Gucci a must at hockey
The 18-year-old cannot play without her Yorkshire Terrier
DURBAN hockey player Adriénne Bhola cannot play a game without her Gucci lucky charm. Her accessory, however, is of English origin instead of the wellknown Italian brand.
The Durban Girls’ College hockey captain’s fourand-a-half-year-old Yorkshire Terrier, Gucci, is a familiar sight at the school’s matches.
Adriénne, who became her school’s first Indian captain this year, will lead the team during the SPAR aQuellé School Girls’ Hockey Tournament.
The two-day event will take place on July 20 and 21 at St Mary’s Diocesan School for Girls and Thomas More College in Kloof, Durban.
The teenager’s parents, Sue and Hansie, make a point of ensuring Gucci — who has a special blanket set aside for the occasions — attends. “I practise with him,” she said. Adriénne’s mother said Gucci is something of a celebrity at their daughter’s games.
“Whenever we attend a game, he is the one everyone asks after. He is always so well-behaved. Gucci is one of Adriénne’s biggest fans for sure,” she said.
The 18-year-old matric pupil from Morningside, Durban, said she was eager for the start of the tournament. She hoped to lead her team to another exemplary finish in the third annual contest.
“Last year, we finished second, so there’s a lot of pressure. We’ve had a very good season so, hopefully, we will win all our pool games and finish top of the log. We’ll take each game as it comes.”
The centre-link player has been selected for the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) teams every year since 2007. In 2011, she qualified for the national side. Last week, she made the KZN U18 squad of 2013.
Adriénne, who looks up to tennis ace Roger Federer, was floored when she was named captain of the Durban Girls’ College squad at the start of the school year, but says, like her sporting hero, her main goal is to remain humble.
“It’s been my dream to captain the team since I got to the school. In a way, it’s almost like being a mother figure because many of the girls are a lot younger and get a bit upset when things don’t go our way.
“I try to be humble and treat everyone equally all the time . . . that helps.”