SA Women’s hockey squad announced

Following two intensive training camps held at St Stithians college in January and February this year, the SA Women’s hockey squad has been announced.

Over the two camps, those who were called up to try out were put under a tough training schedule as each day the women would have a two hours skills session in the morning followed by two hours of matches.

ho were called up to try out were put under a tough training schedule as each day the women would have a two hours skills session in the morning followed by two hours of matches.

Coupled with this, the weather played its part in two extreme circumstances. During the morning sessions the temperatures were high while a few times the evening session had to be called off due to a highveld thunderstorm.

The below article provides information on those selected. The article was first published on the SA Hockey site

The South African Hockey Association have today announced the South African Women’s Hockey Squad. This squad will be the first under coach  Robin van Ginkel and will be used to select the final tournament squads for the FIH Open Series Final in Valencia in June.

With Tokyo 2020 having just passed the 500 days away threshold, the excitement for the various qualification tournaments is palpable. South Africa will head to Valencia with the objective of finishing in the top 2. The African champions will take on Italy, Wales and Thailand in Pool B of the Valencia tournament, with hosts Spain partnered in Pool A with Belarus, Canada and Namibia.

The 26-player team announced features an exciting blend of new players with Robyn Johnson, Sandi Tabata, Ashleigh Datnow, Nikki Veto, Stephanie Botha, Casey-Jean Botha, Bianca Wood, Hannah Pearse and Tegan Fourie all looking to earn their first caps for the country.

Alongside the new faces is also a blend of great experience with Lisa Deetlefs, Erin Hunter, Nicole Walraven, Quanita Bobbs, Phumi Mbande and Tarryn Glasby among the players that van Ginkel will look to blend the newcomers to International hockey into the team.

“I am really excited to take my first team to Spain and look to do well in the FIH Hockey Series Final. The team selected has a good core of experienced players that will help blend the new names into the team and into International hockey. I am really looking forward to the start of our four-year process and the success we can bring to South African Hockey!”

South African Women’s Hockey Squad

No	Player	Province	Caps
1	Stephanie Baxter	North West	23
2	Quanita Bobbs	Western Province	114
3	Kara Botes	Southern Gauteng	41
4	Casey Jean Botha	SA U21	0
5	Stephanie Botha	SA U21	0
6	Dirkie Chamberlain	North West	225
7	Ashleigh Datnow	Southern Gauteng	0
8	Lisa Deetlefs	Southern Gauteng	250
9	Lilian du Plessis	Southern Gauteng	119
10	Celia Evans	Northern Blues	145
11	Tegan Fourie	SA U21	0
12	Tarryn Glasby	Western Province	30
13	Erin Hunter	Southern Gauteng	41
14	Robyn Johnson	Southern Gauteng	0
15	Nicole la Fleur (GK)	Western Province	19
16	Ongi Mali	SA U21	10
17	Marizen Marais	Northern Blues	14
18	Phumi Mbande (GK)	Northern Blues	35
19	Mmathshepo Modipane (GK)	Southern Gauteng	5
20	Kristen Paton	Southern Gauteng	15
21	Hannah Pearce	SA U21	0
22	Sandi Tabata	SA U21	0
23	Izelle Verster	Northern Blues	7
24	Nikki Veto	SA U21	0
25	Nicole Walraven	Free State	45
26	Bianca Wood	SA U21	0