The South African Hockey Ladies side, sporting a new sponsor, INVESTEC, and a few new faces, has been hard at work in their preparations in order to take South African Ladies hockey to the next level. The recent preparations included a bucket load of test matches against Azaberjan, the much vaunted China and Belgium.

The South African ladies performed brilliantly in these test matches, playing an exciting high paced brand of hockey which has been lacking for far too long.

Tuks are proud to boast a couple of individuals, Sanani Mangisa, Dirkie Chamberlain, Nicolene Terblanche and old girl and former Tuks stalwart Kim Hubach, who have been an integral part of the recent resurgence of the National ladies hockey side

These ladies have been performing excellently and have as individuals each been honoured with a man-of-the-match performance at some point during the recent matches.

Kim Hubach recently played here 75th match for the green and gold and the magical 100 cap mark will no doubt be reached soon considering the amount of test matches to be played in the build-up to the Olympics.

Dirkie Chamberlain has now played 50 games for the national side and has firmly announced her arrival as one of the top strikers in the country, with her work rate and ball carrying abilities proving to make life very tough for opposition defenders.

Aside from tormenting defenders, Dirkie has recently publicly pledged her support for the Bulls in this years super15, saying “I wish them the best because they are the best”.

South Africa’s goalkeeping talent is rich at the moment and considering Sanani’s recent performances as well as her strong leadership credentials shown during her captaincy of the Tuks Ladies First team last year, her contribution to the current South African squad extends far beyond merely her on field contributions.

The youngest of the Tuks representatives is Nicolene Terblanche, who has made a dramatic rise through the South African hockey ranks to become on of the most exciting prospects within the National setup.

In a recent interview she was asked whether she would consider playing in Europe, and she answered “ek verstaan nie wat jy vra nie?” … the question was repeated in Afrikaans and she said “nee wat ek dink nie so nie, hulle braai mos nie in daai lande nie”. That’s our Nicolene, despite the call-up to top flight hockey, she remains a ‘boeremeisie’.

We wish the Tuks ladies all the best for the upcoming season and trust that they will carry their form, health and fitness into the next test matches, further cementing their places within the National side and ultimately taking the candy stripes to London in 2012.