Zimpapers Logo

Ellina Mhlanga

Senior Sports Reporter

THE Under-21 men’s and women’s hockey teams will this weekend go into camp in Bulawayo and Harare respectively to intensify their preparations for the Junior Africa Cup to be staged in Egypt next month.

The continental showpiece is running from March 12 to 19 in Ismailia, Egypt. 

This weekend will see the men’s team camping in Bulawayo where they are hosting a tournament at Khumalo Hockey Stadium from tomorrow to Sunday. 

The tournament is also part of their efforts to raise funds for the trip to Egypt. 

They will take on Hippo Men, Khanimambo and Matabeleland Men. 

Under-21 men’s team manager, Hannington Sibanda, said the tournament will not only benefit the team, but also umpires and officials as they try to grow the sport in Matabeleland. 

“So this tournament is basically set at giving our boys fitness and match practice. We will be running it pretty much as how tournaments are run to give them more in tournament practice as in how substitutes come in and come off, where the manager and coach need to be and just behaviour.

“We have asked umpires to be strict, so that the boys get proper rules and things like that. So that’s the idea with this tournament.

“At the same time it will help us to also keep developing local umpires in Matabeleland. So we have got a team of umpires who will be working at this tournament as well as officials who will be running the table.

“And so it also works out as part of our continuous improvement of hockey in Matabeleland and in Zimbabwe,” said Sibanda. 

Sibanda said they are looking at a budget of US$130 000 for both teams to fulfil the trip to Egypt and they are still appealing for support. 

“So from the US$130 000 that we need, we are still strongly searching for roughly US$80 000. We will have clearer figures by the end of this week when we put all our monies together,” Sibanda said.

Apart from the financial constraints, Sibanda said they have made good progress in preparing the team for competition.

“We have been preparing for a long time for this and we have been very intentional about fitness. Now we are literally in the preparation phase where now we are just trying to get them a lot of match fitness. So we are nearly there, we still have a few weeks of preparation. 

“We still have some tactical things to do. But I must say the boys and girls, they have all been very disciplined. They have worked hard. They have sent in their own individual fitness reports, they have had nutrition measurements done and they have adjusted diets. So we have actually prepared really well,” said Sibanda.  

The women’s side will be in Harare where they are also set to take part in the league games as part of their preparations. 

Under-21 women’s team manager, Carla Jones, said both teams have been intensifying their training with two weeks to go before they leave for Egypt. 

“The team training has been intensifying and we are now at our tournament phase of training. 

“This upcoming weekend, 24/25 of February, our Under-21 ladies have a camp in Harare and our Under-21 men’s side will be having a camp in Bulawayo as well as hosting a tournament at the Khumalo stadium. 

“The last camp for both teams will be hosted in Harare from 3 March as the teams make final preparations before departure on the 8th. The teams still require funding,” Jones said.  She urged the public and corporates to support the teams. 

The top two teams per gender from the Junior Africa Cup qualify for the FIH Junior World Cup in December.

The men’s competition will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the women’s teams will converge in Santiago, Chile.