STANBIC Bank Zimbabwe poured in US$10 000 towards the two-day St George’s College Stanbic Hockey 5’s tournament which took place at St George’s College over the weekend.
The St George’s College Stanbic Bank Hockey 5’s tournament serves as a curtain raiser to the schools’ hockey season and it drew the participation of 48 boys and girls from high schools across the country.
The financial services concern has been the main sponsor of the internationally recognised five-aside hockey festival commonly referred to as Hockey 5’s for over three years.
St George’s head of hockey, Denford Kumundati, commended the bank for bankrolling almost all the major needs of the event, which included perimeter boards and meals for participants and officials, among other needs.
“The sponsorship by Stanbic Bank was pivotal in the smooth running of the event, which continues to grow in leaps and bounds each year. The number of participating schools grew from last year’s 33 to 48 this year,” Kumundati said.
He said the sponsorship facilitated the participation of elite and development schools that came together to showcase their hockey talents under one roof.
Schools such as Kutama College, St Ignatius College, Tynwald 1 and Mbare Academy, among others, were able to rub shoulders with top hockey schools such as St George’s College, Hellenic Academy, Lomagundi and Christian Brothers College from Bulawayo during the two-day tournament.
“The tournament is significant towards the development of hockey in the country and is the only tournament outside of key national hockey matches and competitions,” Kumundati said.
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He said the provision of perimeter boards was crucial for Hockey 5’s as they allowed the ball to rebound back into the court instead of going out.
“Over the years, we used two fields for Hockey 5’s, but Stanbic Bank is now providing perimeter boards for four fields and this allows us to host more schools and teams, making our tournament a success because it was well attended,” said Kumundati.
Stanbic Bank acting head, brand and marketing, Tariro Memo, said the leading financial services institution took great joy in playing a pivotal role in promoting the skills of young and upcoming hockey players.
Memo said Stanbic Bank was cognisant of the importance of nurturing talent at a young age as this would see them develop into future national team players as well as competitive individuals with hockey careers.
She said the support was part of a broader and comprehensive corporate social investment strategy by the bank, whose pillars included health, education, the environment and sanitation, as well as sport.
“Over the years, we have supported hockey at the national level as part of the sports pillar under our sponsorship initiatives. Our support for Hockey 5 is meant to prop up grassroots hockey development and we hope that these players will feed into the senior national teams, thus enhancing the levels of competitiveness of our national teams,” Memo said.
Participating schools at the 5’s tournament included Allan Wilson, Churchill, Convent, Eaglesvale, Hellenic Academy, Lomagundi, Kutama College, Prince Edward, Christian Brothers College, St George’s College, St John’s Emerald Hill, St John’s College, Tynwald, Allan Wilson, Sodbury, Westridge and Wise Owl.
