Aiming to scoop their eighth title, Grantleigh School’s Kate Sparks (Captain) and Jade McDuling (Vice Captain) look forward to welcoming teams to their turf for the North Coast Regional in the SPAR KZN Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge taking place on Saturday, May 10
Image: VAL ADAMSON
Grantleigh School in Richards Bay will host the North Coast Regional SPAR KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Schoolgirls’ Hockey Challenge.
The seventh regional will be held on Saturday May 10.
Celebrating an impressive achievement in SPAR KZN’s sporting milestone year, this will be the 150th tournament to be played in the 15 years that the challenge has been held since its inception in 2011.
Seven teams will be participating in a total of 21 round robin games, followed by the top two teams meeting at 3.30pm for the main decider. Three teams have had the opportunity to travel to the Grand Finals in Durban, after being crowned and representing this area.
Host school Grantleigh will be keen to defend their title and have their name engraved on the trophy for the eighth time. They will meet two-time regional winner, Felixton College in the first game at 8am. Games will be a quick fire 20 minutes long, with the organisers capping the maximum goals scored by a dominating team to seven goals. Empangeni High School, who have four titles to their name join Eshowe High School; John Ross College; Richards Bay Christian School and St Catherine’s School as the other contenders in this hotly contested region.
At the conclusion of each game, the technical desk will award the victorious team 4 points. Teams that were evenly matched with the equal number of goals, 2 points; level teams in a goalless draw will walk away with 1 point each and zero points for the losing team. The two teams with the most points then will face each other for the second time with ambitions of victory and the honour of heading to the Grand Finals in July.
Six teams have already booked their spot for the grand conclusion. The winner of this region will be heading to the Grand Finals to meet nine other teams from around KZN. So far, St Mary’s D.S.G. (Highway Regional); newcomer Maris Stella (Durban Central Regional); Epworth School (Pietermaritzburg Central Regional); St Anne’s School (Pietermaritzburg North Regional); the second newcomer, Kingsway High School (Durban South Regional) and Ashton International College (Durban North Regional) will be making an appearance.
Those unable to get to the side of the pitch, can watch on the SuperSport Schools app as games will be streamed live.