Winning is all that will matter when the Tuks women’s hockey team takes to the field on Monday to play Wits in their first game of the USSA Tournament in Bloemfontein.

Megan Anderson (captain) does not believe in limiting herself or the team.

“Our philosophy at Tuks will always be to go for gold. Nothing else matter. We would rather be disappointed in not winning a tournament than be happy with finishing third.”

Last year the Tuks women’s team had a dream season. They won the Varsity as well as the USSA Tournaments. Anderson emphasised that they are under no illusions as to what awaits them.

“USSA’s is going to be tough. We realise that we are the team that everyone will want to beat, but we are up to the challenge. Inky (Zondi), our coach, is the ultimate strategist. Everything he has done from January to now are geared towards ensuring that we will be at our best in Bloemfontein.
 
“Inky does not believe in leaving anything to chance. He has changed the way we play. I guess he needed to do so because we are a whole new team.  This week we trained as to how we are going to play our pool games taking into account how our bodies are going to hold after two maybe three intense games,” explained Anderson who is studying BCom Entrepreneurship.

If someone told her at the end of last season that she would end up captaining the women’s team, she would have probably laughed as she has never captained any team.

“I was quite surprised when Inky approached me about the captaincy. Perhaps he did so because I am quite outspoken. I never shy away from what needs to be said. I was privileged to have played with Natalie Esteves, our previous captain for two years.

“The most important thing I have learned from her is that every player matters. No player is more important than another. Natalie was always willing to do anything for everyone. The mistake I made at first was overdoing the caring part as captain. That led to my game suffering. Inky needed to remind me that I am first and foremost a player and then a captain. That helped me to get refocused.”

Anderson never any doubted as to where she was going to study. She got offered quite a substantial bursary from another university but turned it down.

“Since I was at school I wanted to come to Tuks because as far as I am concerned, there is no bigger honour than playing for the “Stripes”.