{"id":72141,"date":"2016-06-26T14:34:53","date_gmt":"2016-06-26T12:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/uj-prepare-for-ussa-hockey-examination\/"},"modified":"2016-06-26T14:34:53","modified_gmt":"2016-06-26T12:34:53","slug":"uj-prepare-for-ussa-hockey-examination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/uj-prepare-for-ussa-hockey-examination\/","title":{"rendered":"UJ prepare for Ussa hockey examination"},"content":{"rendered":"

UJ prepare for Ussa hockey examination<\/a>: <\/p>\n

\"Varsity <\/p>\n

Marizen Marais (left) will have a key role to play for the University of Johannesburg in the defence of their Ussa women’s hockey title next month. Photo: SASPA<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Despite their proud standing in varsity hockey, the University of Johannesburg men’s and women’s teams know they face a searching challenge in the University Sport South Africa (Ussa) tournament at Wits from July 4 to 8.<\/p>\n

The men captured their second straight Varsity Hockey title in the biennial competition this year to add to three straight Ussa titles from 2012 to 2014.<\/p>\n

Coach Garreth Ewing said that, given the different format it has compared to the Varsity Hockey competition, they would treat the Ussa tournament as a new challenge.<\/p>\n

“We’ve done quite well in recent years, winning three in a row, but last year we came fifth so we are hoping to climb back up the table this year.<\/p>\n

“With the eight-team, two-pool format, the tournament is really a bit of a shootout, so anything can happen.”<\/p>\n

Although the UJ women are the defending champions, hockey manager Elize le Roux said they would not be getting ahead of themselves.<\/p>\n

“While I would love to see them defend the title, there is a process in place to prepare and play each game on its merits. We have to first focus on our pool fixtures before worrying about possible semis or the final.”<\/p>\n

They had lost some key players from last year’s side, but Le Roux said UJ were fortunate to have retained the core of their team. They did however receive a blow recently when one of their top players, Carmen Smith, was ruled out through injury.<\/p>\n

Due to the congested nature of the tournament, she said several factors were essential for sides in their pursuit of success.<\/p>\n

“I do think it differs per institution, but playing five days in a row, often with limited rest in-between, is challenging.<\/p>\n

“That is why planning, the team environment and player management become vital,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It is important to keep a good routine and to use your build-up period to manage and maintain the players’ performances.”<\/p>\n

Ewing said the UJ men had managed to retain a sense of continuity from the Varsity Hockey squad, which should stand them in good stead in a congested schedule.<\/p>\n

“We have three new players in Brad Robertson, James du Plessis and Luke Barnard. Unfortunately Leneal Jackson is injured, otherwise it’s the same group as the Varsity Hockey squad.”<\/p>\n

He said team ethic would be important in their drive for success.<\/p>\n

“Gareth Heyns and Taylor Dart have been influential players for us the whole season, and I think the whole forward line will be key for us too.<\/p>\n

“I don’t really want to single anybody out to be honest. Our strength is that everybody has a role to play.<\/p>\n

“We are looking forward to the week. The tournament has a special atmosphere and it’s very competitive and it will be a big challenge for all the teams involved.”<\/p>\n

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UJ prepare for Ussa hockey examination: Marizen Marais (left) will have a key role to play for the University of Johannesburg in the defence of their Ussa women’s hockey title next month. Photo: SASPA Despite their proud standing in varsity hockey, the University of Johannesburg men’s and women’s teams know they face a searching challenge […]<\/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":[14744,1684,5352,1772],"class_list":{"0":"post-72141","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-johannesburg-south-africa","7":"tag-examination","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-prepare","10":"tag-ussa","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\/72141","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=72141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72141\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}