There was double delight in the Marais household after Marizen Marais clinched the 2015 Varsity Hockey title with The University of Johannesburg to join her brother Neil with a Varsity Sports title.
Neil played a pivotal role in helping the Shimlas claim the 2015 Varsity Cup title and shared some words of wisdom with his younger sibling moments before she took to the astro.
“Just before the final, Neil came to me and told me to just enjoy the moment, play hard but also have fun on the field – which is what I did.
“As a family, we were all ecstatic when Shimlas won the Varsity Cup and see my brother get his hands on the trophy. So when we made the final, I just wanted to add to the joy of the family by helping UJ to win the Hockey event and make it a double celebration for the Marais household,” she told varsitysportssa.com.
UJ definitely made the Marais family happy when they beat UFS-Kovsies 3-0 in very tense encounter but they did not have the ascendency in the first half and had to dig deep to find the opening goal of the match.
“We were under a lot of pressure in the first half and knew we had to change something at half-time. I think we allowed our nerves to get the better of us and came out more relaxed in the second half. The team dynamic remained positive through the hard times of the game and we knew that if we returned to basics and did those little things right, the outcome would go our way.
“It was such a great feeling when that final whistle went and we achieved our goal. To be part of something so big and achieve something as big as winning the Varsity Hockey tournament is just so unreal,” she added.
With the victory, UJ ensured they are the dominant University on the astro after their men’s side won the 2014 edition of the tournament.
“Some of the guys [who won the tournament in 2014] made the trip down to Bloemfontein to support us and help us take in the vibe and the atmosphere. They just told us to enjoy the moment and take everything in because it is something special,” she stated.
Marais paid tribute to UJ’s National players Kaila-Ron Flemming and Lilian du Plessis, whose experienced shined in the second half as they both played a vital role in finding the back of the net to help the Johannesburg ladies lift the trophy.
