South Africa: Whitewashed, but SA remain positive
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| South Africa |
April 19, 2005
The South African Star, South Africa
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Karien Jonckheere
The Spar SA women's hockey team returned to the country yesterday feeling better prepared for the Champions Challenge which is now less than three months away.
The South Africans' went down 4-0 in their series against Argentina in Buenos Aires last week. But of more importance than the result, was the opportunity handed to five new players in the team to gain their first taste of international competition.
"It was definitely a great experience for a lot of players who are new to the team," said vice-captain Marsha Marescia on the team's return yesterday.
"And to start off by playing your first international against a team who are second in the world, it gives them a great platform to start from."
Also of significance to the South Africans (ranked 12th in the world) was the fact that their performances seemed to improve as the week progressed. They lost the first encounter 5-2, the second 2-1, the third 3-0 (but coach Jenny King still described it at the team's best performance up until that point in the series) and then the final Test 2-1.
"I think we stood a real chance of drawing or even winning that final game because we just got better and better and our periods of domination got longer and longer," said Marescia, describing the game in which Jen Wilson scored South Africa's only goal.
"I think personally I learnt a lot on this tour from the Argentinian style of play. Certain players, like Luciana Aymar, who was named as the FIH player of the year last year, play with such flair."
"And collectively as a team I think we achieved our goal of getting better and better. This is a good start to our preparation for the Champions Challenge."
"We haven't played against Argentina for about five years so it was good in terms of getting some international exposure and what was really exciting to see was the new players fitting in quite comfortably."
"Obviously there are still a lot of areas that we need to work on but nothing too major."
The more experienced pack of Pietie Coetzee, Natalie Fulton and Kerry Bee chose not to make themselves available for this series and will have to earn back their places at a selection camp next month.
"Someone like Pietie is the type of person that the team will always miss, not only for her performance on the field but also because she's one of the most experienced players and a leader in the team. But I think the girls manage dreally well, even without her there," explained Marescia.
The Champions Challenge team will be selected after the May camp and these players will then re-assemble in June and at the beginning of July, before heading to the US for the tournament.
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