Border hockey teams make impressive start at Ooskus Festival

The Buco astroturf in Bunkers Hill hosted the Ooskus Gymnasium Festival on Friday and Saturday, with Clarendon High, Hudson Park and Stirling finishing the weekend at the top of the girls’ hockey pile.

Despite not being at their best, the three teams impressed and gave spectators a tantalising taste of what’s to come this year.

The annual tournament kicked off the 2025 season for the girls’ sides in the Border region.

Both Clarendon and Hudson ended the festival unbeaten after playing to a draw on the final match of day two.

Coach Luaan Sedras’s Clarendon side were the best team defensively, keeping clean sheets in all four of their matches.

While they were rock solid at the back, Clarendon scored only three goals, beating Merrifield, Stirling and Kingsridge by 1-0 margins.

“The weekend was all about learning lessons,” Sedras said.

“We wanted to figure out combinations and to see how the girls gelled together.

“We played some good opposition, but now it’s all about taking the lessons and balancing that in more competitive games.”

Execution in the final third of the field and capitalising on the chances created is an area coach Sedras wants his charges to sharpen up before the Border Schools Day.

“We are coming up short with our finishing,” he said.

“We are creating opportunities, we are getting into the D, but we’re just not finishing.

“A big focus will be on goalscoring this coming week. I’m quite happy with the structure and midfield, but it’s the finishing where we need to improve.”

Hudson Park played three matches, drew two, and thumped Hangklip 5-1.

Coach Jerry Snyman and his troops headed into the festival wanting to prove that last year’s good results were not a fluke.

They were held to a goalless draw by Stirling in their opening match but their win against Hangklip gave an indication of how dangerous they could be this season.

“I think the fact that we missed key players in key positions showed this weekend,” Snyman said.

“We missed the experienced heads of Busiwe Mayekiso and Melnique Langley. Busi comes back next weekend so that will help the girls going forward.

“Defensively, I thought we were great. I was impressed with the youngsters coming through. They stepped up nicely.”

There won’t be too many changes by the coach for the Border Schools Day.

“We want to just fix the small things,” he said.

“The girls must get a grip of plan up front and in the midfield, and how to defend and receive.

“We haven’t established a ball carrier like we had last year, but that’s something we have been working on.”

Stirling, meanwhile, fielded a team with a mixture of youth and experience for their first outing of the year.

Coach Michael Dettmer’s side were impressive on the final day and finished with a commanding 3-0 win over Lilyfontein.

The Stirling mentor was full of praise for the players.

“It was a good learning curve for the new players in the team,” he said.

“Structure-wise we are trying to change things this year and it was good to try it out in a formal setting, but without too much pressure.

“The younger players impressed me and they now believe that they are good enough for the first-team level.

“We’re very excited for the rest of the season.” — SuperSportschools.com