The annual St Mary’s Hockey Festival, brought to you by Standard Bank, took place from 30 March to 2 April. The 25 min match format is extremely tough and players need to be firing from the first whistle. With the short nature of the matches, a piece of brilliance or one mistake could be the difference between winning or losing.

The tournament started in 2000 with just 12 teams and over the years has grown to include 32 teams. It has become the most prestigious school hockey tournament in the country. We thank Standard Bank for their continued support of school girls’ sport.

St Mary’s is lucky to be able to enter two teams into the tournament, which is great for exposing players to the tough demands of first-team competition. The festival team is coached by Taryn de Winnaar and Vicki Jonker. Taryn had the following to say about the festival teams’ performances in the tournament; “The festival team certainly did their coaches and supporters proud! We enjoyed four demanding days of hockey and despite the mixed results, the players can hold their heads up high. The consistent improvement and growth of the girls as hockey players and as young women are remarkable. It was a privilege working with this group of players and I look forward to watching them progress this season. With renewed confidence and this kind of experience under their belts, there is no doubt that their level of play will go from strength to strength!”

The first team also had a very successful tournament. We capped off two tough days of pool matches with a good win against Paarl Gimnasium, one of the tournament favourites. With these results, we progressed to the Top 12 round. The second-round match results were as follows:

Durban Girls College: 2-2
Clarendon: 2-0
Eunice: 0-2

These results meant the first team had done enough to qualify for the semi-finals which was an outstanding achievement. The girls played extremely well in the semi-final and ended up beating Collegiate 1-0 in the last 25 seconds of the golden goal. The final would be a repeat of the previous day’s pool game against Eunice, who ousted defending champions Oranje in their semi-final. The last time the St Mary’s 1st team made the final was in 2016.

The final was very competitive but unfortunately, another penalty stroke was to decide the title this - time the result did not go our way. The final result was 1-0 for Eunice. We are all extremely proud of the performances of this team over 12 tough matches.

What makes this tournament so special, particularly for the St Mary’s teams, is the unbelievable support of the school community. The spirit squad and all the girls who come to support really make this festival the success that it is. The atmosphere they create is one that visiting teams and parents go away talking about, not to mention the lift that it gives the St Mary’s teams every time the girls take the field.

Organising a festival of this magnitude does not just happen. Ms Quix, with the help of her hockey festival committee and the St Mary's parents, is instrumental in the slick running of this tournament. Without the support of the St Mary’s staff, both academic and support, there would not be a festival. We really appreciate all the hard work that is put in to make this festival so special.

On a very special final note, this festival was the brainchild of Ros Howell. She has seen it grow over the past 22 years, always ensuring its success. Thank you, Ros, you will be missed. We salute you!

CINDY BROWN
HEAD OF HOCKEY