Month: May 2018

It is always a privilege to be able to host an event of this nature and to extend a warm welcome to all our guest schools, parents and supporters who are attending our 19th Anne Beagley Junior Rugby and Hockey Festival.

Our Rugby and Hockey Festival has always tried to convey the idea that winning at all costs is neither the desired nor sole purpose connected to this occasion. On the contrary, the most essential objective of the event is the fostering of educational principles such as sportsmanship and camaraderie, and the opportunity to establish possible life-long friendships within an atmosphere of conviviality, enjoyment and healthy rivalry. We therefore appeal to all role players to make the most of this special occasion.

All the coaches and managers in attendance need to be complimented on their willingness to give up some of their free time to extend the educational horizons for those in their care. May their experiences be hugely gratifying in all respects.

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The tournament started with an informal tutorial sessions where basic chess information was shared. The players from the schools were divided into four leagues according to their chess rankings. Three rounds were played where the scores were recorded to find the best three players in each league. A short tutorial session was held between each round to share more information about chess to the players who has never played chess before.

Chess boards and pieces were handed out to the top two players in each league, and another two players, who has never before played chess, were also given chess sets. All the prizes and refreshments for both the players and teachers were sponsored by the Prescient Foundation.

Union was fortunate to have players from Kroonvale Primer, Graaff-Reinet Primer, Laer Volkskool, Union High School and Isibane, as well as interested teachers for Ryneveld Primer! All primary schools in the immediate Graaff-Reinet district will be invited to the next open friendly tournament that will take place in the fourth term.

A friendly open tournament for high schools will take place next term at Union High School. Information about this event will be communicated to schools in due course. We urge all high schools to start a chess club at their schools so that they are ready to take part.

Please contact Mrs Rose-Innes (Primary Schools) and Mr Jantjies (High Schools) at Union High School (049 891 0262) for more information.

What an honour it was for our termly boarders to meet up with the cyclists on the Unogwaja Challenge this afternoon, and to ride the last few kilometres into town with them! UHS salutes these incredible athletes and wishes them well on their journey to KZN!

Loyal members of the Eco-club enjoying hiking the Crag Lizard trail at the Valley of Desolation on Friday afternoon.

During this past week, Mr Pringle received a note from a staff member, Mrs Rose-Innes, about one of Union’s grade 7 learners…

“I would like to draw your attention to one of our learners, EIi Robile, who acted with absolute integrity and honesty. I was sitting in my classroom after having had a chess meeting one afternoon this week. Eli was waiting for his lift home in Caledon Street, when he noticed that the boot of my car was not properly closed. He also noticed that my handbag was in the boot. Eli closed the boot immediately and ran to me to tell me that he had closed it. He could have left it, but instead he did the right thing. I think that Eli should be commended for his honesty and integrity. Thank you, Eli!”

What a pleasure it is to receive notes like these praising our learners!

He has also coached the Eastern Province U/30s Men’s Indoor Cricket Team to a Gold Medal in the National Indoor Cricket Tournament and was also appointed coach of the South African U/30s Men’s Indoor Cricket Team. He coached the Eastern Province Men’s Team which won Gold in 2016 in Mpumalanga.

His aim is to produce an energising, successful and creative sporting environment that will bring out the best in the learners and members of staff. He is a dedicated sports professional whose particular strengths lie in problem-solving, motivational skills, knowledge, passion, commitment and dedication.

We are pleased to welcome Mr Hamilton to our team.

Mr Alvin August joins the staff as Professional Hockey Coach. He has a Diploma in Sports Management and has represented Eastern Province Hockey and Eastern Province Age-group Cricket. Mr August is a husband, father of one child, avid sports fan and passionate Christian who loves children and coaching sport, and has extensive experience in cricket and hockey at senior level. He enjoys playing golf, and currently plays off a 12-handicap.

It is a pleasure to welcome Mr August to UHS where we anticipate him making an immediate impact. In the short time that he has been with us, he has impressed with his calm but firm manner and in his efficient umpiring of high-pressure hockey matches.

Mrs Zelda van Rooyen has joined the educator staff as a Music Teacher and has had an immediate impact on the learners, inspiring a love and passion for the piano, in particular. She has a B.Mus, US (Stellenbosch University), a Merit Award from UNISA (Directorate of Music, University of South Africa) Exceptional Tuition in Music Theory, and an Honour of Excellence Award in Music Practical and Theoretical Examinations.
She is currently tasked with preparing our pianists for the Associated Board of Royal Schools Examinations. She is also qualified to teach flute, theory, violin, voice and choir.

