On Thursday, the 21 of July, an interview was conducted with Noli regarding her experience playing on the national U/18 girls hockey team.
Having made it to the team must have caused quite a bit of buzz and excitement for this 16 year old and her family.
When asked about how she felt when she found out that she would be playing national girls hockey, she expressed how shock and surprise took over her before anything else.
"I was firstly surprised and full of shock. I couldn't believe that all my hard work and love for the sports was noticed by national selectors in the IPT(interprovincial tournament) and I just didn't quite know how to feel… " says the 16 year old sportswoman.
Seeming to be surprised by her abilities and talents that got her to where she is, including her love of sports that fueled her.
Along with her love for sports, comes a drive to keep on playing, something else pushing her or a role model she aspires to be like in a sense.
"I've been playing sports my entire life. The drive for such was brought about by Penryn of course for introducing us to different sports early in our childhood and making it compulsory to do all the sports and exposing us to these different sports… " She explains.
And her role, the person who pushed, encouraged and helped her become who she is today.
"... My mom is my role model, she always supported me in all I did with no doubt and is still till this day encouraging me to try new things. " she continues.
Playing hockey is nothing without fitness, practice and training in order to release true potential and fuel the love for the game, the sport. For some people, match preparation is one of the most important things they have to do.
When Noli was asked about how she prepares for a match, she replied,
"Preparation for matches is always difficult for me, I mean I usually just block out a lot of things, I really like silence and calmness…"
Silence is what works best for numerous sports players, having the calmness and stillness wash over you like the endless waves of the ocean on the shore, enjoyable but fleeting.
Fleeting and leaving nerves in its place when the crowd comes into earshot, their excitement bubbling over.
" I'm always very nervous from the morning of the day when I have a match which I find to be a good thing because now I'm forced to perform well and play my best." She elaborates.
Having to travel all the way to the Western Cape to play with a group of talented hockey players from all over the country, whom you barely know is something that some of us would be quite afraid of, but it's what Noli had to do.
Different skill levels, knowledge and abilities. When asked about the practices with this group of players, Noli shared her opinion enthusiastically.
"The practices with the girls were amazing, I mean you get to learn a lot of stuff from amazing players your age from around the country and also share your thoughts and insight while also grasping some from them here and there." She enthuses.
Meeting new people can be quite a scary thing, especially in a setting or situation you aren't familiar with. When asked about the meet and greet with the girls, she replied
"I mean I'm genuinely a very shy person when it comes to meets and greets. I really was very nervous and terrified because of the high level of hockey I know they play and barely knowing them…"
Even though their skill level of hockey was intimidating, they managed to warm up to each other and ease the tension.
"... after a few exchange of words, all was well as they are amazing people and very welcoming and we had to definitely get to know each other as we only had a small amount of time to do so and also a short period before we disband and maybe never see each other again… "
After meet and greets comes practises and eventually, the game. Having to play with vastly talented individuals such as herself was something big, something different. When she was asked about how the skill differences contributed to the team, she answered
"The different talents and skills of each individual contributed to the team positively. Each player executed their own skills and talent well and if 16 of us do so a positive impact will definitely be brought about since we all kind of specialize in different positions on the turf."
One of the commentators for the second game said, “… these girls didn’t get enough time to bond…”, when Noli was asked about whether she agreed with this and she thinks it affected their gameplay, she responded
" It is true as I've mentioned in one of the above questions about how we had a short amount of time to bond and get to know each other but it did not negatively affect our performance as all it did was force us to socialize and talk to each other more so we get to cover a lot about each other in a short period of time"
Playing a national game such as this comes with a condition, a perk, terms and conditions. One of them is being filmed throughout, though that would give some people nerves, Noli seemed to love the shared lime light.
"Playing in a crowd and being filmed is quite an amazing experience and is most definitely something anyone who is a sports lover would like to experience and do again."
During the second match against Namibia, it was reported to have been some rain which fogged up the cameras. When asked about how she felt about the rain, how it affected their performance, she replied,
" I feel the rain was a bit exaggerated on the screen but I mean it did a lot of play with our body muscles in terms of them cooling when you relaxed forcing us to stay on our feet and always moving so we don't really feel the cold as much… The only positive about the rain on an astro turf is that it allows the ball to move a lot quicker which can be used to an advantage by teams. "
Focusing on the opponents they would be playing is one of the many important things to remember, when asked about how she felt about playing against the Namibian team, knowing about their level of skill, Noli responded and said ;
" It was challenging to go play against people you know have the same level of skills, fitness and outstanding talents as yourself and it made me more aware of the game I play and how well I always need to execute all my movements, skills…"
Now having played all the matches and having won them as well, surely joy and contentment would wash over anyone, the sense of accomplishment. When Noli was asked about how she felt, if she thinks she made her country proud, she replied,
"Yes I feel we have made a lot of people proud and have set high expectations for everyone else in our country in terms of performance and outcome when competing."
In terms of making her school proud, she said,
"I feel I have put it out there that it is possible to achieve such and be noticed, and rewarded for all the hard work you put in the afternoon practices we are told to go to at school and learn but also ask questions to improve yourself from our coaches, always!"
Last question Noli was asked was, about whether or not she enjoyed her experience, playing with her team and whether or not she would've changed anything about the experience.
" I really enjoyed playing with them, they are a group of amazing players on and off the turf and there is really nothing much I would have changed either than the amount of time we spend with each other and more game time with them."
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