German U16 girls’ hockey team touring Eastern Cape

As part of a twinning agreement between the Eastern Cape government and that of the region of Lower Saxony in Germany, an U16 girls’ hockey team will be hosted by the Eastern Cape sports, recreation, arts and culture department and is touring the Buffalo City and Nelson Mandela Bay districts until April 13.

The team travelling to SA are part of their female U16 regional selection, which is made up of the best female hockey players in Lower Saxony in this age group.

The girls train two to three times a week in their home clubs and receive additional training from the Lower Saxony Hockey Association.

They hope to enjoy fiveplus days of hockey training and games together, as well as five days of cultural exchange, social projects, getting to know SA, the Eastern Cape province and the way people, especially the youth, live, learn and play hockey.

Sightseeing will complement the sports activities to experience SA nature.

The touring group arrived in East London yesterday and will assist in coaching clinics and play a couple of local school teams. They will travel to Gqeberha on Thursday and participate in the KC March Easter Hockey Tournament, which will be hosted by the Gelvan Hockey Club.

They can be seen in action in their first match, which will be against the host club at 6pm on Thursday at the KC

March Astro in Gelvandale.

Besides participating in the tournament, they will also play a match against a Collegiate Girls High School team on Tuesday next week, and run coaching clinics on Wednesday next week before departing for home the next day.