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Ellina Mhlanga
Senior Sports Reporter
WITH the national men’s and women’s field hockey teams set to compete at the African Games next year following their qualification over the weekend, Hockey Association of Zimbabwe president Grant Campbell says their focus now is to get sponsorship.
Zimbabwe hosted the Central South Africa qualifier from last Wednesday to Sunday at St John’s College in Harare.
Campbell said it has not been easy over the years and the teams’ qualification brings some positivity to the sport.
“Obviously, our priority was to qualify for the African Games. It’s a huge part of African hockey and as Zimbabwe we have been a main player within the African hockey fraternity for many years.
“And it was imperative for us to keep developing and getting back the stature of our hockey status. So obviously, (for) this tournament we were fortunate enough that the two top teams qualified,” said Campbell.
The African Games are scheduled for August next year in Ghana.
With financial constraints limiting the teams’ preparations for the qualifier, Campbell said they have to work on getting more sponsors on board.
He acknowledged various sponsors that supported the qualifier, including Stanbic Bank who were the main sponsors.
“It’s been a tough journey, especially more so with the economic situation over the last 10, 15 years Africa Games etcetera has been quite a difficult task.
“Definitely our women have been involved in a lot more competitions over the last few years and it’s fantastic that our men have now qualified and can go to the African Games as well.
“We can’t sit back and rest on our laurels. Both teams are going to have to do a lot of work. We are going to have to do a lot of work as HAZ in attracting more sponsors just to make the whole journey that much easier.
“But it doesn’t take away all the assistance we had for this tournament from all our sponsors. It’s been fantastic the support of the Sports Commission and the Ministry of Sport . . . and obviously this lovely facility at St John’s College.
“But as teams, we have got some good young players, good management and coaching staff. We have built a good solid foundation that we can build on,” said Campbell.
The likes of Tinodiwanashe Elijah, Natalie Terblanche, Simone Herbst, Rumbidzai Zimuto and Taya Trivella were part of the Under-21 team that competed at the FIH Hockey Women’s Junior World Cup in April.
Zimbabwe men’s team assistant coach, Prince Mwale, said the qualifiers were a learning curve and they need more game-time.
“It’s been a learning curve for us because we have got a very young team . . . so for us the most important thing is obviously we need to get our boys playing. We can’t afford to wait until August next year to play our matches.
“So we need to at least give our players the ability to play at least 10, 15 international games before they get to the African Games and then we can say we are almost ready. But still then there will be work to do,” said Mwale.
The women’s team was in Ghana this year for the Africa Cup of Nations and captain Amy-Lee Levey said they have to be strategic in their build-up to the African Games.
“Ghana is very hot. We need to be strategic with the way we train. Maybe train in the heat, train midday when it’s really hot so that we adjust and acclimatise.
So I will say that’s our number one (priority).
“So we can learn how to do our nutrition, get our bodies right, get our heads back in the game and then take it from there and keep the team together,” said Levey.
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