For Guy Elliott, the journey to coaching some of South Africa’s best young hockey players began on the fields of Dundee Junior.
The “true blue Dundee lad” recently took a weekend off to visit his mum, Cheryl, in his hometown – a reminder of where his hockey journey started.
Elliott was introduced to hockey at Dundee Junior, where school coach Toby Page played an important role in developing his love for the game. He later played senior hockey at the Dundee Oval, where the annual Mortimer Tournament attracted teams from across the country.
Elliott credits Page’s passion and the sporting influence of his father, Mark, with inspiring his career.
After Dundee Junior, he attended Maritzburg College before studying at the University of Pretoria, where his playing career developed into coaching.
Within the Tuks hockey system, he coached the second team and was assistant coach of the first team before becoming head coach of the Tuks men’s first team from 2016 to 2018.
He also coached Maritzburg College’s first team in 2013.
In 2018, Elliott guided Tuks to gold in the Varsity Hockey competition and coached Northern Gauteng to victory in the Under-21 Interprovincial Tournament.
He joined St Alban’s College in Pretoria in 2019 as Director of Hockey and an English teacher and is now Director of Sport.
Taking charge of South Africa
In June 2022, Elliott was appointed head coach of the South Africa Under-21 men’s team. He led the side at the 2023 FIH Junior World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, where they finished 10th, and was reappointed in 2024.
His teams won the 2024 Men’s Senior Interprovincial Tournament before claiming a second Junior Africa Cup title. He then led another generation at the 2025 FIH Junior World Cup in India and has also worked as an assistant coach with the senior national team.
Elliott believes developing young players is about more than winning.
“The drawback to hockey at national level in South Africa is that it is not funded in the same way as major sports such as rugby, football and cricket,” he said.
Despite the challenges, his passion remains strong.
“What I love about hockey is that it is such a technically difficult sport, but at its heart it is about teamwork and camaraderie.”
Elliott still plays in the Sunday Masters League in Pretoria.
For all his achievements, his hockey story remains firmly rooted in Dundee, where he first picked up a stick and fell in love with the game.
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