Hockey

 MASTER IN CHARGE:  Mr G Elliot

Hockey at Maritzburg College continues to go from strength to strength, with 17 teams representing the school on most Saturdays, and the 1st XI being consistently ranked as one of the top teams in the country over the past few years. Last season saw the following College boys selected for national teams:

South Africa U18A:          T.Guise-Brown, L.Mafilika, C. van den Berg

Photo:  L Mafilika and T Guise-Brown

South Africa U16:   High Performance Squad        T.Halle, P.Lembethe, S.Dlungwana

Photo:  P Lembethe, T Halle, S Dlungwana

These selections took the number of SA U18 caps that College has produced since 1980 to 66, and we are proud of the fact that 8 College boys played in the KZN Inland Under 18A team, with a further in 1 in the KZN Inland Under 18B team. The KZN Inland under 18A team was coached by College Under 14A Head Coach, Brandon Swart whilst the KZN Inland Under 16A Team was coached by College Under 16A Head Coach, Guy Elliot.

At Under 16 level, College were represented by 8 boys in the KZN Inland Under 16A team and a further 6 in the KZN Inland Under 16B team. The Kzn Inland u16B team was coached by a College staff member. At Under 14 level, the KZN Inland Under 14A team had 8 College boys within its ranks whilst a further 4 were in the KZN Inland Under 14B team.

In other words some 38% of the KZN Inland teams were made up by College Hockey players, indeed a proud achievement. In total College has now earned some 77 SA U18 caps, including 8 captains, whilst a further 26 boys have gone on to represent South Africa at Senior Mens level, three of which have captained the team.

We are fortunate to have the services of many experienced provincial coaches and managers, as well as some former provincial and national players, and current National men's and U18 Selection Convenor amongst our coaching staff.

The 1st XI is under the expert guidance of Mike Bechet, a former SA U21, senior provincial player (for Natal, Western Province and Eastern Province), and current national men's and U18 selector, as well as a former Natal Men's coach (1992 and 1993). Five College Old Boys recently attended the 2010 World Cup in New Delhi and they included Gareth Carr, Marvin Harper, Tommy Hammond, Wade Paton and his brother Taine Paton. Three College Old Boys in the form of Marvin Harper, Wade Paton and Taine Paton have been selected as members of the South African Men's Hockey Team to attend the London Olympic Games in 2012 and Grant Glutz and Matthew Guise-Brown have been added to the team who will take part in the 2012 Champions Challenge in Argentina. 

FIH APPROVED SYNTHETIC SURFACE

College hockey is sponsored by Grays