LISTEN: SA Men's Hockey is back on the international map
Not only have we made South Africa proud but we finally put hockey on the international map.
Earlier this month, South Africa played host to the Inaugural FIH Hockey Nations Cup.
The men's section of the tournament was played in Potchefstroom. It was six days of exciting hockey and eventually came down to two nations in the final - SA vs Ireland.
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The winner would score an opportunity to win the inaugural FIH Hockey Nations Cup and earn an invite to the FIH Hockey Pro League for 2023/24.
Despite an intense final, SA were crowned champions with a 4-3 victory.
We decided to chat with one of the organisers of the tournament, who's a KwaZulu-Natal born and bred man. He is also quite familiar with the SA Hockey setup, having been a selector and currently a university coach.
Shaun Hulley is the the director of hockey at the North-West University
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. He spoke to us about the process of hosting a tournament in the small town of Potchefstroom at the university and some of the challenges they had to face in the process.
According to SA Hockey, this tournament was created in order to feature the eight best nations who are not currently included in the FIH Pro League.
There was also a new era in both the coaching and player department, as new leaders were appointed at the start of the tournament.
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The team throughout the tournament was led by new South African Men's Hockey captain, Dayaan Cassiem.
He is joined in the squad by the bulk of the Commonwealth Games squad that finished in the top four in Birmingham.
KZN school hockey circles will perhaps remember a couple of names in the squad as they went to school at some of KZN best schools.
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Tyson Dlungwana, Tevin Kok, Peabo Lembethe, Sihle Ngubane, and Matt Guise-Brown all went to Maritzburg College.
Jethro Eustice and Guy Morgan both represent Kearsney College, as current technical hockey coach as well as an alumni respectively.
Congratulations to the SA men's hockey team, coaching staff, tournament organisers at NWU Sport, as well as the different KZN schools represented in the squad.
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Main image attribution: SA Hockey/ Facebook