And off they go….
The journey began this morning for the Grade 10 class of 2018 when they set off on their Odyssey. The goal is to complete a five-day hike which begins near Nieu-Bethesda and ends in Graaff-Reinet. The mission is to walk with all they needed in their backpacks and face the elements, come what may, discovering much more about themselves and the others in their grade.
Enjoy this journey, Grade 10s. This is an experience of a lifetime!
1st XI
On Saturday 22 September Union High School played against Brandwag from Uitenhage in a 40 over match at the beautiful Asantesana Game Reserve.
Brandwag won the toss and sent the Union lads into the field on a flat track. Due to the conditions of the pitch our seamers struggled to pick up wickets, but maintained a decent economy rate. Cowan Swartz and Matt Harpur picked up a stick each. Brandwag were 97 for 2 at drinks. After drinks the captain brought on Caerwyn Spence and Jaden Brotherton to see if our spin attack could cause some damage. This proved to be exactly the right call! Our spin twins cleaned up the rest of the Brandwag batting line up and kept them at bay to reach a modest total of 167 all out in 39.2 overs.
Best Bowlers: Caerwyn Spence 4 for 26 in 8 overs; Jaden Brotherton 4 for 22 in 7 overs.
After lunch Union went in to bat. A sublime start by Jaden Brotherton and Brett Amsterdam saw Union have an opening stand of 70 runs. In the 18th over we lost our first wicket and in walked cool and calm Luke McNaughton. It didn’t take him many balls to get going…A few overs later he was joined at the wicket by Captain Matt Harpur. The two of them easily took on the Brandwag bowling attack and cruised to victory in the 29th over.
Best Batsman: Jaden Brotherton 43; Brett Amsterdam 36; Luke McNaughton 59*; Matt Harpur 17*
Union won by 8 wickets.
2nd Team
The 2nd team played at Brandwag in a 35 over match. Brandwag won the toss and elected to field first. Our batsman struggled up front losing wickets in quick succession. We were soon 40 for 5 when Trevor Moos and Brendan James consolidated for a well played 50 run partnership to restore some hope to the innings. This was backed up by another 40 run partnership between Khanya Butshingi and William Kayster. Union were eventually bowled out for 154 in 33.4 overs.
Top batsman: Trevor Moos 31; Brendon James 20; Khanya Butshingi 20; Noa Cilliers 18
The bowlers seemed troubled and struggled to bowl a consistent line and length. Poor fielding didn’t help our cause as we dropped catches at regular intervals. Brandwag past our score in the 20th over having lost only 3 wickets.
Top bowlers: Matthew Hesselink 1 for 25 in 3 overs; Trevor Moos 1 for 28 in 4 overs.
Union lost the match by 7 wickets.
U/15A
The U/15A team also played a 35 over match at Brandwag. Union won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Josh Calitz struck in the 2nd over of the match and from there on James Pienaar ripped through the top order. Brandwag soon found themselves 30 for 5. After an amazing bowling effort, Brandwag was bowled out for a poultry 44 runs.
Best bowlers: James Pienaar 5 for 15 in 6 overs; Josh Calitz 2 for 21 in 4 overs; Jarrod Naude 3 for 0 in 1.3 overs.
Union then went in to bat and confidently scored 45 runs without loss in 5 overs.
Best batsman: Kyle-Luke du Preez 32*; Sisipho Arnolds 6*
Union won by 10 wickets.
The matric class of 2018 enjoyed their induction into the Old Unionites Association on Wednesday evening. Mr Derek Light, speaker and Chairman of the Union Trust, shared some tales of his time at Union High and sent the matrics off with special words of wisdom, encouraging them to always return to their Alma Mater and to remember the values instilled in them during their school years at Union High.
The following learners have been selected to represent EP in the upcoming Interprovincial event that will be held in Bloemfontein on the 29th of September.
u/15 girls: Hannah Bodenstein and Drew Dobinson – EP B
Kendall Krige – EP Development team
u/19 girls: Megan Doyle and Jenna McNaughton – EP B
The grade six learners visited the African Imprint Outdoor Centre on the banks of the Sundays River, just outside Kirkwood, from the 10th to the 12th of September. This facility caters for outdoor learning activities which are facilitated by a group of well qualified instructors.
The children were put through their paces in a variety of activities which challenged them in various ways. They were taught the basics of rowing, balancing, turning and stopping canoes on the river; they had to overcome their fears on a zip-line over the river; they learnt to build flag poles and had to brave a stringent obstacle course. All activities were carried out in groups. Points were allocated to each group for performance, attitude and enthusiasm and healthy competition prevailed amongst the groups. Many other challenge, balancing and ball skill games made up the remainder of the activities.
