SA hockey vice captain Keenan Horne is living abroad and is currently playing club hockey and working in Paris, France. Picture: Caleb Sheperd
Cape Town hockey star Keenan Horne is on the top of his game.
The player recently signed with a French club, lead his team to the Olympics and was admitted as an attorney.
The Brackenfell star achieved all this in a year. He moved to Paris last week to begin working at the Mayer Brown law firm and to play for the Paris Jean Bouin hockey club.
Horne has been the vice-captain for the SA hockey team for the past four years and has captained the team nearly 30 times, filling in for the skipper, Tim Drummond.
His legal career advanced rapidly when he passed all four of his board exams in just two days and he was admitted as an attorney of the high court a few months later.
“Everyone thought I was crazy, but I knew I had to finish my articles as soon as possible,” he said.
“I wasn't stressed because I believed that God had a plan for my life."
Last year, he played a pivotal role in leading the national team to the Tokyo Olympics and this year to the Commonwealth Games.
The SA hockey vice-captain said he was honoured to hold a leadership role in a national team.
“It’s a real honour to help the team. It comes with a lot of responsibility, but it makes me very proud to do it,” he said.
“Being the vice-captain means always going the extra mile, but the pressure is a privilege.”
The 30-year-old was first exposed to his love of sports by his older brothers, Jordan and Hagan Horne, who played rugby and hockey at school.
“We always played in the front yard at home. Broken windows became a norm at our house,” he said.
The striker started playing hockey when he was seven years old but never took it seriously.
“I enjoyed rugby and cricket more. I only started becoming serious about hockey when I was 13 years old,” he said.
“I recall watching the Beijing Olympics, and something inside me shifted. It instantly became a goal I was looking forward to achieving,” he said.
Since then, he has dedicated himself to pursuing that goal.
“My dad, Henry, encouraged me to pursue law because my uncle, Gerrit Horne, was an advocate,” he said.
“I received a scholarship to study at Stellenbosch University because of hockey," he said.
In 2013, his third year of university, he made the junior world cup team for hockey. The following year, he made the B-team for the provincial hockey team. And at age 22, he was called up to the national team in 2015.
In 2018, Horne played for the Brooklands Manchester hockey club in the UK and later moved to play for the Old Georgians hockey club.
“Hockey has opened so many doors for me. I don't take the opportunity to play and travel overseas for granted," he said.
Over the past five years, Horne's life has been a balancing act, he said.
He completed his articles as a candidate attorney at Mostert & Bosman in Durbanville.
Horne expressed his gratitude to the company that gave him a chance to pursue his sports career while completing his articles.
“When they told me I got the job, I declined it at first because I knew I wanted to play hockey, but they were willing to accommodate me,” he said.
With a schedule that saw him working from 8am to 4.30pm, and start training two hours later, he would catch up on sleep in the car.
“I knew I wanted to play at the Olympics, and I knew it came with sacrifice and commitment ... a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I did not want to pass me by.”
His secret to balancing it all was physical activity.
“Mental fatigue is real. It affects your body but having trained at night helped a lot,” he said.
Horne said he’s always remember his father's advice.
“He once said that talent is cheap, but commitment and dedication are expensive,” he said.
“I never felt entitled to anything. This has become my mantra because I know the sacrifices my parents, Henry and Debra, made to get me where I am.”
Partner at Mostert & Bosman, Richard Dixon, described Horne as diligent and committed.
“He managed all these things and still delivered work that was of exceptional quality. We would have loved to have him stay with us,” he said.
“He graduated with his Master's degree and managed to do all the work that was required from him,” he added.