Windhoek
The Bank Windhoek National Indoor Hockey League will kick off on the weekend of January 29 to 31 and will run until April 24.
The league this year comprises of three leagues: the Premier, First and Second Leagues and all games will be played on Friday evenings at the Wanderers Sport hall and on Saturdays at the DTS Indoor Hall.
There will also be league games in Swakopmund and Walvis Bay, as there are two clubs from Swakopmund and one club from Walvis Bay participating in the leagues this season.
President of the Namibia Hockey Union (NHU), Marc Nel, says hockey in Namibia has grown from strength to strength. “The number of hockey players has grown over the past year. We are quite amazed how many children have taken up hockey as their sport, not only here in Windhoek but also in other regions. The number of players participating in our National Outdoor and Indoor Leagues has also grown over the past year”, Nel said.
“During the National Indoor Hockey League there will be 46 teams, from 12 different clubs, participating in the three different leagues. This is a record for Namibian hockey and is definitely a sign of growth.” According to Nel, one of the highlights of the past Indoor Hockey season was definitely the Test Series, which the Namibia’s Ladies Team played against their South African counterparts.
“There was also the Four Nations Tournament in Durban last December where they excelled to reach the final. The National Ladies Team narrowly lost to Australia 1-2 and beat both the USA and SA by a score of 3-2.
Namibian hockey reached yet another milestone last year by fully setting up its first National Outdoor Hockey League, the Bank Windhoek National League, on artificial hockey pitches.
“This was truly a historic event, because hockey is in an excellent, developing stage. Namibia hockey is now continuously participating and competing on an international level. We have reactivated a vibrant development program for hockey which will be hosted in all regions of Namibia and we have well-structured hockey leagues for juniors and seniors,” Nel concluded.