National hockey team player Pauline Naise during a past training session. PHOTO | MARTIN MUKANGU | NATION MEDIA GROUP

Hockey star turned footballer Pauline Naise joins Harambee Starlets camp

    National hockey team star Pauline Naise is among the 24 players that reported to the Harambee Starlets training camp on Friday at the Safaricom Stadium, Kasarani. Naise has featured for both the junior and senior national hockey teams in a number of international assignments. She last featured for the national hockey team in February 2015 during the World League Two series in Uruguay before taking a break from the sport at the end of last season after leading her club USIU Spartans to a fourth place finish in the league. The midfielder, who features for Football Kenya Federation Women’s Premier League side Vihiga Leeds, was among the four new players that have been called up to the team that is preparing to make a debut in the African Women’s Cup of Nations next month in Cameroon. The others are striker Janet Bundi of Women Premier League (WPL) Zone B side Nyamira County Starlets, Soccer Queens’ Esther Nyandika and Bertha Omita – who turns out for WPL Zone B side Oserian. REMAINED OPTIMISTIC Speaking to Daily Nation Sport from Kasarani, Naise expressed delight at having earned her first call up to the national team. Naise remained optimistic of making the team for the Morocco friendly match as well as the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations finals in Cameroon. “I did not expect to be called for this duty but I am so happy that after so many years, the coach has seen it fit to call me. I like to play hockey but football is my first love,” the 22-year-old midfielder said.  “This is my first time here and I am still unsure of whether I will make it to the tournament so I just want to put up a convincing performance during training.” Starlets have a busy schedule in the next few weeks, as they have three friendly matches lined up ahead of the continental showpiece. Starlets will play Morocco away in Marrakech on October 16, before hosting Cameroon (October 22) and Egypt (October 28). At the continental showpiece, Starlets have been drawn in a tough Group B which also has Mali, Ghana and defending champions Nigeria. PROVISIONAL SQUAD Jacky Ogol, Enez Mango, Vivian Corazon, Jackeline Akoth, Purity Nyongesa, Samantha Akinyi, Vivian Akinyi, Lilian Awuor, Ann Aluoch, Wendy Achieng, Elizabeth Ambogo, Christine Nafula, Irene Ogutu, Cherise Avilia, Dorcas Shikobe, Caroline Anyango, Neddy Atieno, Esse Akida, Dorcas Anyango, Mary Kinuthia, Esther Nandika, Pauline Naise, Bertha Adhiambo, Janet Bundi. Source: Daily Nation | Date: Friday October 7 2016

    Police host Greensharks

      Kenya Hockey league continues this weekend with several matches expected to be played in Nairobi, Nakuru and Kisumu. African queens Orange Kick off this weekend games as they take on Daystar University. Daystar who have not won a single game this season will be facing a wounded Orange who need to score many goals to stay top of the league since they started they league on a wrong footing. The game of the day will be between Kenya Police and their longtime rivals Greensharks. Police currently are 2nd on the log with Greensharks leading the pool having played 4 games each. The winner of this match will move to the top and both teams are looking to book a slot in next year’s Club Championships. The two matches to be played out of town will be between  Nakuru Sikh hosting Sikh Nairobi on Saturday in Nakuru and on Sunday BAY hosts Strathmore University.    

      Indoor Hockey Glory for the KZN Raiders

        It’s been a riveting weekend of indoor hockey in Bellville down in the Western Cape. There have been more goals than controversial statements from Donald Trump and as the weekend progressed the quality of the hockey started to experience an upsurge as well. Ultimately it was the expected KZN Raiders who did the job and emerged victorious. After the group stages were completed on Friday, the knock out stages is where the tournament truly begins and the quality of games really backed that statement up.  The Raiders continued on their relentless march in both the women’s and men’s tournament where the victims of their brutally efficient hockey was the WP Pens and Mpumalanga respectively. There was a major upset in the Quarter finals of the men’s tournament as an opening salvo of supreme pace and relentless attack saw the Southern Gauteng “B” Side, known as Wits march to an early lead against the KZN Inland side. It was a lead they would not release and they ended up victors with one of the displays of the tournament. There reward though was a match against the unstoppable Raiders in the Semi-Final where Ryan Hack’s men could not be stopped. It’s been a riveting weekend of indoor hockey in Bellville down in the Western Cape. There have been more goals than controversial statements from Donald Trump and as the weekend progressed the quality of the hockey started to experience an upsurge as well. Ultimately it was the expected KZN Raiders who did the job and emerged victorious. After the group stages were completed on Friday, the knock out stages is where the tournament truly begins and the quality of games really backed that statement up.  The Raiders continued on their relentless march in both the women’s and men’s tournament where the victims of their brutally efficient hockey was the WP Pens and Mpumalanga respectively. There was a major upset in the Quarter finals of the men’s tournament as an opening salvo of supreme pace and relentless attack saw the Southern Gauteng “B” Side, known as Wits march to an early lead against the KZN Inland side. It was a lead they would not release and they ended up victors with one of the displays of the tournament. There reward though was a match against the unstoppable Raiders in the Semi-Final where Ryan Hack’s men could not be stopped. The men’s final was an altogether different affair. Southern Gauteng were the heavy underdogs but started with a bang when Kyle Marks scored from a rebound, the Raiders fought back before a sensational goal by Brandon James gave Southerns the lead again. Raiders, not to be outdone fought back with a great team goal finished off by Greg Last.  After half time the Southerns boys started to tire and the Raiders almost looked to have more energy and raised the game to another level. After taking the lead through inspirational skipper Fairweather and another through Eustice, the Raiders employed a brand of game management that would make the All Blacks proud in seeing it out. The tournament was undoubtedly one of the best indoor IPT’s that we have seen in South Africa, although there is room for improvement. The involvement of PSi in hosting the IPT raised the tournament to a better level and it would make sense if a continued involvement was sought out for them by SA Hockey. In terms of the individual awards the top goalscorers awards were shared in the men’s by Jethro Eustice (Raiders) and Gavin Jelley (Inland), and incredibly shared in the ladies as well by Cindy Hack and Eloise Walters (both Raiders). Matthew Becker did is own national hopes no hurt, by being named keeper of the tournament while Nicole le Fleur won the award for the lady. Lastly it was to player of the tournament which was easily won by Jethro Eustice in the mens tournament. In the ladies tournament Nicole de Vries, who had received stiches on Friday when a mask hit her, was named the player of the tournament. Final Positions Men’s Indoor Inter Provincial Tournament Women’s Indoor Inter Provincial Tournament 1.  KZN Raiders 1.       KZN Raiders 2.  Southern Gauteng 2.       Western Province 3.  Western Province 3.       KZN Mynahs 4.  Wits 4.       Southern Gauteng 5.  KZN Inland 5.       North West 6.  WP Pens 6.       KZN Inland 7.  Eastern Gauteng 7.       WP Pens 8.  Mpumalanga 8.       Mpumalanga Source: SA Hockey Channel  | Date: 17 October 2016

