Alpha seeks to nurture hockey’s future stars

PRODUCING hockey stars capable of playing at both provincial and national level will be one of the top priorities for Alpha Hockey Club, club chairman Gavin Jacobs said yesterday.

Jacobs was speaking ahead of the club’s second week of fixtures in the Eastern Province Hockey third women’s league as his club looks to make a name for itself.

With 33 girls registered, Jacobs said the club – which was only established last year – wanted to first see how smoothly operations ran before looking to expand to include boys.

The club consists of an A and B team, both playing in the same league with the intention of one day becoming a force to be reckoned with.

Initially the club was scheduled to play their first two games at the weekend. However, their match on Saturday was postponed in honour of the late Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

They played a match on Sunday which they won 2-0 against Uitenhage Hockey Club.

“The idea behind the establishment of the club is to develop the skills of players who might not get the opportunity to play the game due to the financial costs involved,” he said. The average age of members of the club is 16. Jacobs said often underprivileged players with talent had to miss out on the opportunity to showcase their skills because of financial reasons.

Jacobs said through seeking sponsorships, the club would assist any of its players who managed to gain selection to the provincial team.

“I think there are enough players to make the provincial grade, but because of financial constraints, their skills go unnoticed.

“Our kids need to play, they should not be worried about finances and those kinds of things, they should be focused on getting their skills up to standard,” he said.

Jacobs said the club’s practice sessions took place on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6pm to 7pm at Westering High School.

They will continue with their quest in the leagues with two matches this weekend.

The first game will see them take on Varsity College at 3pm at the KC March Astro Turf, Gelvan Sports complex, while the second, starting at 4.30pm, will be against Gelvan Cubz.