PROFILE
CONTENTS
A memory to be cherished
NWU alumna and hocky umpire Annelize Rostron had an amazing experience at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
The NWU & U asked the 37-year-old teacher to elaborate.
“Wow, where do I start? It was an amazing experience!
“What I enjoyed the most was being able to officiate at that level. It was then that I realised a dream had come true.
“When you are on the field and you see those Olympic rings, you realise you don’t have to dream any more. I’ll never forget that feeling!
“The heat was a challenge. It would be 38 degrees with 82% humidity and then you have to run 8 km during a match, but I was well prepared.”
Annelize’s journey to Japan
Injury might have ended her hockey-playing days but it didn’t stop Annelize Rostron from being part of the Tokyo Olympic Games as an umpire.
The 37-year-old alumna, now a teacher at Mooirivier Primary School in Potchefstroom, tells us more about her hockey journey.
Where did your love for hockey start?
I come from a sporting family. My father believed that if we kept ourselves busy with sport, we didn’t have time to get into trouble! I was 12 when I started playing hockey in primary school and immediately felt at home. I knew that hockey was my passion.
What makes the sport so special for you?
It is an amazing sport. If you look at how much skill and speed it requires, then you realise how special it is.
What did you study at the NWU and how was your time here?
I completed my BA degree in human movement science with psychology and then did my postgraduate certificate in education. The NWU is an unbelievable place and I enjoyed my time there so much. The campus life! I was in the hostel Karlien for two years. There is only one university and that is the NWU!
What did you do after completing your studies?
From 2008 to 2014 I was a teacher at Potchefstroom Gymnasium. A stint as a teacher in Pretoria followed before we came back to Potchefstroom in 2016 and I’ve been at Mooirivier Primary ever since.
How did you come to be a hockey umpire?
In my matric year I sustained a really bad injury and was forced to the side-lines for eight months. After that setback, I played hockey for the NWU for two years, but it wasn’t the same. So I stopped playing.
One day I went to watch a match and the umpire didn’t pitch, so they asked me if I couldn’t stand in. I walked onto the pitch and the rest, as they say, is history.
What are your future plans?
To chase my next dream and that is going to the World Cup next year and then the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
The NWU & U
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‘I am an Olympian!’
Asked what her greatest achievement on the sports field was, Annelize says she thinks for any sportsman or sportswoman it is being able to compete on the highest level.
“For me, it was walking onto the field at the Olympic Games for the first time and being able to say: ‘Now I am an Olympian!”