A round of applause for Union High School u/13A cricketer ๐๐ผ๐๐ต ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐๐ถ๐น๐น on scoring a magnificent 113 runs against Summerwood on Saturday, 1 March 2025.
This past Saturday, Union High School, Graaff-Reinet’s junior ๐ง๐ข๐ฃ ๐ฒ ๐ง๐๐ก๐ก๐๐ฆ girls traveled to Gqeberha, where they faced off against their counterparts from Summerwood Primary School.
๐๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด, the girls competed in two singles matches and one doubles match.
๐ช๐๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ก๐ to the girls who emerged victorious, finishing the encounter with a total of 81 games, outpacing Summerwood’s 73.
Our Top 8 senior tennis players took part in the Graaff-Reinet and surrounding area summer league from 5 February to 26 February. They played their hearts out, some days on very warm courts, but ultimately it was the experience of the older players that resulted in more losses for Union. The results are as follows:
Wed 5 Feb:
Nr 5 to 8 girls vs Wheatlands:ย cancelled due to rain
Wed 12 Feb:
First 4 boys vs. Wheatlands:ย lost 4 – 0
Number 5 to 8 boys vs. Mountain: lost 4 – 0
First 4 girls vs. Mountain:ย 2 โ all but Mountain wins by 4 games
Wed 19 Feb:
First 4 girlsโ match against Wheatlands cancelled due to Karoo Gala
Number 5 to 8 girls vs Mountain:ย lost 3 โ 1
Wed 26 Feb:
First 4 boys vs Nieu-Bethesda:ย 2 all, but NB won by 3 games
Number 5 to 8 boys vs Wheatlands:ย ย lost 4 โ 0
Well done to all our players for their sportsmanship and good manners on the court!
Union High School Grade 11 learner, Tristan Hope, recently showcased his exceptional equestrian skills at the ๐ช๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ in the Hofmeyer district.
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ง๐ข๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ.
On Friday, 21 February, Tristan took on a challenging ๐ด๐ฌ๐ธ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐๐ฒ riding SMP Bella May. This ride marked a significant milestone for Bella May, as it was her first competitive outing after successfully completing all the novice stages. The route proved to be tough, particularly the last 20km, which was tackled in pouring rain.
๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด, ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ข ๐๐ข๐บ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ง๐ญ๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง 5:04:05.
His stellar performance earned him a well-deserved 1st place in the young riders category and an impressive 5th overall.
๐ง๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐๐ฎ๐ป’๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐บ๐บ๐ถ๐๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ต๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ด๐ผ ๐๐ป๐ป๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ฑ. He was honoured with the award for the Best Conditioned Horse, a recognition that reflects both the riderโs skill and the horseโs condition following the ride. The award criteria include evaluating the horse’s pulse rate, muscle stiffness, and overall well-being, underscoring the importance of care and preparation in endurance riding.
The excitement continued on Saturday, 22 February, as Tristan returned to the saddle, this time riding Henarstep Willow for ๐ฎ๐ป๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ด๐ฌ๐ธ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐ด๐ฒ.
The race unfolded in thrilling fashion, with a nail-biting finish that saw Tristan neck-and-neck with a fellow competitor.
Ultimately, he crossed the finish line first in the young riders’ category and secured 2nd place overall, completing the race in 4:21:27 – a Springbok time.
A heartfelt ๐ง๐๐๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ to Brian Bands Sports Graaff-Reinet for their generous donation of rugby ball bags to support Union High School’s rugby programme!
๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ’๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ.
On Monday afternoon 24 February, our top 12 senior tennis players took part in a fun and speedy fixture against Hoรซrskool Middelburg. Only singles matches were played and each player had exactly 30 minutes to play as many games as possible.
Our top 6 girls once again showed off their skills and tenacity, beating Middelburg by 40 matches! Unfortunately, our top 6 boys were unable to do the same, and they lost by 20 matches.ย ย
Overall the margin from the girlsโ victory was large enough to make Union the overall winner with a total of 61 matches against Middelburgโs 41 matches. Well done to our players who played on very warm courts but still managed to show good sportsmanship and good manners to our visitors!ย
Saturday, 22 February, saw Union High School’s junior cricketers face their St Andrew’s Preparatory School counterparts at home.
