First Noordvaal tournament a learning curve for Maragon
Maragon Ruimsig's girls' hockey team gained valuable experience from its first U/18 Noordvaal tournament.
Maragon Ruimsig’s girls’ hockey team took part in its first Noordvaal hockey tournament this year, and despite not progressing further than the group stages, learned several valuable lessons from the experience.
Going into the tournament, the Maragon team knew it was in for a tough group stage as it was drawn against strong hockey-playing schools – Vereeniging Gimnasium, Hoërskool Hugenote and Hoërskool Ben Viljoen, which had won the Noordvaal tournament for four years in a row prior to this year.
The team’s coach, Stacey Turner, was not unaware of the battle the girls were faced with leading up to the tournament. “We had a tough pool, so it was always going to be an uphill battle,” she said.
The team’s first match was against Vereeniging Gim, and the girls struggled to find their feet in the first half, leaving Vereeniging with a 3–0 lead at the break. A stronger second half performance saw the girls play more positive hockey, but they were unable to convert their chances and ultimately lost 5–0.
The second game came against Hugenote, and was undoubtedly a much better performance and result for Maragon. The improved performance saw the teams draw level at 2–2.
Finally Maragon had to face the Ben Viljoen team, which would eventually go on to win the Noordvaal competition for the fifth consecutive year. The queens of the U/18 Noordvaal tournament were simply too good for debutantes Maragon, and ran out 6–0 victors.
Stacey remains proud of her teams, and is looking forward to a strong future for Maragon’s hockey.
“Despite the scorelines, we played some good hockey and I’m really proud of my team and its performances,” she said. “We gained some valued and much-needed experience which will definitely help us in our future growth.”
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