The South African Women's Hockey team take on Scotland next in the Private Property sponsored test series.
With three matches already under their belt, the Private Property-sponsored SA Women’s Hockey team are up against feisty opponents Scotland at 4pm Saturday next, and then the Scots again come 6pm Sunday at the beautiful Hartleyvale International Hockey Stadium in Observatory, Cape Town.
SAW Hockey then take on the formidable German national team in two Test matches at Bishops and Stellenbosch to wrap up their seven-match odyssey in the Private Property Summer Series.
This has all been made possible through the team’s blossoming partnership with Private Property.
Simon Bray, CEO of Private Property, says he believes partnerships are the key to success.
“Private Property is privileged and proud to be partnering with our national women's hockey team on their path to sporting success.
Hockey is the second most played sport in the world after football/soccer and certainly one of the biggest women's sports in South Africa. As a result there is a large grassroots following for the sport, thousands of young people playing at clubs and at school level.
These are the same families that we see coming to Private Property searching for their next home. So the fit between SA Women's Hockey and Private Property is certainly there."
The SA women played India in the opening two matches of the Private Property Summer series and a penalty corner in the last quarter steered the Indian ladies to a hard-fought 1-0 win in the first Test match.
Debutant Marizen Marais put SA 1-0 up early in the second Test before India fought back to a 2-1 advantage, but it was seasoned striker Dirkie Chamberlain who nailed the match equaliser for South Africa.
SA then faced the Scots on Wednesday evening and took their first win, a 2-1 defeat of the lasses from the UK.
Candice Manuel scored in the first half with Tanya Britz increasing the lead after half-time. Scotland captain Rebecca Merchant pulled one goal back at the death.
"It is inspiring to be affiliated with such a passionate and motivated group of young women,” says Bray. “All the young women ladies are degreed graduates or are currently furthering their academic studies. They also invest an extraordinary amount of effort in their sport and as hockey is not a professional sport their involvement often requires huge personal sacrifices.”
Women are the decision makers in the property purchase process, this is obvious from the demographics on our website where more than 60% of browsers are women. As a result we believe in empowering women and supporting the SA Women’s Hockey team is just such an initiative. We hope that their story of striving and success resonates with the female audience on our platform.
We look forward to working with the team over the coming months, and hopefully years, in sharing this exciting journey with them."
Tonight, the SA men's team come up against Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic Games champions Germany on the first of three occasions in the Private Property Summer Series.
One of the SA teams leading players and regular captain, Rhett Halkett, says the lads in the green and gold are excited at the opportunity to test themselves against the double Olympic champs.
“The vibe is always strong in the team. It’s a great group of guys who want to play good hockey against the best.”
The same could be said of the SA ladies, who will be commenting in the articles to follow – and as the series develops further.
Both German teams have extremely talented hockey players with match-winners amongst them. But the same can be said of SA.
Scotland head coach Gordon Shepherd has a clear focus for this trip. He said: “I am excited by the prospect of bringing new players into the squad and look forward to seeing them test themselves against the quality of the opposition that we will be up against. It gives players the opportunity to demonstrate ability at this level and start making a case for future inclusion for international matches and competitions between now and next year.”
All roads are leading to Hartleyvale until March 5.
PRIVATE PROPERTY SUMMER SERIES
RESULTS AND FIXTURES
(at Hartleyvale unless stated)
Sat, Feb 20: SA women 0 India 1
Sun, Feb 21: SA women 2 India 2
Wed, Feb 24: SA women 2 Scotland 1
Fri, Feb 26: SA men vs Germany (6pm)
Sat, Feb 27: SA women vs Scotland (4pm)
Sat, Feb 27: SA men vs Germany (6pm)
Sun, Feb 28: SA women vs Scotland (6pm)
Mon, Feb 29: SA men vs Germany (6pm)
Fri, Mar 4: SA women vs Germany (5pm, Bishops)
Sat, Mar 5: SA women vs Germany (4pm, Stellenbosch)