasons.
Despite not regularly facing some of the best schools in the country, they still hold their own against the top guns and participate in big events, like the annual Belgotex Sport Easter Hockey Tournament.
It’s a work in progress, but coach Smit is optimistic they’re taking the right steps in growing the game at the school.
“Well, school hockey at this moment is growing at a fast pace, and it takes a lot of work to keep up with the high-flying teams and to get to their level,” he said.
“We try to start with the u14s and work towards our first teams, but that comes with its challenges.
“I think our basic layout of what we want and need to achieve is getting attention, but there is still a lot of work that needs to happen if we want to compete with the best.
“We are fielding a lot of teams, and the pool of players we can select from is growing, and depth plays a big part in the big picture.”
Against Framesby, the hosts will be led by skipper Mia Buxmann, who has over 100 caps to her name.
Carlien Oosthuizen has been firing in the goals up front. In midfield, Zanelle Rensburg will look to control the tempo of the game while Katelyn Roussouw is trusted to keep the opposition out at the back.
Coach Smit sees the Framesby clash as a chance for his team to further develop its systems and get the basics right.
“We would like to again set specific goals in areas where we feel we need to improve and focus on them to get it right for when we face stronger opponents.
“If we get our basics right and focus on our performance, I feel it would be a good weekend for us,” he ended.
