schoolsthatrockHockey Captain. In our popular series about sports captains, Schools That Rock today talks to Trusten Barnard. Trusten is the 1st team Hockey Captain of Eunice High School in Bloemfontein. She today scores the twelve goal in our series this year on Hockey Captains from high schools in South Africa and Namibia.
“I started playing hockey when I was 11 years old. I like playing hockey, not just for the game itself, but more because of my team and coaches. Hockey makes me escape reality and my teammates make me feel alive and happy.
Jethro Eustice
I also have a favourite professional hockey player, Jethro Eustice. He is one of the only players I have seen play. I am not only a fan of watching hockey, I also enjoy playing it. Jethro’s leadership and work ethic is something that has inspired me to become the player I am today.
The position I am currently playing, is centre forward or right link. I have played all the forward positions as well as all the link positions.
The first time I was elected Hockey Captain is this year, at the start of the hockey season. As Hockey Captain, I will say that the greatest task of being captain is having to focus and give 100% on your own game, while also having to focus on 16 other players’ games. Furthermore, a good hockey player is someone who is hardworking, coachable, selfless and has BMT (big match temperament).
What inspires me every time I step onto the hockey field for a game is my team.
Most fun game
The game which has been the most fun during my hockey career up to now, was my 100th game for Eunice’s first team against Clarendon High School for Girls from East London. My captain, Solange Jacobs, and my coach, Nika Coertzen also got their 100th cap with me. The cherry on the top was when we also beat Clarendon, 7-0. We played phenomenal hockey, and it was our best game of the season and therefore my favourite and most enjoyable game!
On the other hand, the game I don’t want to remember, was my game against Waterkloof High School in the St Mary’s semi-final of 2022. We lost the game 1-0 and didn’t make it through to the final. It was a tough loss, but I learned to focus on the step right in front of me instead of focusing on the whole staircase. As a team we were so focused on how and who we are going to play in the final, that we forgot we still had to play a semi-final and it went to our heads.
The way I handle pressure, as Hockey Captain, during a hockey game is by just completely cut it out and play the game. There’s no time to let pressure get the better of you.
Motivation
As Hockey Captain I motivate my team by giving them words of encouragement and making sure they know that they are in the team for a reason.
Should I tell you what’s my current top 5 priorities in life, I’d say they are: God, Family and friends, Hockey, Academics, and sleep.
As Hockey Captain my advice for beginners in hockey is that if you put in the hours, you’ll see yourself getting better at it, but you should always remember to enjoy playing the game and to have fun. Remember that everyone was a beginner at some point. Along with, they just never stopped working.
I’m still deciding whether I want to play hockey after school (for a university of my country), but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.
My biggest single highlight (sport or otherwise) in the last five years was scoring the winning goal against Oranje Meisieskool in the St. Mary’s semi-final of 2023.
My other hobbies/interests besides hockey? Well, I like to draw and write (poetry) and I also started teaching myself to play the piano.
I think my coach and teammates will describe me as a disciplined, driven, and hardworking person.
The people I look up to as my role models, are my current coach, Nika Coertzen, the coach of the Chillies (Grey College), Nika Coertzen and my parents.
I would also like to have coffee with, is either Jethro Eustice, South African cricketer , or Maria Verschoor, a Dutch field hockey player.”
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