Namibia: Bumper Hockey Season in Store
By Helge Schütz
A BUMPER hockey season kicks off this weekend with the start of the Bank Windhoek Field League, while an exciting international programme lies in store on the horizon.
The men and women's premier leagues will see exciting opening matches with the main title rivals pitted against each other at the Windhoek High School field.
The Women's Premier League gets underway this evening with the defending champions, Saints, taking on DTS at 18h30.
Saints have dominated the Women's Premier League, winning the title for the past four years, but DTS are improving and gave a good account in last year's final which they lost 2-0.
They will once again be the main title rivals. In the Men's Premier League, Windhoek Old Boys and the School of Excellence are also improving and could provide some surprises.
The Men's Premier League starts tomorrow, with champions Windhoek Old Boys having entered two teams, which will both be in action.
At 18h00, Windhoek Old Boys Bullets (their younger team) take on DTS, while Windhoek Old Boys Maroons (their older team), face Saints at 19h30.
Old Boys last year replaced Saints as champions for the first time in three years, when their evergreen striker Siyabonga Martins scored a dramatic winner in the dying seconds.
Their rematch tomorrow night should be a classic affair with both teams keen to get off to a winning start.
DTS have a young and improving team, as do Nust and SoE, while Wanderers, who have been struggling in recent years, will be keen to get off the bottom of the table.
Competition should be fierce, especially since spots will be up for grabs in the national men and women's sides that are preparing for several international events, in a bumper year for Namibian hockey.
With Namibia's national men's team recently also having been invited to the Indoor World Cup, they will join their female counterparts at the quadrennial event in Liege, Belgium in February next year.
The men will also compete in the African Cup of Nations in Ghana in January next year, and according to the secretary general of the Namibia Hockey Union, Jens Unterlerchner, two different squads will be selected for the upcoming tournaments.
Indoor and field hockey are two completely different styles of hockey, so two different squads will be selected for the Afcon and Indoor World Cup," he said.
The national women's squad, meanwhile, will hold its final training camp in Windhoek this weekend before the final squad is selected for the Indoor World Cup.
The training camp will include two matches at the Windhoek Showgrounds at 16h30 tomorrow and 08h30 on Sunday.
This article originally appeared on Namibian
Photo: Namibian