The group also visited the Addo Elephant Park for a morning and were treated to sightings of two big bull elephants and a herd of buffalo. Many buck species, zebra, dung beetles and other wild life were spotted. For many this was a first time experience.
The weather treated us most kindly and the learners enjoyed their tasks in sunshine with no wind. A swim in the cement dam was enjoyed by many.
Our sincere thanks go to Mrs Wendy Venter and Mr Reinhard Gerber who willingly drove the buses and assisted us.
Union High School’s production ‘Go the Distance’, written and directed by Avrille Putter and boasting a large cast of nearly 100 learners and crew, was a feast for the eye, ear and soul last week. The story, based on a young boxer, Zekiah Molope, brilliantly performed by Ikhona Koeberg, whisked the audience through the colourful streets, sheebeens and gyms of Sophiatown in the late 1950’s. ‘Go the Distance’ could have stood its own at any drama festival and those who were privy to the few hours of sheer energy, joyful song and dance, and clever witticism were in for a treat that way surpassed any regular high school production.
The show was cleverly narrated by Peter Watermeyer who held the story together with excellent acting and clear enunciation. In his likeable role as Frank, Peter clearly told the story of Zekiah – a struggling young boxer – who became a hero as he ‘went the distance’ against Duke Jackson – the reigning middleweight champion, also convincingly played by Damon Fouche. Frank tells the story of Zekiah to a group of school children, led by Sima Desemela, who was aptly cast as Busi. This talented young woman add-libbed her way through the show, adding many an hilarious punch line, and drew the entire audience and cast along with her skill. Her naughly co-horts provided much hilarity as they formed their own sub-plot to the main story-line. What was clearly evident is just how much these young thespians enjoyed themselves – and even the supporting cast was engaged in their puns and witticisms as they came up with something completely new each evening!
Ikhona Koeberg moulded and shaped the character of Zekiah as the story developed. His execution of this sometimes vulnerable, sometimes comedic protagonist was remarkable, and the passion with which he fought and danced and loved and sang his way through the story made for many a ‘goosebump’ moment!
“Go the Distance” was a celebration of colour, dance and song! Janet Kingwill’s beautiful set design was the perfect backdrop to carefully crafted 1950’s costumes, many sewn by Colleen Ekermans who devoted hours of work and love behind the scenes. Remarkably choreographed scenes included the miners’ dance which celebrated the beautiful voices of the senior boys, as they performed an earth shattering gumboot dance led by the powerful voice of Jason Beaumont. The bus stop scene, led in rousing song by Zintle Maki, involved professional lighting effects that symbolized the dawn, with nostalgic photographs that transported the viewer into Sophiatown of old. The Wedding party was a riotous celebration of song and exuberance and absolute joy as the entire cast danced their way through ‘Mama Themba’s wedding.’ Zekiah’s final fight scene, professionally commentated by Cameron Muir and Amanda Brink as Bob and Janey, was a display of clever showmanship and lighting effects as he ‘went the distance’, surviving 15 rounds of ‘freeze frame’ choreography that was perfectly and timeously executed by the entire cast.
The calibre singing and acting was outstanding this year, with Bavuyise Hermans, Tracy-Lee Abels and Kay Koeberg taking on difficult solos with aplomb. Ashwon Dawids had the audience in stitches as the local gang leader, Shakes – throwing in a bit of ‘Graaffrikaans’ for good measure too! Gym owner, Sam was convincingly performed by Olwethu Ngcai, while Taylyn Miller played the giggly, permanently positive Nancy. Rebecca Langmead took on the role of Gloria – the cynical, bossy shebeen queen who ruled the ‘Crazy Moon’ with an iron fist!
In her speech of gratitude to Avrille Putter after the final curtain call, Rebecca Langmead described her as ‘ineffable’ – meaning ‘too great or extreme to be described in words’. She said that the cast had arrived as amateurs and left as accomplished actors. That they had arrived as a cast, and left as a family.
‘Go the Distance’ is an example of a group of truly unified youngsters having a great deal of fun along with a copious amount of talent! Union High School can be congratulated on a sublime production that fills one with admiration and hope for the youth of our colourful nation!
| View the photographs on our Facebook page Photographs courtesey of Wendy Venter |
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Union High wishes to congratulate Kwande Mhlabeni for his selection to represent the Eastern Cape Under 15 Tennis Team at the National Primary Schools Inter-Provincial Tournament to be held in Pretoria from the 27th of April to the 1st of May.
