The captains of Amanzimtoti High School and St. Anne’s DSG (Hilton) First Hockey XI, Phiwokuhle Myeza and Brady Wiseman, were recently awarded bursaries at the Grand Finals of the SPAR KZN School Girls’ Hockey Challenge to study at Varsity College in KZN.
This is the second year running that Varsity College have partnered with SPAR KZN to offer players, who show signs of excelling on the field, an opportunity to further their studies whilst continuing to play sport.
“The students have a choice of what qualification they would like to study and we will cover their tuition for the duration of their studies which is usually around three years,” explains Carole Adams, National Sports Manager for Varsity College.
The requirement for the bursary is that they will have to study at one of the KZN campuses as Varsity College’s hockey club is based in the province.
Speaking about Varsity College’s hockey programme, Adams says “Our club is based at the Durban north campus and students studying at any one of the three campuses in KZN, can play for the club. Normal academic lectures take place during the day (either morning or afternoon) which allows the students enough time to work on their strength and conditioning, as practises take place mainly in the evenings.”
“There is great scope for the players to hone their hockey talent. Our ladies and men first team play in the KZN Coastals Premier League and our second teams play in lower leagues. The highlight and main focus for the year is the annual USSA (University Sport South Africa) tournament and our current women and men hockey teams are in the A section for 2017.”
Phiwokuhle Myeza, is investigating the possibility of studying Sports Management and Brady Wiseman, may do a degree, but is yet to decide.
The bursary was originally planned for only one recipient however, once again, Varsity College has awarded two this year. “We wanted to give opportunities to more than one player as we were very impressed with the high level performance during the tournament.”
“Both players brought unique aspects to their games. Brady is a strong and solid player that likes to attack from the back and Phiwo is an exciting player who adds a spark to the game whenever she touches the ball. Plus their leadership skills are evident on the turf.”
Varsity College intends to continue the partnership with SPAR into the future. “This is definitely a fantastic partnership and its great to be involved in the growth and development of women’s sport,” concludes Adams.
Director of the SPAR KZN School Girls’ Hockey Tournament, Les Galloway says, “We are delighted that Varsity College sees the value in developing women’s hockey through providing an added incentive for the players to work towards.”
