The Limpopo ladies field hockey team did the province proud when they finished fifth at the SACD tournament that was hosted by Gauteng North during the last week in June.

Limpopo got off to a shaky start on the first three days of the tournament and suffered defeats to Eastern Gauteng (0-1), KZN Inland A (0-7) and N OFS (2-6) respectively.

The team regrouped, however, and played well to win all their remaining fixtures. In doing so, they secured fifth place in the tournament.

Limpopo beat Mpumalanga (2-1) and Eastern Province (3-2) on days four and five and completed the tournament with wins against Eastern Gauteng (3-2 on penalties) and KZN Coastal (5-2) in the positional play-offs.

“It was incredible to see how the ladies from Limpopo have improved annually and Limpopo ladies hockey is definitely on the rise. This is the third year that Limpopo has competed at the SACD tournament and every year we have improved on our ranking, finishing 12th in 2009 and 8th in 2010,” was the response from team manager Melanie Louw. "This," Louw said, "means that Limpopo is a province that will certainly become a force to be reckoned with in the future.

“Everything begins at home and the more ladies we have participating in our league and making themselves available for selection to the provincial team, the stronger our team will be that goes on tour every year,” Louw said. She invited all ladies to join one of the teams in the local league and to become part of Limpopo hockey.

Hettie Trollip (Phalaborwa) was selected for the South African SACD B-team that will be participating in the IPT-B tournament to be held in Bloemfontein in August this year. The Limpopo team thanked Sanrie du Plessis from Specsavers in Louis Trichardt for the kit bags that she sponsored.