THE president of the Namibia Hockey Union, Reagon Graig has expressed confidence in his new executive committee and excitement about their vision for the next three years.
The NHU’s new executive committee was elected for a three-year term at a special general meeting last weekend where Conrad Wessels (vice president men’s hockey), Marietta Stoffberg (vice president women’s hockey), Julia Lasarus (treasurer), Jens Unterlerchner (secretary), and additional members, Tunomwaameni Epafras, Ingrid Hermanus, Deon Kotze and Sedtric Makati were elected to serve under him on the executive committee.
“I’ve got a very capable and committed team. We had 10 clubs at the special general meeting (SGM) and 27 delegates in total, which was the best attended SGM in many years. All the clubs are very keen to be involved and I can proudly say that there was a democratic process and that the guys who were elected are representative of all hockey in Namibia,” he said.
“Last night we held our first exco meeting, where we allocated various portfolios to the members and I was impressed by their commitment and enthusiasm and have already received some emails with inputs and new ideas to develop hockey,” he added.
“I’m extremely happy with the diverse team that I’ve got, from the more experienced members like Coenie (Wessels) and Marietta (Stoffberg) to Tunomwaameni (Epafras), who is still only 23 years old, but full of enthusiasm and ideas. He will be concentrating on our social media platforms and he’s also implementing a new app for the NHU where one can find all the fixtures and results and a database of all the players.
“Deon Kotze was previously on the exco of Cricket Namibia, so his experience will be invaluable for us, and I’d also like to develop and strengthen our relationship with the other sport codes,” he added.
Graig said that 2022 would be a year of consolidation and development after a busy 2021 in terms of international participation.
“We had an exciting 2021 in terms of international matches, but now it’s time to consolidate. I need to revamp our constitution, I think it’s a bit outdated, and the Namibia Sport Commission asked sport codes to submit their constitutions by the end of March.”
“South Africa has invited our boys and girls u18 teams to compete against them in July, and then in August and September, I’d like to host an international tournament with four or five nations like Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Zambia with the aim of showcasing the best of southern African hockey here in Namibia.”
There is also a possibility that Namibia’s women’s team could still qualify for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in July.
Graig said that hockey clubs were well established in Windhoek and at the coast, but that he hoped to get the game going in Northern Namibia.
“Development is very important to me and I would like to get hockey going in Northern Namibia and especially in the three O’s – Oshakati, Ongwediva and Ondangwa. I’d like to establish a club in each town, and we will run some development clinics there, but it needs to become self sustainable, so we will be coaching the coaches, and helping with equipment and facilities to get the game up and running there,” he said.
Graig added that he would personally take charge of sponsorships and wanted to attract potential sponsors.
“Our aim is to be a well-run and transparent sport code so that companies would want to be associated with us. We need about N$5,5 million to complete the artificial turf and the development of facilities at the home of Namibian hockey, the Doc Jubber field. That might sound a lot, but if you consider that it will last for generations then it’s not that much.”
“When I was young, we used to have braais and socialise after matches and my vision is to recreate that social element, to get development going and to have hundreds of kids running around and playing the game over weekends,” he added.
“We are all excited but aware of the big task ahead, but if we work very hard for the first three to six months it will make our three year journey as elected officials much easier,” he said.
