Author: L. Crankshaw

Union High School, Graaff-Reinet was granted the privilege of hosting the regional leg of the 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 𝗦𝗣𝗔𝗥 𝗦𝗖𝗛𝗢𝗢𝗟𝗚𝗜𝗥𝗟𝗦’ 𝗛𝗢𝗖𝗞𝗘𝗬 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗚𝗘 this past Sunday, 5 March.

The event – which brought together the top hockey talent in the region – provided a memorable experience for everyone involved.

All the players demonstrated a great deal of respect for their opponents and the officials and should be commended on their exemplary conduct – they are a credit to their schools.

The positive atmosphere, exceptional play and overall sense of camaraderie made the tournament a huge success, and served as a testament of how sport can bring people together.

Both Union’s 1st team and 2nd team’s quality of play was exceptional throughout the day, with all the girls displaying a lot of skill, speed, and a high level of sportsmanship.

Their 🆁🅴🆂🆄🅻🆃🆂 are as follows:

Union 1st team beat Cradock 2 – 0 and Brandwag 4 – 0, losing 2 – 0 to DSG.

Union’s 2nd team lost 3 – 0 against Hoër Volkskool and 2 – 0 against Kingswood, drawing 0 – 0 against Victoria Girls High School.

𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙨 𝙩𝙤 coaching staff, Mr Calvin Beck, Mrs Cathy Pringle, Mrs Claire Lemke, Mr Steggman van Zyl and Mrs Bronwen Langmead, to Mrs Elsebé Moos and her First Aid team, to Mr Maarten Kruger and Mr JP Kruger, Mr Donald Kingwill and his groundsmen, as well as to all the parents and members of the community who supported the players on the day.

A word of thanks is also extended to Mr Louis Steyn for assisting us with the scaffolding for the SuperSport cameras and Spar for their valued sponsorship of the event.

𝘓𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘺, 𝘸𝘦’𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘧𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺’𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴.

On Monday afternoon, 27 February, Union High School, Graaff-Reinet’s 𝗧𝗢𝗣 𝟴 𝗧𝗘𝗡𝗡𝗜𝗦 boys and girls, hosted their Middelburg Hoërskool (Karoo) counterparts for an afternoon of competitive tennis.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘹𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺.

The Union girls dominated their matches, winning 6-0. 𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙈𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙜’𝙨 𝙗𝙤𝙮𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙖 4-2 𝙫𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨. The Union boys, however, bounced back in the mixed doubles, with Union winning 5 of the 8 matches, leading to Union winning the fixture with 13 matches to Middelburg’s 7 overall.

𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥!

This past weekend saw Union’s 1st team hockey girls travel to Bethlehem to participate in the annual 𝗩𝗢𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗥𝗘𝗞𝗞𝗘𝗥 𝗛𝗢𝗖𝗞𝗘𝗬 𝗙𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗔𝗟.

This was Union’s first year participating in this prestigious pre-season festival. During the four days of intense competition against some of South Africa’s top school hockey talent, Union managed to record 2 victories, suffering 4 defeats.

The tour provided the girls with valuable match experience for the season ahead and saw them bonding over blood, sweat, blisters, tears and laughter.

On Friday afternoon, 24 February, Union High School, Graaff-Reinet’s rugby boys participated in Hoër Volkskool’s 2023 𝘋𝘳𝘪𝘦ë 𝘋𝘳𝘶𝘬 𝘈𝘢𝘯𝘥 – a pre-season tournament that allows local rugby teams the opportunity to effectively finalise their pre-season preparations in a competitive yet relaxed and accommodating environment.

While some of our players had to sit this one out due to cricketing commitments, the rest of the boys who have been putting in the hard yards with their pre-season training, valued the opportunity to take the field again.

We extend our 𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗙𝗨𝗟 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗞𝗦 to Volkskool for inviting us to participate and giving our boys the opportunity to play. It was an enjoyable afternoon for all involve.

𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗚𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗨𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗦 to the Union tennis players who have been selected for the Eastern Cape Schools Tennis Teams after the recent Eastern Cape tennis trials.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘺𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘺 𝘊𝘶𝘱 (𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘷𝘴 𝘞𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘉𝘰𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘕𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘊𝘢𝘱𝘦) 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 24 𝘵𝘰 25 𝘍𝘦𝘣𝘳𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘒𝘪𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘳 𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘢 (𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱):

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘈 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘛𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘴 𝘛𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 25 𝘵𝘰 29 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘦𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘢 (𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱) 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘴:

Union High School, Graaff-Reinet’s u/11A and u/13A cricketers were very excited to welcome their Laer Volkskool counterparts to Union’s campus on, Monday, 20 February, for a set of cricket encounters.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘴𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘦𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴.

