{"id":69337,"date":"2016-05-06T06:34:59","date_gmt":"2016-05-06T04:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/test-of-stamina-awaits-champions-uj\/"},"modified":"2016-05-06T06:34:59","modified_gmt":"2016-05-06T04:34:59","slug":"test-of-stamina-awaits-champions-uj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/test-of-stamina-awaits-champions-uj\/","title":{"rendered":"Test of stamina awaits champions UJ"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Varsity <\/p>\n

National hockey star Gareth Heyns will captain the University of Johannesburg in the first round of the Varsity Hockey tournament that starts on Friday. Photo: Saspa<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Although the University of Johannesburg are the current Varsity Hockey champions, they face a tough challenge at this year’s event, which starts at UJ on Friday.<\/p>\n

The biennial tournament comes hard on the heels of last weekend’s SA interprovincial and the stamina of the players will be tested with four matches in four days.<\/p>\n

Coach Garreth Ewing acknowledged that the interprovincial had been a factor in their Varsity Hockey preparations, but said he was happy with their build-up this week.<\/p>\n

“Fifteen of our team were involved at the interprovincial, so that was a limiting factor for me as I didn’t want to push the guys too hard. But I feel comfortable with where we are.”<\/p>\n

He said nobody really knew what was going to happen because of the tough environment and the fact that the teams were all good.<\/p>\n

“We have done okay, winning the first edition, but I don’t think \u2018defending’ our title is the right word because the team is so different.<\/p>\n

“We are looking forward to having another go at it. It’s a fun competition and a new team, so we are just happy to have the chance to compete.”<\/p>\n

The fact that the first round of the tournament was staged at UJ could benefit them, said Ewing.<\/p>\n

“We are happy to be playing at home. It will bring its own kind of pressure, but will assist us in terms of scheduling and that sort of thing.”<\/p>\n

The experience of skipper Gareth Heyns, a national team member and part of UJ’s title-winning squad, will be an important factor.<\/p>\n

“I think some might underestimate our younger players, while Gareth has been really influential for us. I think he will have a big role to play.”<\/p>\n

The Varsity Hockey format may come under scrutiny because the teams only have a three-day break before a further four games in the next round.<\/p>\n

Eight matches in 11 days made the depth of the squads a key element, said Ewing.<\/p>\n

“That’s where I feel lucky because there’s nobody in my squad who can’t go on and do a job for me.<\/p>\n

“We will be rolling our substitutions and playing a good tempo for all those games. The workload is really tough and it’s just something we have to deal with.”<\/p>\n

Despite the test of stamina that lurked, Ewing said the players were excited and up for the challenge.<\/p>\n

“I think the format is always going to need work, but we like the fact we play every side. Unlike some other university tournaments, in this one you get a go at everybody and that’s the best bit.”<\/p>\n

UJ’s fixtures are: Maties (May 6), Pukke (May 7), Ikeys (May 8), Kovsies (May 9).<\/p>\n

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National hockey star Gareth Heyns will captain the University of Johannesburg in the first round of the Varsity Hockey tournament that starts on Friday. Photo: Saspa Although the University of Johannesburg are the current Varsity Hockey champions, they face a tough challenge at this year’s event, which starts at UJ on Friday. The biennial tournament […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3332],"tags":[10419,4622,13685,4084],"class_list":{"0":"post-69337","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-johannesburg-south-africa","7":"tag-awaits","8":"tag-champions","9":"tag-stamina","10":"tag-test","11":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69337\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}