Stirling relishing a SPAR Hockey Challenge triumph on home soil
Stirling High School head coach, Greg Davis says his side are eager to test themselves against the best in the Spar Hockey challenge set to take place on Sunday in East London.
Stirling, who will be hosting eight other teams on the day will face John Bisseker, Lilyfontein, Merrifield College and Clarendon Girls for school in the round robin stages.
In order to progress to the final, the hosts will need to finish first in Pool A.
Speaking exclusively to SuperSport Schools ahead of the tournament, Davis says it will be an honour playing, and facing tough opposition on their home ground.
“Playing at home is always an honour and having the opportunity to play against Clarendon will be a challenge in itself but one the girls are looking forward to,” he said.
“We are definitely looking forward to Sunday for sure, it’s going to be another great day of hockey,” he added.
In recent years, Stirling has had the upper hand on many schools in the region.
Alongside Clarendon, the school has been successful on the turf, beating tough oppositions with their smart, and calculated counter attacking style of play. The school has also gone out of its way to organize more challenging fixtures for the team.
Evidence of this can be traced to this season where they faced one of the top schools in the country, Oranje Meisies for the first time in their history. The side also defeated Voortrekker (3-2) early in the year, bouncing back from a humiliating (9-0) defeat last year.
“We are fortunate to have played Oranje Meisies this year. The first ever meeting against each other and we got to see why they are number one in the country and hopefully what we need to improve to be able to compete with a school like that.”
“We have also been able to play quite a few schools in the Top 15 on the rankings and we competed with them nicely.”
“Our match against Voortrekker early in the year set us up for the entire season. The girls played really well against a very strong side and bounced back from a heavy (9-0) loss in 2022 to beat them in 2023. It was an awesome game,” added Davis.
The team captained by Linamandla Mxinwa will look to add to their experiences so far in the season come Sunday. Their toughest opposition will be Town rivals, Clarendon High at 12:10.
The last time the sides met before the mid-year school break, Clarendon won the match (1-0) in tough wet conditions. This time around, Stirling will look to get one over their rivals.
An extra layer of confidence will be taken from the (4-1) the side registered against UK team KES.
Other matches to look out include the match between Cambridge and Hudson, with Cambridge coming into the game high in confidence after thrashing their past pupils (6-1) in a friendly during the week. John Bisseker and Green point will also look to leave a mark against the powerhouse teams.
The Spar Hockey Challenge action in East London kicks off on Sunday at 08:00, and you can catch all the action on SuperSports Schools – https://live.supersportschools.com/
Pool A: Stirling High School, Clarendon High School, Merrifield College, John Bisseker, and Lilyfontein.
Pool B: Hudson Park, Cambridge, Greenpoint, Grens.
Stirling team to play on the weekend: Myiesha Adams, Jade Bahlmann, Andrea Wiseman, Shannon Corlet, Kacy Bahlmann, Erin Suanders, Linamandla Mxinwa (c), Holly Harris, Michelle Barnes, Siviwe Sidinana, Cameron Marx.
Fixtures:
08:00– Clarendon vs Merrifield College
08:25– Hudson Park vs Grens
08:50– John Bisseker vs Lilyfontein
09:15- Greenpoint vs Cambridge
09:40– Stirling vs John Bisseker
10:05– Merrifield College vs Lilyfontein
10:30– Hudson Park vs Greenpoint
10:55– Clarendon vs John Bisseker
11:20– Stirling vs Lilyfontein
11:45- Cambridge vs Grens
12:10– Clarendon vs Stirling
12:35- Merrifield College vs John Bisseker
13:00– Hudson Park vs Cambridge
13:25– Clarendon vs Lilyfontein
13:50– Grens vs Greenpoint
14:15– Stirling vs Merrifield
14:40– 4th POOL A vs 4th POOL B
15:05-3RD POOL A vs 3rd POOL B
15:30– 2nd POOL A vs 2nd POOL B
15:55– 1st POOL A vs 1st POOL B
