With both the men's and women's teams in the FIH top 12, and with role models such as the women's captain Marsha Marescia and chief executive officer of SA hockey Marissa Langeni, South African hockey is in good shape.
With an annual increase in players being introduced to the sport at school level, and the far reach this is having in communities that previously would never have embraced the sport, it is evident why hockey is considered by the national government as one of the 16 priority codes in South Africa. SA Hockey is working to engage with other bodies and local authorities to ensure that much-needed resources and facilities are made available to disadvantaged communities.
The political turmoil of the 1980s and 1990s had a big influence on sport in South Africa. Without the lure of international competition – South Africa was banned from participating in international sports events – many hockey clubs simply ceased to be.
Nearly 15 years later and there are signs that hockey in South Africa is an activity for all groups. The governing body, South African Hockey, has three full-time staff and thousands of volunteers. The organisation is working hard to achieve an integrated hockey system, with a focus on coaching and competition in the school sport system and disadvantaged areas. Funding from the National Lotteries Board as well as the National Department of Sport is being invested to support this movement. SA Hockey has through a bi-lateral agreement with Netherlands Hockey established a Coaching Accreditation Framework which has now formed the basis of all coach education programmes in South Africa and is shared with other member nations of the International Hockey Federation.
South Africa Hockey today is a continental and an international force to be reckoned with. Its men’s and women’s hockey team are both ranked number 1 in Africa, and respectively number 12 and 11 in the world. As they have demonstrated time and again throughout their history, the South African peoples' passion for sport will help them overcome the odds, no matter how highly they are stacked against them.
