The Limpopo ladies’ hockey team that made the trip to Pietermaritzburg for the South African Country Districts tournament showed good improvement on the previous year, when they finished 8th out of the 12 teams that were present at the tournament.

The team that represented Limpopo this year went onto the field motivated and gave a good account of themselves, irrespective of the fact that they did not have access to an Astro-field to prepare thoroughly for the inter-provincial tournament beforehand. Limpopo teams always start at a disadvantage and improve as the tournament progresses. This year was no exception.

In the opening match, Limpopo lost 2-5 to Midlands A and it came as a surprise to everyone present at the tournament that Limpopo could hold their own against the number-one-ceded side. It is fair to note that no other team was able to penetrate the defense of the Midlands A team until the semi-final stages.

In the second and third matches, Limpopo went down 0-3 and 0-6 to Midlands B and Border respectively. On days four and five Limpopo, were more comfortable with the playing conditions and beat Northwest 2-1, whilst working hard to draw 1-1 against Northern Gauteng. This result placed Limpopo in the middle tier of the play-offs.

Testament to the improvement of the team’s performance over the course of the week was their closely contested matches in the play-off stages. Limpopo lost 1-2 to Natal Coastal and in the final match they went down 1-2 to Mpumalanga.

In comparison to previous years, Limpopo showed that ladies’ hockey in the province had improved markedly and that they were at the tournament to compete and not to win the wooden spoon. The two Limpopo umpires also received new grades at the tournament. Marli Beetge jumped two grades to become a Prov 2 umpire and Pieter Jooste moved one grade better, also receiving a Prov 2 grade.