Hockey players selected on performance, not skin colour, says CEO Baaitjies

Hockey SA interim CEO Shaune Baaitjies says the organisation has succeeded with transformation in the national team setups, with players being selected based on performance and not their skin colour. 

Hockey in SA has been one of the sports that seemed to have fallen short when it came to transformation post the apartheid era, with players of colour often not accommodated and nurtured well.

The recently concluded Indoor Hockey World Cup hosted on the SA shores channelled new positivity in the sport. The women's side finished in fourth place while their male counterparts ended in sixth. Both teams exceeded expectations and represented the country well.

Baaitjies, who appeared on SowetanLive's Marawa Sports Worldwide (MSW), spoke about the composition of the national teams and how the selection criteria do not favour a certain skin colour. 

“In our selection process now, selectors know what’s the criteria for the whole senior bodies, they know the requirements," Baaitjies told MSW host Robert Marawa on Monday. 

"We also over time have built strong players, players that can take up their space, they are not there because of the colour of their skins, they are there because they can play hockey.

“The players that now take to the field, they are not there because someone is feeling sorry for them, they are there because they deserve and earned their place on that field. Our coaches don’t see colour, they see players. That is what the South African Hockey Association has been working towards for many years and we have succeeded," she said.

Baaitjies revealed that they are doing work on the ground level to make sure aspiring black players are given the necessary support and resources to have a chance to participate in the sport. 

“We push at the lower levels for players to be nurtured correctly, sometimes you think that’s a black player and they should be in the team," said the veteran sports administrator on MSW.

"If you look back on where the person comes from, what their circumstances are, you have to stop and say, does the person have the right support, do they have the sufficient of everything, do they have transport to high-performance sessions in the morning ... all those things people often forget about.  That’s part of becoming a national player."