Two teams from Cradock travelled to Stutterheim last weekend to take part in a five-a-side hockey tournament.
According to Dwayne de Beer, one of the organisers, this was their team’s third trip to Stutterheim for hockey.
The first two trips were for seven-a-side tournaments.
“This was, however, the first time the organisers held a tournament since COVID-19 started and everybody was keen to get on the field again,” he said.
The Cradock’s men’s teams consisted of Dwayne de Beer, Dylan Watling, Gideon van Biljon, Ken-Martin Olivier and Tiaan Kitchen.
The ladies team featured Annemie Blom, Danielle de Camara, Gina-Lyn Smit, Nadine Human and Erika van der Weshuizen.
“The main goal was to go and enjoy the hockey, and that is what we did,” said De Beer.
He also explained that this was the first time the u/18s were allowed to take part and that it took them a bit of time getting used to playing against the youngsters.
Nevertheless, the Cradock men’s team managed to finish third in their pool but, unfortunately, did not make it to the final games of the day to play out for first and second or third and fourth place.
Teams from Cradock, Port Alfred, East London and Stutterheim competed.
The tournament took place in a round-robin format at the Stutterheim Country Club, with two smaller fields marked out for the games. There was a total of 14 games, which meant that each team got to play six games during the day.
The teams that finished in the top two of their pools each had to play an extra game.
Theo Hockey from Cradock travelled with the team to play with his son, John, for the East London team.
Five-a-side hockey, also known as “Hockey5s” was first played in preparation for the 2014 Youth Olympics.
It is a superfast, highly skilful, short format of hockey, which is designed to be adaptable to multiple surfaces, environments, and space.
Hockey5s is played between two teams with four field players and a goalkeeper.
From January 13-29, 2023, a men’s Hockey5s tournament will take place in Spain and in Amstelveen, in the Netherlands.