Moffat Mungazi
Sports Reporter
STANBIC Bank Zimbabwe sponsored US$10 000 towards the two-day St George’s College Stanbic Hockey 5’s Tournament which took place at St George’s College over the weekend.
The St George’s College Stanbic Bank Hockey 5’s Tournament serves as a curtain-raiser to the schools’ hockey season, and it saw 48 boys’ and girls’ high schools from around the country participating.
Stanbic Bank has been the main sponsor of the internationally recognised five-aside hockey festival commonly referred to as Hockey 5’s for over three years.
St George’s head of hockey, Denford Kumundati commended Stanbic Bank for bankrolling almost all the major needs of the event which included perimeter boards, meals for participants and officials among other crucial tournament needs.
“The sponsorship by Stanbic Bank was pivotal in the smooth running of the event which continues to grow in leaps and bounds each year. The number of participating schools grew from last year’s 33 to 48 this year,” said Kumundati.
He said the importance of the sponsorship by Stanbic Bank could never be over emphasised as it facilitated for the participation of both elite and development schools who came together to showcase their hockey talents under one roof.
Schools such as Kutama College, St Ignatius College, Tynwald 1, and Mbare Academy among others were able to rub shoulders with schools such as St George’s College, Hellenic Academy, Lomagundi and Christian Brothers College from Bulawayo during the two-day tournament.
“The tournament is significant towards the development of hockey in the country and is the only tournament outside of key national hockey matches and competitions,” said Kumundati.
He said the sponsorship by Stanbic Bank included the provision of perimeter boards which are crucial for Hockey 5’s as they allow the ball to rebound back into the court instead of going out, allowing play to continue.
“Over the years we used two fields for Hockey 5’s, but Stanbic Bank is now providing perimeter boards for four fields and this allows us to host more schools and teams, making our tournament a success because it was well attended,” said Kumundati.
Stanbic Bank acting brand and marketing head, Tariro Memo, said the leading financial services institution took great joy in playing a pivotal role in promoting the skills of young and upcoming hockey players.
Memo said Stanbic Bank is cognisant of the importance of nurturing talent at a young age as this would see them develop into future national team players as well as competitive individuals with careers in hockey.
She said the support was part of a broader and comprehensive Corporate Social Investment (CSI) strategy by Stanbic Bank whose pillars included, health, education, the environment and sanitation as well as sport.
“Over the years, we have supported hockey at national level as part of the sports pillar under our sponsorship initiatives. Our support for Hockey 5’s is meant to prop up grassroots hockey development, and we hope that these players will feed into the senior national teams thus enhancing the levels of competitiveness of our national teams,” said Memo.
Participating schools at the 5’s tournament included Allan Wilson, Churchill, Convent, Eaglesvale, Hellenic Academy, Lomagundi, Kutama College, Prince Edward, Christian Brothers College, St George’s College, St John’s Emerald Hill, St john’s College, Tynwald, Allan Wilson, Sodbury, Westridge and Wise Owl.
Online Reporter