Blog
How to train like a South African Hockey Player
This set of videos was superbly put together by our resident GoPro expert Jonty Robinson and profiles our two week Bloemfontein training camp a few months ahead of the 2012 London Olympics. In-between the punishing sessions (and him receiving stitches in his head which you will see in the day two video) he managed to put these together, great work mate!
It also features some of the fantastic professionals on hand to not only show us how to perform each exercise but also motivate us. A huge thanks to 'Doc Derek' everyone else at the Free State University for their superb work!
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Playing overseas, is it for you?
When I travelled to India for the Hockey India League or HIL for short I introduced myself to the team as a South African with a British passport who was living in The Netherlands. Unfortunately most of the guys couldn't speak English so they didn't really follow the joke. I'm often asked by young South African players especially what it's like playing overseas and if I recommend it. So here are some things I've learnt from training, playing and living abroad for the past 9 years!
Why?
Firstly what reason do you have for going to play hockey or any other sport abroad? …
African Cup of Nations 2013 - What's going on?
The biennial African Cup of Nations serves to see who qualifies for the coming World Cup or Olympic Games depending on the year. This years African Cup of Nations was originally scheduled to begin in Nairobi, Kenya today, 26th September. Sadly due to ongoing unrest in Egypt both their mens and ladies teams had to withdraw. A week later and our neighbours Zimbabwe and Namibia also withdrew due to funding difficulties. Those three withdrawals along with the likes of Uganda, Nigeria and other frequent participants not entering we have been left with three teams in the mens division and four in the ladies.
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Hoofdklasse Hockey - Week 2
After our 5-1 win over Laren and thrilling 5-5 draw with Amsterdam we are sitting in 4th place. Below you can see how everyone else is fairing after two weeks. This coming weekend we have a double header against Kampong and Rotterdam. Kampong who are suffering from a number of injuries are never easy but perhaps this is an opportunity for us to get one over them, something which we haven't done for some time.
Friday 20.30 Den Bosch vs Kampong (home)
Sunday 14.45 Rotterdam vs Den Bosch (away)
I've had an incredible start from a goal scoring point of view, you can see the leading goals scorers list below as well. …
#3 Rabo Skills Challenge
A nice video showing perfect receiving and quick passing technique by Dutch ladies international Ellen Hoog. If you live in Holland and can master this skill sign up at http://www.rabosport.nl/event/nk-hockey-techniek and doe mee!
Princess Hockey High Performance Clinics
Having been to High Performance Clinics before as a young boy I would highly recommend this to all players. If you're living in the Cape Town area I would suggest signing up as soon as possible. Princess always hosts the best clinics and events - fact!
For more info check out the Princess website http://www.princesshockey.co.za/events.
My Princess Cape Town Masterclass
What is Dengue Fever?
I thought this was a good title for a blog posting because it's exactly what I was asking myself 9 weeks ago in Johor, Malaysia. We arrived in Malaysia four days before the start of the World League Round 2 competition and after what I thought was a promising start things soon took a turn for the worse. A few days into the competition I began noticing an increasing pain in my lower back and higher levels of fatigued than I was used to so early on in the trip.
SA Men's Team - World League Round 2
Having spoken with our team doctor and physiotherapist we all agreed it was probably the first signs of chronic fatigue as I hadn't had much of a rest since well before the London Olympics and this was probably my bodies way of telling me I needed to have some time off. …
Dream start to the new Hoofdklasse 2013 / 2014 season
I couldn't have asked for more from the team or myself in the opening game of this years Dutch club competition, The Hoofdklasse. Scoring a hat-trick and winning 5-1 is a perfect way to begin a new season as captain of Den Bosch. Have a look at the video highlights below!
Smith is SA's best…again!
The South African hockey captain Austin Smith has been named the SA Player of the Year for the third time. Smith was also honoured with this award in 2008 and 2010.
“To have won this award in such a big year (2012) means a great deal to me. Captaining the team to the Olympics Qualifiers and at the London Olympics itself is a great honour as well as a lot of pressure so to receive this accolade at the end of it is extra reward. It means a great deal to be named the best player of your country. Having won the award twice before people expect you to be less excited but if I look back and remember how hard I had to work to just make the team back in 2004 it reminds me how far I've really come. …