Kwande is an extremely dedicated and hard-working tennis player, and is currently ranked No. 6 in the Eastern Province. We wish him well at National Week, where he will be competing against the top tennis players in South Africa. Well done, Kwande, you make Union proud!
Here seen with Mr Carl Bezuidenhout (Head of Sport), Mr Floris Steenkamp (Junior Sports Administrator and Mrs Yvette Cloete (Head of Junior Department)
Despite having dominated play for most of the game, the 1st junior team drew 1 – 1 through a goal by Sonwabiso Mroro. They spent much of the match on attack, but were unfortunate not to be able to convert some of the opportunities they had into goals. It was, however, very exciting to see the girls starting to successfully implement some of the set pieces learned in practice. Keep up the good work girls!
2nd Junior Team
The 2nd Juniors racked up a deserving win of 3-0 against their opponents. While a lot of the play was still a little unstructured, it was wonderful to see that the girls are starting to understand their positional play a little better and by the end of the game they were stringing together some impressive moves as a unit. Special mention must go to Charlize Vorster who has shown a remarkable improvement from last year and carried the ball beautifully on attack throughout the game. Well done to the girls on an excellent result! Goal scorers were Charlize Vorster, Aamninah Steele and Lisakhanye Menos.
Union High’s four Salisbury Exchange students left for the United Kingdom on Friday and received a lovely welcome from their hosts at Heathrow Airport on Saturday morning. experience Gemma, Anna, Brent and Jude!
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During the 1st team match against Victoria Girls’ High School the Union girls once again showed their class from the very start and scored 2 goals in the first 5 minutes They continued to dominate, played attractive hockey and cruised to an 8-2 win. Goals were scored by Jenna McNaughton (3), Henze Jaftha (3), Candice Russell (1) and Rebecca Langmead (1).
1st Team: 8 – 2
2nd Team: 8 – 0
U/16 A: 4 – 1
U/16 B: 2 – 0
3rd Team: 2 – 0
JUNIOR RUGBY
Clarendon Rugby Festival
Last Thursday, an eager group of U/11 Union rugby players travelled to Port Elizabeth to take part in the annual Clarendon Rugby Festival. Over the course of two days the boys played in three matches.
The under 11s got off to a slow start in the first match vs Westering, losing 24-0. On Friday they started to gain some momentum as they narrowly lost 15 – 10 to a very strong Herbert Hurd side.
In their very exciting final match, which was seen by festival directors as the match of the festival, they beat Summerwood 12-7.
During the Easter holidays, Leah Marais was selected to play in an invitation side at the Elsie Coetzer Hockey Tournament (ECHS) which took place from the 5th to the 9th of April in Bloemfontein. 95 hockey teams from all over South Africa participated.
It was a gruelling tournament, which consisted of coaching – as early as 7 o’clock in the morning, and one to two matches being played every day, at times only finishing at 10 o’clock in the evening.
During this festival, a panel of two professional Dutch selectors were scouting for players to partake in an invitation team to tour Germany and the Netherlands in September 2018.
Union High is very proud to announce that Leah Marais was selected for this touring team and we congratulate her on this wonderful achievement.
For the 31st consecutive year, Union High had the privilege to host their Annual Senior Rugby and Hockey Festival, and once again it was a tremendous success, with teams from across the country taking part in the festival. We would like to quote the main sponsor of the festival, Caltex’s Mr Clive Berlyn from his speech to the visiting coaches: ’As a company, we adopted from the start a firm approach that our involvement in projects and/or events will be guided by whether it provides the right platform to nurture and create the leadership potential that resides within our young people. We strongly believe that sport and education provides us with just such platforms. You are the leaders of tomorrow and what you learn on the playing fields will prepare you for the world that awaits when you leave school.”
With 600 learners and 95 coaches attending, we had hostels bursting at the seams, but the hard-working staff of Arthur Kingwill House and Herby Arnott House made it work and as always Union was complimented for its great hospitality. We wish to take this opportunity to thank our hostel staff for all those extra hours and their contribution to the success of the festival. The same goes to Mr Kingwill and his team of ground-staff for ensuring that our facilities were always in impeccable condition.
Thank you to our rugby and hockey moms and dads for feeding the coaches, sponsors, staff, medics, media team and referees at the Union. As always, the food was of the highest quality (and quantity). Thank you also to Mr Crankshaw and his team of Old Unionites for their contribution.
A festival of this magnitude cannot be hosted without its sponsors. To our main sponsors for festival – Caltex, College Motors, Hyundai, Pick ‘n Pay, SupaQuick and Spur – we appreciate the ongoing support from your businesses. We are looking forward to many more years of working together.
