You can count on hockey’s Izelle
No hockey sum too hard for this accountant in the making.
From the high of scoring the winning goal in the Premier Hockey League (PHL) two weeks ago, Izelle Verster has just come through the low of being stricken by flu but there’s little doubt she won’t be kept down for long, judging by how the 23-year-old has achieved so much already.
Being named the Player-of-the-Final when her Blyde River Bunters beat the Madikwe Rangers 1-0 to claim the PHL title for the second time in three years at the Randburg Astro was just yet another accolade in Verster’s stellar hockey career that has seen her also win interprovincial titles with Northerns, the Varsity Cup with Tuks and earn seven caps for South Africa.
All this while completing her B Com Accounting Honours.
But her success on the hockey field is testament both to how hard she has worked on her game and to the excellence of the high-performance programme at the University of Pretoria. Considering that she was already being included in senior national squads at the age of 20 in 2015, it is a surprise that Verster was not rated as one of the country’s best schoolgirl stars. While she played provincial hockey for Northerns from the Under-16 age-group, the Hoërskool Menlopark pupil was only named as a non-travelling reserve for the SA Schools side.
“When I started in primary school, netball was actually my first choice but then in Grade 5 and 6 I started to like hockey more and began investing more time in it, I began to love playing hockey. But I actually struggled at school, I could only make the provincial Under-16 side and then I was only a non-travelling reserve for SA Schools.
“But my big dream was to play hockey for South Africa, so I carried on and I started improving after school. Playing alongside Nicky Terblanche at Tuks and being coached by her and Inky Zondi at Northerns, and Lindsay Wright has also had a massive influence on me as a coach, I thought last year I just started playing better and better,” Verster says.
It speaks volumes for Verster’s character that even though she is an extremely gifted ball-player, it is the amount of work that she has put into her game that stands out for Zondi, who has coached her since 2013 and won six trophies with her, split evenly between the Tuks and Northerns teams.
“I’ve had the opportunity to work with Izelle every year since 2013 and her work ethic is fantastic. She’s extremely talented in terms of ability and she brings flair and excitement to the game, but it’s her fabulous attitude that really stands out for me. She has such a willingness to learn and improve.
“Izelle is a very special hockey player and I hope she has more opportunity to show that on the international stage, she can certainly bring a new energy to the national team,” Zondi says.
Apart from completing her Articles while working for Deloitte, Verster is definitely eager for more action with the South African team.
“It was a bit frustrating to only make my debut in 2017 after being in the squad for quite a while, but then it was an incredible experience to play against England in the Summer Series. It was just amazing, the pace of the game, and I want to play there so much more. I also played for SA in the Africa Cup and it’s really incredible to play at international level.
“But I’m still fighting to secure my place, hopefully I’ll do that soon with the next Olympics coming up. I hope I’m included for that, that’s one of my big goals, in 2020. Next year, I’m not sure if there’s going to be another Summer Series, but I just want to be part of any squads chosen for South Africa,” Verster says.
The younger sister of former SA Under-19 cricketer Regardt Verster, Izelle says she does not often pop up in the circle and prefers to work her magic in the midfield, so she was surprised when she scored the decisive goal in the PHL final. In the last minute of the second quarter, Verster turned the Rangers defender at the top of the circle and fired a sweetly-struck shot low into the left-hand corner of the goal.
“It was a surprise to score in the final because I don’t score too often. The midfield is more comfortable for me. I like to assist the strikers more, I’m normally the one who does the creating. My strength has always been going forward, creating attacking opportunities by using my skills.
“But I also used to struggle to hang on to the ball and I’ve had to be a lot harder and tougher on the ball, that’s something I’ve worked on very hard and I’ve improved in that department,” Verster says.
The little spare time she has is often spent drawing and painting, “it’s quiet and it clears my mind”, she says, revealing once more how gifted she is in an allround sense.
But there are very few times that Verster’s mind seems anything but crystal-clear on the hockey turf and the future is certainly bright for one of the rising stars of South African hockey.