The Maties men’s hockey side has picked the brains of their champion women’s team ahead of the Varsity Hockey campaign which starts at Wits this weekend.
The Maties women’s side took the inaugural title last year, beating NWU-Pukke in a thrilling final, and men’s coach Neville Rothman said that his side have relied on advice from women’s coach Jenny King and her team in order to ensure that they are well prepared.
“Obviously it is a new competition for everyone and there are different elements like the three chukkas of 20 minutes and the powerplay which we will have to adjust to, so we have learned from the girls and got some tips from them.
“Jenny King is head of hockey at Maties and so we asked her for a bit of guidance around things like travelling, hotels and the specific rules as they have experienced the tournament before,” he explained.
Rothman, who also coaches the Paul Roos Gymnasium first team, has been coaching at Maties for seven years but only took the reins of the first team this year.
He has been happy with the start his side have made to the season, winning all three of their league games including a tough away fixture against the star-studded Western Province Cricket Club side.
Rothman does not believe there will be any real favourites in the first year of the competition, but singled out USSA champions UJ as a team to watch out for.
“There won’t be much pressure as there are no defending champions or anything like that. Obviously there are the traditionally strong sides like UJ, Tuks and ourselves who normally do well at USSA but the most pressure will be the pressure we put on ourselves,” he said.
The Maties coach certainly has plenty of talent at his disposal, with seven members of the Western Province Under-21 side that recently won the Inter-Provincial tournament and five members of the senior Western Province team in their ranks.
He said that having so many proven match-winners in his squad does give them some good confidence heading into the first round of action at Wits this weekend.
“We have lots of players who know how to win and we have got a nice balance between young talented players and some guys with a bit more experience,” he said.
One player to look out for from Maties is 21-year-old centre back Dylan Swanepoel who has already established himself in the national squad and captains the national U21 side as well.