The afternoon saw the 𝗨/𝟭𝟯𝗔𝘀 take to the Murray Field, with Union winning the toss and electing to bat first.

Union’s batsmen put a total of 94 for 6 on the board in their allotted overs, with John-Henry King top scoring with 25 runs.

Volkskool then went in to bat, managing a total of 63 for 8. Well done to bowlers Aidan Ferreira and Quinn Naude, who took two wickets each.

Union’s other bowlers also chipped in with 1 wicket apiece. 𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙗𝙮 31 𝙧𝙪𝙣𝙨.

The 𝗨/𝟭𝟭𝗔𝘀 contested their match against Volkskool on the Puttick Field.

Union won the toss and elected to bat first.

Well done to Josh Kingwill and Dante Mills who top scored for Union with 44 and 22 runs, respectively.

𝙐𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙨𝙚𝙩 𝙖 𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙤𝙛 110 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨.

Volkskool then went in to bat. Well done to Union bowlers, Cayden Thompson and Edwin van Greunen, who claimed 3 wickets each, while Morgan Jacobs and Nathaneal Phillips took 2 wickets each.

Union bowled Volkskool out for 22, to win the match by 87 runs.

𝘞𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘝𝘰𝘭𝘬𝘴𝘬𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴!

Sixteen Union swimmers – many of whom were newbies – participated in the 99th annual 𝗥𝗜𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗠𝗜𝗟𝗘 at the Sundays River Cannonville Slipway this Sunday morning, 19 February, joining hundreds of other swimmers who competed in this year’s edition of Africa’s oldest open-water swimming event.

All our swimmers successfully completed the 1,6 kilometre swim in good spirits and in good time, with our last competitor crossing the finish line in the 35th minute.

The results are as follows:

Union Preparatory School, Graaff-Reinet swimmers:
• Grade 3 learner 𝗖𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 finished the Ladies’ Mile 70th overall and 23rd in the 14 Years and Under category.
• 𝗔𝗹𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗚𝗶𝗹𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗻 (Grade 4) crossed the finish line 78th overall in the Ladies’ Mile and 26th in the 14 Years and Under category.
• 𝗞𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗮 𝘃𝗮𝗻 𝗝𝗮𝗮𝗿𝘀𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗱 (Grade 4) came in 83rd overall and 27th in the 14 Years and Under category.
• 𝗘𝗺𝗺𝗮 𝗕𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗿 (Grade 4) finished 87th overall and 30th in the 14 Years and Under category.
Well done to Grade 4 learner 𝗗𝗮𝗻 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 who finished the Men’s Mile 50th overall and 12th in the 14 Years and Under category.

Union High School, Graaff-Reinet swimmers:
• 𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗱𝗮 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲 came in 46th overall in the Ladies’ Mile and 17th in the 14 Years and Under category.
• 𝗦𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗮 𝗚𝗶𝗹𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗻 finished 77th overall and 25th in the 14 Years and Under category.
• 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗲𝘆 𝗕𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗿 ended the race 85th overall and 28th in the 14 Years and Under category.
• 𝗥𝗲𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗰𝗮 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻 finished 69th overall and 22nd in the 14 Years and Under category.
• 𝗠𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗶 𝗩𝗼𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 crossed the finish line 47th overall in the Ladies’ Mile and 18th in the 14 Years and Under category.
• 𝗧𝘆𝗿𝗮 𝗕𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝘆 finished 64th overall and 26th in the 15 to 29 Years category.
• 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲 𝗢𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗳𝘀𝗲𝗻 finished 65th overall and 27th in the 15 to 29 Years category.
• 𝗠𝗮𝘅 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲 came in 111th overall and 42nd in the 15 to 29 Years category.
• 𝗝𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗱 came in 120th overall and 46th in the 15 to 29 Years category.
• 𝗔𝗝 𝗩𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿 came in 121th overall and 47th in the 15 to 29 Years category.
• 𝗗𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝗹 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀 finished 63rd overall and 28th in the 15 to 29 Years category.

Well done to UPS swimming coach, Mrs 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁, who claimed 1st place in the 35 to 39 Years category. We also extend our thanks, once again, to Mrs 𝗞𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗲 𝗚𝗶𝗹𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗻, who swam behind our youngsters to make sure they crossed the finish line safely and to Mr 𝗠𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻 𝗞𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵𝘂 who transported all safely to and from Colchester.

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙡 𝙞𝙨 𝙚𝙭𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙨𝙬𝙞𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙞𝙥𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙤 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 ‘𝙣𝙚𝙬𝙗𝙞𝙚𝙨’ 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙. 𝙒𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙤 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙟𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙪𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙮.

Of course, a River Mile outing wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the Nanaga Farm Stall, where the learners and accompanying members of staff enjoyed the tasty home-made pies and roosterkoek on offer, before hitting the long road home.