BLOEMFONTEIN - The top five goalkeepers in South African women's hockey were put through their paces at an intense training camp over the past week in Bloemfontein that was overseen by leading goalkeeper coach, Joppe de Vries of Amsterdam, Holland.
University of North West, and North West Province coach Sheldon Rostron, a former provincial goalkeeper, is part of De Vries's team, which also includes another overseas expert in Martjin Drywer of Holland.
"This forms part of our top goalkeepers' preparation for the London 2012 Olympic Games," said SA women's team head coach Giles Bonnet, the former South African men's captain and coach who is also based in Amsterdam.
"After the recent World Cup and Commonwealth Games, which saw our national squad make great strides towards London 2012, I decided to create a team of position-specific coaches who would be paying individual attention to our keepers at a series of specialised camps," Bonnet said Saturday.
"We have also created a team of top SA goalkeepers who are undergoing a programme consisting of intense technical, tactical and physical conditioning training, thereby improving on their current skills and knowledge in an environment that is purely focused on them."
Rostron said that SA's current top three stoppers - Mariette Rix, Hanli Hattingh (both Western Province) and Sanani Mangisa (Northerns Blues) - plus the highly talented Elzane Smit of UNW and North West Province, and Leandre Janse van Vuuren (University of Johannesburg and Kaspersky Southern Gauteng) - had made remarkable progress during the week.
"It's been amazing; our goalkeepers have the natural talent but even more significant is their hunger to learn and absorb the advanced technical advice from experts like Joppe," said Rostron.
Said Mariette Rix, South Africa's most experienced international goalkeeper:
"It's an exciting experience working with world-class goalkeeping experts like Joppe, and the constant feedback and analysis during the camps allows us to grow and improve step by step."
