Telecom Namibia on Wednesday announced a sponsorship of N$75 000 to the Namibia Hockey Union for the Telecom Namibia Indoor Hockey League that will start on Friday, February 10.
The NHU’s president Jesse Schickerling made the announcement at a press conference that was also attended by Telecom Namibia MD Frans Ndoroma.
“I want to thank Telecom for their investment in Namibian hockey. This is the largest sponsorship ever received by the NHU and it shows that our efforts have not gone unnoticed. We are a sporting body for all members of society and we achieved success by competing at the 2011 Indoor Hockey World Cup, where our women’s team was ranked among the top ten teams,” he said.
This year’s Indoor Hockey League will see 33 men and women’s teams participating in four different leagues - the Premier League, First and Second Leagues and an Under 16 Development League. The leagues will run from this coming Friday to mid-May with matches taking place in Windhoek, Walvis Bay and Swakopmund.
Through the sponsorship, the NHU will also be able to give out prize money at the end of the season for the first time, with a total of N$23 000 being allocated to the Premier League. The winning men and women’s teams will each receive N$5 000, the second placed teams will receive N$3 000, the third placed teams N$2 000, the fourth placed teams N$1 000 and the fifth placed teams N$500.
Ndoroma said that their sponsorship reaffirmed their commitment to developing Namibian sporting codes, which also include boxing and netball.
“This sponsorship reaffirms Telecom Namibia’s commitment towards supporting hockey in Namibia. We believe that sports such as hockey can instill discipline and positive attitudes in our young people and teach them values that will empower them to play an active role in other spheres of society.”
The teams that will be competing in the Premier League are Windhoek Old Boys Sport Club, Wanderers, Unam and DTS. The X Team from Walvis Bay will also compete in the Men’s Premier League but not the Women’s Premier League.
Other clubs that will participate in the lower leagues are Poly Hockey Club, Masters and the newly formed Coastal Raiders from Swakopmund.
In this weekend’s opening matches at the DTS Club in Olympia, Windhoek, the defending Men’s Premier League champions Unam will take on DTS at 21h25 on Friday and WOB at 19h00 on Saturday.
In Women’s Premier League matches on Saturday, DTS face Unam at 17h00, followed by a match between Wanderers and the defending champions WOB at 18h00.