Online Reporter
Zimpapers Sports Hub
STANBIC Bank Zimbabwe continues to be a vehicle of change in sport with their sponsorship of the St George’s College Stanbic Hockey 5’s tournament bringing schools across the social demography together.
The 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 and this year poured in US$10 000 towards the two-day youth extravaganza at St George’s College in Harare.
This year event held attracted schools like Kutama College, St Ignatius College, Tynwald 1, Mbare Academy, St George’s College, Hellenic Academy, Lomagundi and Christian Brothers College (CBC), institutions that normally don’t get the opportunity to rub shoulders with each other.
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.
“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 the participation of both elite and development schools who came together to showcase their hockey talents under one roof.
“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,” he said.
Stanbic Bank acting head, brand and marketing, 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.
“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.
The schools which took part at this year’s event were 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.
Schools across the sporting divide have been instrumental in the development of sport in the country.