        PHL takes SA hockey into a bright new future

          Both men’s and women’s hockey broke into new territory in Randburg in September 2016 as the inaugural Premier Hockey League began what most involved feel will be a revolution in the game in South Africa.  The Milo Maropeng Cavemen and the Nestle Pure Life Blyde River Bunters emerged triumphant on 25th September 2016 in gripping finals as the Department of Sport and Recreation backed event came to an end. Six men’s and six women’s teams, playing as franchises that are 100% owned by the South African Hockey Association (SAHA) after a draft system, played each other once in a league stage before the top four teams progressed to the semi-finals, followed by the grand finals.  “It was a definite success and something different for local hockey. To play with young and experienced players all in the same team and from all different provinces, was amazing. Nobody knew each other at first, but if you’re a top hockey player then you need to adapt. The same applies to having different coaches – a lot of our players had never played under coach Lindsey Wright before,” said the captain of the Nestle Pure Life Blyde River Bunters, Nicolene Terblanche, who is also the national women’s captain.  “The PHL was a great success, just ask any of the players and they’ll tell you they wish they were doing this for the last few years. It was well-organised and thanks to SuperSport, the players had the experience of playing on TV and being able to use the video referral system. The only time we’ve had that before has been in international hockey and not a lot of players get to do that. For 16-year-olds, this incredible tournament meant they learnt a lot,” Terblanche added.  “The first season has been really inspirational and a lot of people watched the TV coverage on SuperSport. The PHL is what hockey needs and it was exciting to see it on TV. I hope the tournament grows as it’s the foundation of our future hockey and an opportunity for the national selectors to see more players. Additionally, they got to see a lot of games at good intensity and pressure. It’s one of the best tournaments I’ve played in,” said the captain of the Milo Maropeng Cavemen, Rassie Pieterse.  The veteran Southern Gauteng goalkeeper has played all over the world and won many tournaments, but he said the sheer elation of some of the Cavemen team when they were handed their gold medals brought home another great benefit of the PHL.  “We had a good mix of experience and younger players that bring a lot of energy and that’s important too. For some of the guys from the smaller centres like Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein, Stellenbosch, Pinetown and East London, it was the first time they’ve ever won a gold medal because they play for minnows. Hopefully they can take knowledge back to their clubs because now they’ve experienced what it takes to win a tournament,” Pieterse said.  Terblanche was a compelling leader of a very young Bunters side – with an average age of just 21 – and she was similarly inspirational off the field as she handed all the money from her three player of the match awards during the tournament to the fundraising efforts of the national U21 teams as they head off for their junior world cups in India and Chile.  “I’ve been in their shoes before and know that every cent helps, so I decided to donate all my winnings,” Terblanche humbly said.  With opportunities for top competition few and far between for South Africa’s leading players, Terblanche was eager for SAHA to persevere with the exciting PHL concept.  “I really hope this happens every year now. With no major international tournaments for us in 2016, it was absolutely not a nice year for the national players, but then the PHL came along. We all looked forward to it, it was so exciting and the community really got into the swing of it as well with all the posts on Facebook and other social media. “By putting the PHL on TV, it made sure people were talking about it, whenever I went back to the office, my colleagues would ask me about the tournament. So it’s been very positive and I know the players that didn’t play this year are very jealous to miss out,” Terblanche said. Published: 03 October 2016 | Source: SA Hockey