Congratulations to the coaches on their teams’ performances over festival. You and the teams made us proud on and off the field!
Festival Rugby Report
In their first fixture on Thursday, Union played against Hoërskool Charlie Hofmeyer. In what was more mud wrestling than rugby, the Union boys managed to grind out a two-point victory. The game hung in the balance for the full 70 minutes with neither team giving an inch. The heavy rain resulted in it being a hard fought battle of attrition, where field position and minimising errors were the order of the day. Union scored two tries through Luthando Skapu and Iviwe Ndamane, both players showing exceptional skill to cross the whitewash. Matt Harpur converted both tries, which proved to be the difference at the final whistle. It was a satisfying 14 – 12 win for Union against a side that had convincingly beaten them the year before.
In the final match of the festival on Saturday, the Union boys took on Hoërskool Grens from East London. Fortunately, the weather was conducive to running rugby and Union was able to play a more expansive pattern which was pleasing to the spectators. Union were again forced to work extremely hard against quality opposition. Both teams scored an unconverted try in the first half and kicked a penalty goal to make it 8-8 at the half-time break. The Union team started the second half brilliantly, spreading the ball from point to point, forcing their opponents to make numerous tackles and cover loads of ground on defence. Union executed the plan to perfection and eventually ran in a further two tries as the Grens defenders seemed to tire somewhat. The boys were solid on defence and capitalised on their opportunities on attack to win the game 25 – 8. Union’s tries were scored by Cowan Swartz, Ikhona Koeberg and Luke McNaughton. Matt Harpur converted two tries and two penalties.
Day 1 Rugby Results
Winterberg Agricultural High School vs Hoërskool Andrew Rabie: 17 – 10
Paarl Gimnasium Daisies vs Linkside High School: 83 – 3
Grey High Unicorns vs Hoërskool Grens 2de Span: 42 – 5
Hoër Volkskool vs Westering High School: 14 – 19
Gill College vs Camps Bay High School: 48 – 0
Stirling High School vs Ithembilihle High Schoo: 34 – 10
Hoërskool Stellenbosch vs Hoërskool Grens: 12 – 12
Cambridge High School vs Pearson High School: 5 – 18
Union High School vs Hoërskool Charlie Hofmeyr: 14 – 12
No rugby on Day 2
Day 3 Rugby Results
Paarl Gimnasium Daisies vs Hoërskool Grens 2de Span: 63 – 0
Grey High Unicorns vs Camps Bay High School: 38 – 15
Hoërskool Charlie Hofmeyr vs Ithembelihle High School: 48 – 14
Cambridge High School vs Hoërskool Stellenbosch: 36 – 26
Pearson High School vs Stirling High School: 27 – 15
Winterberg Agricultural High School vs Westering High School: 13 – 41
Gill College vs Hoërskool Andrew Rabie: 24 – 19
Hoër Volkskool vs Linkside High School: 48 – 7
Union High School vs Hoërskool Grens: 25 – 8
Festival Hockey Report
Union’s 1st hockey team came into the festival with a lot of pressure hanging over the heads due to the below par performances so far this season. Their first match took place against Framesby, with the girls being extremely nervous. They couldn’t convert the opportunities that they had went down 1 – 0, but thanks to a spectacular goal by Micela Loock, the score was even at 1 all going into the break The Union girls finished the match on 4 – 1, with Jenna McNaughton scoring a hat-trick and Micela Loock scoring one goal.
Union played their second match against Paarl Gimnasium in heavy raining conditions, which made the Astro Turf slow. The Union girls dominated the game from the beginning to the end, but could only score one goal (by Rebecca Langmead), which enabled them to win 1 – 0.
The 3rd and much awaited game against the toughest opponents at the festival, Kingsridge High School, took place on day 2 of the festival. The Union girls were well prepared for the match and excelled in the 1st half with a well-rounded team goal from Micela Loock, and Rebecca Langmead scoring the second goal. Kingsridge piled on the pressure during the second half, but the Union girls held on for a 2-0 victory.
During Union’s 4th match, against Settlers High School, the Union players’ class in play and movement off the ball dominated the opposition. Settlers did not have any ball possession, but their defence made it difficult for Union to score. However, the Union girls broke through and managed to score two goals thanks to Jenna McNaughton and Rebecca Langmead. With Settlers not having much possession of the ball and Union being in the opposition territory most of the game, Union withdrew the goalkeeper to add more attackers to their field. Unfortunately they then conceded a goal, but soon rectified the decision by scoring another goal by Rebecca Langmead to win the game 3 – 1.
