2021's highights

Top 10 2021

This is the week – the one after the Khaya Majola Week – that usually I compile my list of highlights of the school sporting year that’s ended. There was no Khaya Majola festival last year -  there was no school sports year. So I couldn’t do the exercise in 2020.

That this pensioner had no “misty water-coloured memories” to look back on last year is of no consequence at all in the context of the real tragedies that unfolded in the Covid-19 pandemic. That the boys and girls never go the chance to play was, however, sad and detrimental to their physical and emotional development (although I believe they learnt all sorts of other important lessons by going through a year like that).

Thankfully 2021, though still disrupted, had a semblance of normality about it and there were events and achievements to look back on. That those happened at all has to be the biggest highlight of all and there were unsung heroes everywhere. The children kept on training, the coaches kept on coaching and the organisers went to incredible lengths to make matches happen in a regulatory environment that was changing all the time.

So, that’s highlight number one – keeping the flame burning when it would have been easier to let it go out and do other things.

1 The Saints Sportfest.

In October St Stithians hosted an abbreviated version of its annual sports festival. The codes on offer had to be adjusted – soccer and seven-a-side rugby had the biggest entries – and no spectators were allowed. There were a couple of hundred boys and girls in action, however, and they experienced some of the magic of playing in a big festival and received some of the largesse of the sponsors, Standard Bank. If the whole thing was called off again this year no-one would have blamed the school and those who worked at the festival would have had the long weekend off. They didn’t though, the kids competed and it was glorious.

2 St Benedict’s rowing 

The hardy perennial. There were no SA Schools Championships in 2021, so Bennies could not add to their tally of 27 consecutive boys section titles – the latest of which was won in 2020, just before the big lockdown. They did, however win everything they were able to compete in this year, culminating in the overall boys title at the Gauteng Champs and a resounding victory for their 1st eight at the SA Schools boat race. It’s an ongoing success story with no end in sight.

3 SA Schools Water Polo 

Our schools interprovincial tournament was one of the national events that did take place, with spectators, nogal. It was recently named the biggest youth interprovincial tournament in the world, and to organise it, and to run it successfully, under the ever-present cloud of cancellation through government intervention or a mass breakout of infections in the teams, was a huge highlight. The games were live-streamed on SuperSport Schools and there was a social media poster in Cape Town who kept me, and other lovers of the game, I’m sure, interested and engaged throughout.

4 Western Province Schools water polo

WP showed, at the tournament above, that they are still the best school water polo province, across the board. They won, for the umpteenth year in a row, the trophy for the province winning the most medals. The took nine – four gold, two silver and three bronze – in the 10 sections. Next best were Gauteng with six medals (four gold and two bronze).

5 OJ Eagles

Gauteng are still, however, the best senior mens water polo province. OJ Eagles, representing the province at the SA National Championships, won the title for the fifth year in a row, and the 16th in the last 18 times the tournament was played. Their Roarke Olver was named player of the tournament.

6 Our directors of sport

If the Covid restrictions showed us anything, it was that we don’t have to look at competitive sport in the same way as we have for the last 20 years anymore. In fact, some don’t believe things will ever be quite the same again. Take interschool fixtures. In the past the big schools believed they had to set their dates a year in advance. This year they were arranging matches on the fly, sometimes even on the day of the game. And while traditional fixtures are important, sometimes you play whoever is available. The directors of sport at the various schools are the real heroes. They worked incredibly hard to give their charges as many opportunities to play, often without knowing if the games they were arranging would actually take place. 

7 Friendly Athletics

There were no athletic interhighs in Joburg this year, but one of my sporting highlights was the Wednesday afternoon when Jeppe hosted an athletics meeting open to whoever wanted to run. A team from Springs Boys’ High even turned up, as well as individuals from the local independent schools who were only just back from their holidays. There were no medals and no points tally was kept, and in some events there were as many heats as there were runners wanting to race. Everyone tried their best and everyone enjoyed themselves. School sport’s good side, I thought.

8 Game Changers

Two game-changing developments at Joburg state schools were revealed during the year and they will make it possible for the two – King Edward and Jeppe – to compete with the well-resourced independent schools whose spending power has seen them draw ahead in recent years. The Mark Stevens Aquatic Centre at KES is an indoor pool that will allow year-round training and put the school back on the map in swimming and water polo. The funding came from a generous old boy. At Jeppe, Damascus – a state-of-the-art Swift Carbon Elite Eight boat - was bought for the school by their Jeppe Boats and Blades Trust. It cost half a million, which was raised by the trust, during the lockdown. Jeppe’s 1st eight will be able to race against the high-tech boats of the private schools from now on.

9 Golden Lions U-20s

There was no Craven Week, and very little school rugby played this year, so I had to go the next level – the SA Rugby under-20 championship, which was won by the Golden Lions, for a highlight. There was a strong Joburg schools presence in the team in including two players from Monument – Izan Esterhuizen and Henco van Wyk; two from KES – Ngia Selengbene and Connor van Buuren, and three from Jeppe – Subusiso Shongwe, Justin Kalamar and Setshaba Mokoena.

10 Two Olympians at KES

King Edward VII School had two current learners who went to Tokyo in 2021. Sprint sensation Lythe Pillay, in his matric year, was in the 4 x 400m relay team at the Olympic games in July, while16-year-old Puseletso Mabote made it into the final of the T63 100m, and competed in the long jump, at the Paraylmpics in August.