Player Feature: Hisharm Pillay (Stirling High School)
Stirling High School concluded their hockey season with a commanding 3-1 win over Merrifield College in East London on Friday night.
Those three goals – scored by Keegan Matheus, Chad Clark-Evans and Hisharm Pillay – ensured Stirling ended their campaign on a high.
In an encouraging season, Stirling played an attractive brand of hockey which earned them a place in the conversation as one of the Eastern Cape’s top contenders.
In their home city, East London, they lost only to Selborne College and Hudson Park once. In recent weeks, though, they beat Cambridge High 2-1, Woodridge College 3-0, and avenged their earlier defeat to Hudson Park, winning their return fixture 3-1.
Earlier in the season, the side showed its character when it fought back from a 0-2 deficit to draw 2-2 with Queen’s College.
Throughout the season, striker Hisharm Pillay was a standout performer, regularly appearing on the score sheet.
He led the Stirling attack, contributing crucial goals to lead the side to victory and to rescue it from defeat.
After his final game for the school, he chatted with SuperSport Schools Plus hockey writer, Avuyile Sawula, discussing his schoolboy hockey career, representing Border at the SASHOC National Week, and the future
Have you always been at Stirling from primary up until high school, and if so, how’s your time been at the school?
I have been with Stirling my entire school career, starting from pre-primary, and I can say I have thoroughly enjoyed being at the school.
I was lucky in that a lot of my friends from primary school went through the same high school as me, which made it a lot more enjoyable going through the years.
The variety of sports provided at Stirling was another reason I stayed with the school, as they also offer golf, which I play competitively and socially.
When did you make your first team debut? And how many caps do you have?
I began playing in the first team in 2022, grade 10. As far as I can remember, I think my debut was against Outeniqua, a match we lost narrowly. I didn’t score but I had one assist.
The game against Merrifield was my 69th cap.
You’ve had a decent season, picking up some big wins, and contributing a lot of goals. What would you say are your highlights?
My favourite highlight would be my goal against Selborne College, as I hadn’t scored against them since primary school.
Another highlight was going on tour to the Belgotex Tournament that was held at Cape Town in March, where we were 0-3 down against Middelburg. I scored a hattrick to save us a draw, and we finished in 24th place out of 40 teams.
We recently also played Dale, where I struggled to put one away the whole match, until Dale got the game back to 2-2 and I scored a bullet of a goal at the end of the game to secure the win.
You also represented Border at the SASHOC National Week. How was that experience?
I’ve represented Border from the age of 12, played u16A, and narrowly missed out on the u18 side last year, and worked hard to make this year’s team.
This year’s u18 selection was somewhat of a different experience for me, where I was selected to represent my province, but sadly feel I was not given enough playing time to showcase my skills as best I could.
I was not selected for the starting lineup once throughout the entire tournament and, although I was a bit disappointed with the time afforded myself to play, I still managed to score two goals for my team and assisted with one further goal.
I felt that all my hard work and training for this season was wasted at the u18 IPT and it’s very sad to note that Border has been relegated due to our poor performance. My feeling is, that for Border to gain promotion back into the A division, they will need a better coaching programme and stronger management, and preparations should start sooner in the year to prepare adequately for a tournament of that magnitude.
Who are the people that have helped you along your schoolboy hockey career?
My biggest supporter would be my mother, who’s come alongside me to watch almost all my games and tours throughout my schoolboy career and help me through injuries and the mental side.
My father has been there to help me through the process of dealing with racial struggles in sport and he keeps me in check when it comes to reality, which allows me to perform the best I can.
He set the sporting bar for me as a young boy as he played hockey at a provincial and national level, including national level as a schoolboy (SASSA) and provincial level at men’s, at the age of 19.
His achievements drive me to be better. He hasn’t been able to be with me through the last season that much due to work commitments, but I know he’d be there if he could.
My brother, who’s my best friend, is also another person who has my back. Whenever I believe I can’t, he tells me I can and hearing it from a sibling can sometimes be more meaningful to you than anyone else.
Mr Brett Stirk was my primary school coach initially in u13 and returned this year as our first team coach, thus completing my hockey career at a school level on a high note. Playing for him has taught me a lot and I regard him as one of the best coaches I’ve played for.
Our manager, Mr Faheem Hendricks, has also supported me on my first team journey, and I have always done my best to do him proud.
How would you sum up your hockey career at Stirling?
Playing hockey for a co-ed school isn’t the same as playing for a college. However, through my years, I’ve played some good hockey and some not-so-good hockey, but my final year will, for sure, be the best I’ve had so far in my sporting life at a school level.
The support you get playing for Stirling High School is something one needs to experience.
Plans for 2025? Do you plan on continuing with hockey?
I would like to study Sports Science at Nelson Mandela University and while there persevere in my hockey until entering a national team.
Favourite food?
⁃Nando’s pulled chicken sandwich
Favourite movie?
⁃Fast and Furious
Any other hobbies and interests?
Golfing and fishing, mainly fishing, as much as possible.
