Ryan Julius shares his views on South Africa's disappointing experience at the Tokyo 2020 Games and their plans to overcome it and succeed in France, despite a lack of financial support from sponsors and governing bodies.
South Africa (July 15, 2024) – The South African men's outdoor hockey team is preparing to take on the world's best players at this year's Paris Olympics, which kick off in France later this month.
With so much riding on the team's performance this year, SportsBoom.com spoke to one of the more experienced athletes, Ryan Julius, ahead of the Games, in which he talks about the team's chances and preparation, lessons learned from Tokyo 2020, and how they performed despite funding issues.
When the South African men's hockey team takes on the Netherlands in their opening Pool A match at this year's Paris Olympics, it will be the second time Ryan Julius has donned the green and gold in the prestigious tournament.
This comes after he represented South Africa at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, finishing 10th behind New Zealand.
I'm honored to be re-elected.
Julius was just 26 when he was selected to compete in his first Olympic Games four years ago.
At the time, he hadn’t had much exposure to high-pressure situations and his game wasn’t fully mature, even though he was surrounded by some of the best players in the country.
But now, four years on, Julius, who plays for Central Hockey Club in Cape Town and represents South Africa in major tournaments, has steadily improved in most aspects of his game both on and off the field.
He has played a key role in the national team, worked hard to improve his mental fitness and stay healthy, and will go into the final in France a rejuvenated and different player.
“This selection is a little more special than the first one,” he told SportsBoom.com in an exclusive interview before departing from South Africa.
“It's an honor to compete in the Olympics, but to compete twice means consistency and dedication as an athlete. A lot of athletes compete once and are satisfied, but after participating in Tokyo, I felt like I still had some work to do and I wanted to right those mistakes.”
“It's a special feeling because it's what motivated me to stay dedicated, focused and consistent in my training to give myself the best chance of being selected again.”
Lessons from Tokyo
In Tokyo, South Africa were drawn in Pool B with other powerhouses such as eventual gold medal winners Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Canada.
They played five matches during their time in Japan, recording a 4-3 win over Germany, a 4-4 draw with Canada, and losses to Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
But the match against the Netherlands still haunts them as they squandered a 3-0 lead only for their opponents to come back and win 5-3.
Most of those defeated players are on the current squad, with 11 of the 18 players selected by head coach Cheslin Ghee featuring in the last tournament.
Members include Julius, the Kassiem brothers (Dayaan and Mustapha), Matthew Guise Brown, Nick Spooner, Samukelo Mvimbi, Billi Ntuli, Tevin Kok, Keenan Horne, Dan Bell and Peabo Lembete.
Julius believes the team has matured and is better equipped to handle the high-pressure situations that come with an event like the Olympics.
“The team that competed in the last Olympics is very similar to this team,” he revealed.
“We have about 11 guys returning and they have experience dealing with certain situations in games. I'm excited to try that out and see if we can make improvements.”
“We beat Germany and were leading 3-0 against the Netherlands but ended up losing. It was the first time that we, as a group, had a lead against a top team and we didn't react well. We'll fix that going forward.”
This experienced squad has just two players with fewer than 20 international appearances – Zenani Krai and Calvin Davis.
Krai plays for Langa Hockey Club in Cape Town, while Davis is a student-athlete at the University of Pretoria and captained Northerns' U21 team to victory in the IPT this year.
Lack of funds and preparation
The South African Hockey Union's funding and sponsorship woes are well known, with both the men's and women's teams struggling financially in recent years.
The situation got so bad last year that the men's team was forced to withdraw from the FIH Hockey Pro League, with the association (SAHA) citing a lack of sponsorship.
The financial situation doesn't appear to be improving this year, with many players on the team juggling full-time jobs with playing hockey, including Julius.
Regarding the Olympics, the South African Hockey Association (SAHA) has revealed that the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) will cover all of the team's travel and Olympic participation costs.
However, with significant additional costs involved, especially for the crucial preparation camp in Belgium before the event starts, a crowdfunding effort has been launched.
Despite these difficulties, the team continues to perform above its potential and has been making waves on the field in recent years.
Last year they booked their place in France with a 2-1 win over Egypt in the African men's Olympic qualifier.
In 2022, they placed fourth at the Commonwealth Games and won the FIH Nations Cup final in Potchefstrom that same year, beating Ireland 4-3.
Earlier this year they held the Summer Series in Cape Town, hosting France, India and the Netherlands.
Julius and his teammates defeated France 3-1, but lost 3-0 to the Netherlands and India.
But the team will be inspired by their bronze medal win at last month's FIH Nations Cup in Poland, which served as good preparation for Julius and his teammates.
“I would say our preparation has been going well. We've done a lot of work in the gym, running and focusing on match situations,” Julius said.
“Our Western Cape-based team has been running high performance sessions every week with players from various provinces and we'd like to thank them for their support.”
“In terms of sponsorship, I think we’ve been pretty successful in showing that as a team we can be consistent, get results and perform without financial backing.”
“Obviously, financially it's tough and it's not easy, but we can't use that as an excuse. Instead we have to keep playing every game.”
“We hope to win the trust and respect of South Africans through our performances. If we can get the funding I think it will be a very exciting time for South African hockey because the results we are producing without funding could potentially be improved with some financial support,” he added.
Olympic Goals
South Africa are in Pool A at this year's tournament and will play in a round-robin format against the Netherlands, Germany, Great Britain, Spain and France.
They will kick off their campaign on Saturday 27 July against the Netherlands at 12:45pm SAST.
Julius said one of his goals this year is to break through the group.
“We want to get into the top eight, get through the group stage and get into the quarter-finals,” he said.
“The moment you get through the group stage without aiming for points, you think anything can happen.”
“We proved that by beating Germany at the last Olympics. We think we can win no matter who plays on the day, so our first target is to reach the quarter-finals,” he concluded.
The team will leave Belgium on Sunday 7 July and take part in a pre-Olympic training camp before travelling to Paris.
South African Men's Hockey Team, Paris 2024:
- Ryan Julius (81 caps),
- Mustafa Kassiem (54 caps),
- Dayaan Kassiem – Captain (77 caps),
- Matthew Guise-Brown (67 caps),
- Nick Spooner (71 caps),
- Samkelo Mvimbi (58 caps),
- Vili Ntuli (103 caps),
- Keenan Horne (119 caps),
- Tevin Koch (69 caps),
- Dan Bell (106 caps),
- Esthiaan Krieg (36 caps),
- Calvin Davis (1 cap),
- Jack van Tonder (27 caps),
- Gowan Jones (90 caps),
- Zen Cry (18 caps),
- Brad Sherwood (42 caps),
- Andrew Hobson (31 caps)
- Peabo Rembete (76 caps).
