Southern Gauteng u14s bag national hockey title at home
The Southern Gauteng A u14 boys’ team of 2024 will be remembered for their impressive showing at the u14 SASHOC National Week. In the final, they outplayed Northern Gauteng 2-0 to clinch the title in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
The event was hosted on the King Edward VII and Jeppe High School for Boys’ AstroTurfs.
Southerns went into the tournament as one of the teams to beat, along with Northerns, KZN Coastal A and Western Province.
The side was coached by Jeppe’s Head of Hockey, Bryan Hillock, who was assisted by David Grace, with Kivesh Padarath doing double duty as the manager and strength and conditioning coach.
The hosts were in Pool B along with Limpopo, Northern Free State, and KZN Coastal A, with their clash against the KZN boys set to be the crucial game in the pool.
Southerns played a ruthless and attractive brand of hockey and finished well. In their opening two matches, they scored a whopping 14 goals, beating Limpopo 5-1 and Northern Free State 9-0.
They were held to a 2-2 draw by KZN Coastal, but by then they had already secured a spot in the quarterfinals.
They made light work of KZN Inland in the quarters, beating them 3-0, with Matthew Jung, Lukho Bawuthi, and Tristan McQue scoring the goals.
In the final four, they met a strong Western Province side, who were under the stewardship of Manuel Igshaan.
It was a far tougher challenge and neither team could find a finish in regulation time, which forced the contest to a shootout.
Displaying good BMT, the hosts slotted all four of their opportunities through Tanner Napier, Santiago Matroos, Jung, and Christian Bernhardi.
That victory set up a local derby between the two Gauteng sides. Northerns was up for the challenge. However, despite showing fight and grit, coach Dario Lourenco’s side went down as Jung and Napier scored to win the title for Southerns.
The victory in the title-decider meant the hosts produced an unbeaten record and scored 21 goals while conceding only three, two of which came against KZN Coastal.
“The support of all the role players was the key to our success,” Hillock told SuperSport Schools Plus after the silverware had been secured.
“Our provincial union, mother body and schools’ body, are both hugely supportive of what we do and gave us all we asked for to ensure we could prepare adequately for the IPT.
“Our parent support was the best I have ever experienced in my two decades of being involved in the provincial schools’ setup. We are deeply indebted to all of the parents. The inter-provincial tournament and six weeks of preparation is taxing.
“They also allowed us the freedom to coach without any interference and only cheered from the side,” he said.
Another influential figure for the team was the assistant coach, David Grace.
Grace, who plies his trade at Parktown Boys’ High, said he was pleased to witness the growth and development of the team as the week progressed.
“I still remember the rush of adrenaline as the final whistle blew, signalling our team’s victory in the first-ever u14 IPT,” he said enthusiastically
“Our journey to the final was not easy. We faced stiff competition, injuries, and moments of doubt. But our team’s determination, teamwork, and sheer passion for the game propelled us forward.
“As a coach, I witnessed first-hand the growth and development of our team. We learned to communicate effectively, support each other, and trust in our strengths.
“The coaching staff’s guidance and encouragement and our parents’ support were instrumental in our success,” he added.
While goal scoring was not an issue during the course of the tournament, Gauteng was, at times, faced with injury concerns, and that’s where Kivesh Padarath proved his worth. He was responsible for taking good care of the players’ health, warm-ups and cool-downs, strapping, and recovery after each game.
“It’s always tough going to an IPT, playing six games in four days,” Padarath told SuperSport Schools Plus.
““It takes a huge toll on the players’ bodies, and I was entrusted to make sure the players were in optimal condition to perform at 100 percent each game.
“As the tournament progressed, the players kept getting better and better and played great hockey against some of the big hockey provinces.
“They showed a lot of fight in tough games to get over the line and pull off wins,” he concluded.
Southern Gauteng’s road to the final
Pool B
Southern Gauteng 5-1 Limpopo
Southern Gauteng 9-0 Northern Free State NFS
Southern Gauteng 2-2 KZN Coastal
Quarter-finals
Southern Gauteng 3-0 KZN Inland
Semifinals
Southern Gauteng 0 (4)- 0 (1) Western Province
Final
Southern Gauteng 2-0 Northern Gauteng