Mrs van Rooyen is a wonderful addition to our Music Department!

Mrs Maritza Burger joined our team as Debtors Clerk and has had an immediate positive impact on our Finance Department. She describes herself as having the ability to work under pressure, deadline-driven, determined to succeed, honest, loyal, hardworking and efficient.
She is competent in working with the following systems: Microsoft Word 2000, Microsoft Excel 2000, Microsoft Office Outlook 2007/2010, Sage VIP staffing solutions, Sage Pastel office edition and the Fingertec clocking system. She has extensive experience in the corporate and banking sectors and is a welcome addition to our team.

On Wednesday 23rd May, eight Union learners travelled to Marlow in Cradock to shoot for League points that will count in their favour. With five learners attending for the first time, coach Christelle van Eck complimented the regular team members who assisted the newcomers and encouraged them positively. Union is proud of Grace Merifield, Tammy James, Tessa James, Kelly-Page Scott, Lauren Waddelow, Matthew Hesselink, Ryan Hobson and Schea Johnson who are flying the flag high on the shooting front. Results are still pending and we look forward to seeing this team grow from strength to strength!

The Grade 10K glass filled 26 bottles for the Eco-brick project. Pictured here are Eco reps, Katherine Imrie, Liyema Sonjani and
Erin O’Halloran. Erin filled almost 20 bottles!

Friday, 18 May
UHS KAROO HOCKEY DAY – UHS ASTRO
Inaugural day of first Karoo Round Robin Tournament
Union High welcomed five Karoo teams to take part in the first round of this much needed tournament. A wonderful initiative that hopes to grow the sport of hockey in our area. The participating teams were Union, Cradock, Graaff-Reinet Primary, Gill and Middleburg Homeschoolers. Union got off to a promising start by notching up two wins and a draw. The Union girls hope to produce even better results in the 2nd round.

We thank all the participants for travelling so far to join us. It was especially wonderful to see the introduction of Graaff-Reinet Primary School to our Karoo league. We wish them all the best for this season.

Saturday, 19 May
JUNIOR HOCKEY VS LORRAINE PRIMARY (AWAY)
Junior 5th team:  0 – 0
Junior 4th team:  0 – 0
Junior 3rd team:  0 – 0
Junior 2nd team:  1 – 0
Junior 1st team:  0 – 0
Our Junior hockey teams travelled to Port Elizabeth this weekend to face up against some strong competition at Lorraine Primary. We were happy to be able to field 5 teams for this fixture and it was super to see some girls who had never played hockey before, coming forward to help fill the teams.
The day was evenly matched all round, and both schools battled for the upper-hand throughout. The only goal of the day was scored by Ferronique Booysen for the 2nd team and this, in turn, led to the only win of the day. The 2nd team won 1 – 0, while all the other games ended in goalless draws.

1st team match report
This midday fixture on a hot and dry day left both teams struggling to maintain the blistering pace they set for themselves from the outset. Regardless of this, it was impressive to watch the girls continue to give their all in a physical and fast-paced encounter. The run of play changed constantly and neither team was ever in complete control of the game.

The girls played exceptionally well and it was so pleasing to see their continued determination and maturity despite their exhaustion. On noticing the visible fatigue in both teams, the coaches came to a mutual agreement to cut the game short by 5 minutes in the interests of health safety, and the game ended in a scoreless draw.

SATURDAY, 12 MAY
UHS VS BURGERSDORP
Burgersdorp – Hockey
2nd Team vs Burgersdorp 1st Team: 1 – 0
3rd Team: 0 – 0
U/16B: 1 – 0

Burgersdorp – Rugby
1st XV: 8 – 13
Conditions were not ideal and the cold, wet weather forced us into an unfamiliar playing style but, regardless, we let ourselves down on Saturday. We scored early and perhaps this lulled us into a false sense of security. Our opponents put us under tremendous pressure by holding onto possession and forcing us to make countless tackles. This took its toll on our energy levels when we did get the ball and we lost composure at crucial times. A lack of discipline in our half allowed them to edge their way ahead on the scoreboard and we could not recover. Breyton Damons was the sole try scorer and Matt Harpur kicked a penalty. We certainly had our chances but failed to convert, losing the match 8-13.