After winning the toss and opting to bat first, Union posted a total of 116 all out, with Josh Kingwill top-scoring with 36 and Nathaneal Phillips contributing 21.
In response, St Andrew’s were bowled out for 79, with Union’s bowlers dominating. Edwin Holmes and Nathaneal Phillips starred with the ball, each claiming 4 wickets.
๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ’๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ-๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ-๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ.
The ๐/๐ญ๐ญ๐ team’s encounter saw St Andrew’s winning the toss and choosing to bat, posting a competitive total of 180 runs after a solid middle-order performance, despite early pressure from Union’s bowlers.
In response, Union started well, reaching lunch without losing a wicket. However, after the break, St Andrew’s disciplined bowling restricted Union, who batted out their full 30 overs but fell short, ending 101 runs behind, giving St Andrew’s a comfortable victory.
Union’s ๐/๐ญ๐ญ๐ team won the toss and chose to bat first but struggled throughout, falling to pressure and being bowled out for just 32 runs.
St Andrew’s chased down the total in 8.2 overs, losing only 2 wickets.
Callan Strydom was the standout performer for Union, taking 2 wickets for just 5 runs in 3 overs.
๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด, ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ฆ๐ง๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐บ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต-๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐จ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ต.
We are delighted to celebrate the achievements of our learners at the chess trials hosted by the Sarah Baartman Chess Union at Union High School on Saturday, 15 February.
๐๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง 131 ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ด.
โข In the u/18 Boys category, congratulations to ๐ฆ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ต๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฉ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ for securing the Bronze medal and ๐ก๐ฒ๐ฒ๐น๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฒ for claiming the Silver medal.
โข For the u/18 Girls, we applaud ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ ๐ง๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ for her Bronze medal finish and ๐๐ฎ๐๐บ๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ ๐๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฒ for achieving Silver.
โข In the u/16 Girls category, ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐น๐น๐ฎ ๐ง๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ earned a Bronze medal, while ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐๐น๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ๐ฒ proudly took home the Silver medal.
โข For the u/14 Boys, ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ป๐ผ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป secured the Bronze medal and ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐น๐ถ๐ฎ๐๐ต followed closely with a Silver medal.
โข In the u/14 Girls category, ๐๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐won Bronze and ๐๐ฎ๐๐น๐ฎ ๐ฃ๐ฒ๐๐ฟ๐๐ earned Silver.
โข Lastly, in the u/12 Girls category, a special shout-out to ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐น๐น๐ฒ ๐ฃ๐ฒ๐๐ฟ๐๐ for winning the Silver medal.
๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ธ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ป๐ฒ๐ ๐ ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ณ๐ณ-๐ฅ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐, ๐๐ฎ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฎ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ต. We look forward to seeing more exceptional performances from our talented chess players
This past Monday evening, 17 February, Union High School hosted its annual ๐๐จ๐ก๐๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ง๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก for its Grade 8 and 9 learners, at the Tony Burrell Union.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ดโ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต, ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ง๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ค ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ด.
After a series of outstanding performances, the judges awarded third place to ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ธ๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐น๐ฎ, whose speech captivated the audience with its depth and clarity.
๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฒ๐น ๐ช๐ฒ๐ป๐ต๐ฎ๐บ secured second place with her compelling delivery and strong stage presence. Taking first place was ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ป๐รฉ ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐ต๐ผ๐๐ with her beautifully articulated speech on ‘What Makes a Great Leader’, leaving a lasting impression on both the judges and the audience.
The evening was a true celebration of young talent and all participants should be commended for their hard work and dedication. ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐ต๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐น๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐ณ๐๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฝ๐๐ฏ๐น๐ถ๐ฐ ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ ๐จ๐ป๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ฒ ๐น๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ๐๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ป๐๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐ด๐ฟ๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐น.