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South Africa

By Jane Bramley

The Spar South African women's hockey team may be inexperienced, but has some very exciting talent.

That was the view expressed by coach Jenny King on Wednesday, during the team's training camp at the Tuks High Performance Centre.

"We have lost some very talented players - Kerry Bee, Natalie Fulton, Anli Kotze, for instance. You add up their caps, and there's a wealth of experience that has been lost. But on the other hand, we have some very exciting young players, and I think the future is very bright."

'Her positional change has revived her excitement and enthusiasm'
Captain Lindsay Carlisle concurred. "Marscia Marescia, for instance, is such a talented player," she said.

"She's very mature, and has a good insight into the game. I see her as a future leader. Kim Hubach is another player that I think is going to contribute a lot to the team, and could also be a future captain."

Coach and captain were both delighted that South Africa's goal-scoring machine, Pietie Coetzee, had rejoined the team after taking a six-month rest from the game.

"She's changed position, and will be playing in the midfield," said Carlisle. "I think her positional change has revived her excitement and enthusiasm, and I think she's going to score even more goals from her new position than she has in the past.

"But in some ways, it was quite good that we were without her when we went to Argentina," she added. "It meant that other players had to take responsibility, instead of relying on Pietie to dictate the way the game went."

'Next year's a very big one'
South Africa will be playing in the six-nation Champions Challenge in the United States next month. The winner of the Challenge tournament will qualify to play in the prestigious Champion of Champions tournament next year.

"It's going to be a very competitive tournament," said King. "It's the kind of tournament where it's almost as easy to win as to come last. "There is not much difference in the strength of the teams, and we are hoping to do well there. We are the lowest-ranked team in the tournament, so there is no real pressure on us."

The other teams taking part are the United States, England, Japan, New Zealand and Spain.

Carlisle said it was important for the team to have as much international competition as possible this year. "Next year's a very big one," she said.

"There's the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in March, and we want to do very well there, and then later in the year, it's the World Cup and the Champion of Champions. So if we are going to blood new players, 2005 is the time to do it, so that we can be ready for a very tough year next year.

The training camp ends on Thursday, and the team will have another training camp before leaving for the United States next month. - Sapa

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