Backline player of the match goes to Sibongiseni Baatjies who defended like a trojan and fought his hardest to get us on the front foot from set-pieces. The fact that his playing kit was barely recognisable was indicative of how committed he was throughout the game. The best forward was Cleathon Koeberg, who grabbed only his second chance in the starting line-up with more than both hands. He punched above his weight with ball in hand and his physicality on defence proved that he is up to the challenge of wearing the White Jersey. Hard work and soul-searching will be the order of the day over the next two weeks.

2nd Team: 17 – 12
U/16A: 24 – 10
U/15A: 24 – 17
U/14A: 35 – 19

The evening was most enjoyable, and Mrs Grewar would like to thank all those who were brave enough to speak. Well done to Kwezi Simon who was placed first.

A word of thanks to Laeticia Theron for her part in welcoming the guests and to Somila Batala, Bowen Langmead and Déger Williams for adjudicating. They certainly did a wonderful job and gained insight into what constitutes a good speech.

We look forward to the Grade 11 Speech Evening which will be held later this term.

Breyton Damons finished off an excellent passage of play to score Union’s first try. Cowan Swartz then showed his class by scoring two long range individual tries either side of halftime. Matt Harpur converted all three tries and kicked a penalty.

Backline player of the match once again goes to Cowan Swartz, who seems to glide through defences with ease and create scoring opportunities with every touch.

Forward of the match was Gary Shell. He got through a mountain of hard work and stood his ground on both sides of the scrum.

It wasn’t a fluent performance, but sometimes a close win builds character and mental toughness, which are things that can’t be coached. The team can be proud of themselves for winning, despite feeling that they weren’t at their best.

Further results
2nd Team:  34 – 5
U/16A:  21 – 0
U/15A:  0 – 12
U/14A:  19 – 5

Hockey Results
At Saturday’s match against Aliwal North three of the Union 1st Team hockey players, Micela Loock, Sima Desemela and Jenna McNaughton, received their 100 caps for the 1st team. We congratulate these three players on this great achievement, and thank them for their hard work and dedication. 

Jenna McNaughton	Sima Desemela	Micela Loock

During the match, Aliwal North set up a very negative game plan which made it difficult for the Union girls to finish off the hard work they were putting in. Nevertheless, the Union team was far too strong for the Aliwal team winning, the match 4-0.  Rebecca Langmead scored a hat trick and Kelly Rose-Innes scoring her 1st goal for the 1st Team.

Further results:
2nd Team:  5 – 0
U/16A:  7 – 0
3rd Team:  1 – 0

Junior rugby & hockey results vs Westering Primary
Rugby results
U/13 rugby
In their match against Westering Primary, it being only their second official match of the season, the under 13 boys played with great passion and dominated the collision. Unfortunately, they enjoyed very little possession and towards the end of the game their opponents ran in two soft tries. Although the boys lost 5-27, this team is constantly improving and seem to be very close to securing future victories.

Hockey results
1st Team
Union’s 1st Junior team fielded a slightly depleted team due to injuries and illness, and seemed a little slow off the mark. A goal from Westering was needed to shake the Union girls into action. After realising they were 1-0 down, they suddenly started to take back control of the game. Soso Mroro equalised the scores with a spectacular individual effort, which saw her carrying the ball from her own defensive circle, finishing it off by smashing it deftly past their keeper. Soso also scored the second goal after a beautifully timed pass from her wing, Chloe Erasmus, to give us the 2-1 win.

Player of the Match for the 1st team undoubtedly goes to Musa Zweni who weathered numerous attacks from the opposing team and pulled off some phenomenal saves in the process. Without her composure in the box, the outcome would most certainly have been very different. On this note, we would like to thank Sima Desemela, the 1st team keeper, who spent time with the junior keepers during the week to impart some of her vast knowledge. The work she did with them was evident in both matches.

Second Team
The 2nd Juniors were first up and taking the hot, energy-sapping conditions in their stride, they launched their attack on the home team. The play was fairly evenly matched though and after a ding-dong battle for possession, neither team were able to score resulting in the game finishing in a goalless draw.

3rd and 4th Junior hockey teams also played against Westering. Both teams lost 1-0 but gained valuable match practice.