The 5th and final game saw Union get their X-Factor back to completely overwhelm Cambridge High with the game controlled by the classy centre back, Yente Retief, to win the game 6 – 0. Goals were scored by Micela Loock (2),Henze Jaftha (2), Jenna McNaughton and Rebecca Langmead.
Hockey statistics for the festival:
Played 5 won 5
Goals for: 15
Goals against: 2
Goal Scorers: Jenna McNaughton (5), Rebecca Langmead (5), Micela Loock (4) and Henze Jaftha (2)
Day 1 Hockey results
Stirling High School vs Hoër Volkskool: 2 – 0
Paarl Gimnasium Invitational vs Kingsridge High School: 1 – 0
Westering High School vs Victoria Girls High: 3 – 0
Union High School vs Hoërskool Framesby: 4 – 1
Gill College 1 vs Linkside High School: 1 – 0
Cambridge High School vs Settlers High School: 0 – 3
Hoërskool Nico Malan vs Hoërskool Grens: 4 – 0
Gill College vs Kingsridge High School: 0 – 6
Victoria Girls High School vs Hoërskool Framesby: 1 – 2
Cambridge High School vs Hoërskool Nico Malan: 2 – 4
Union High School Invitational vs Linkside High School: 1 – 0
Stirling High School vs Settlers High School: 1 – 1
Union High School vs Paarl Gimnasium Inv: 1 – 0
Hoërskool Grens vs Westering High School: 0 – 5
Day 2 Hockey results
Cambridge High School vs Hoërskool Framesby: 2 – 0
Union High School Inv vs Nico Malan: 0 – 5
Stirling High School vs Gill College: 5 – 2
Kingsridge High School vs Settlers High School: 3 – 0
Paarl Gimnasium Inv vs Hoër Volkskool: 0 – 0
Victoria Girls High vs Hoërskool Grens: 3 – 1
Westering High School vs Gill College: 5 – 1
Cambridge High School vs Linkside High School: 3 – 0
Victoria Girls High School vs Hoërskool Nico Malan: 1 – 0
Paarl Gimnasium Inv vs Stirling High School: 0 – 1
Hoër Volkskool vs Linkside High School: 3 – 0
Hoërskool Grens vs Hoërskool Framesby: 0 – 1
Union High School vs Kingsridge High School: 2 – 0
Settlers High School vs Westering High School: 0 – 0
Day 3 Hockey results
Union High School vs Settlers High School: 3 – 1
Linkside High School vs Hoërskool Nico Malan: 0 – 5
Hoër Volkskool vs Hoërskool Grens: 5 – 1
Stirling High School vs Hoërskool Framesby: 1 – 0
Paarl Gimnasium Invitational vs Westering High School: 3 – 0
Victoria Girls High School vs Union High School Invitational: 2 – 1
Union High School vs Cambridge High School: 6 – 0
Hoër Volkskool vs Kingsridge High School: 1 – 4
Union High School Invitational vs Gill College: 0 – 0
On the 31st of March, two of our athletes travelled to Pretoria to represent Eastern Province in the South African Biathlon Championships. We are very proud of Candice Russel and Cameron Muir who both performed well at the event and surpassed the 2000 point benchmark. Candice placed 15th out of a field of 25 and scored an impressive 2114 points, while Cameron managed 12th spot in a field of 24, scoring 2065 points. These results are especially commendable when you consider that these placements reflect their positions in the entire country. Well done to you both!UHS celebrates their Eco statue twice a year by having Eco-Wise Days. On Tuesday 27 March, we ended the first term enjoying various eco activities. Each class or grade decides on an eco-activity. For an hour and a half, from 11:00 to 12:30 the school is a bustle with joyful and worthwhile projects.
This term the projects on campus included: Learning about the problem of plastic in our oceans, learning more about our indigenous trees , picking up litter, the cleaning up of graffiti, making a recycled ball and playing duster hockey and there was a presentation on Inner Purity for the Grade 11. There were several off-campus activities too: Angel Park in the centre of town was cleaned up by a group of learners, another group of learners visited Huis van der Graaff and as they walked, they picked up litter in the streets and they gave gifts of Easter eggs to the residents, a different group of learners picked up litter at and around our Union Preparatory School and the grade 10s spent valuable time playing fun games with the young children from our Pre-School.
The grounds team also joined in with the spirit of the day as they offloaded the two new Jo-Jo water tanks which they will install on campus. These are sealed units and are fitted with filters, enabling clear rain water to be captured for drinking purposes. Thank you to all Eco Reps and staff for making this Eco-Wise Day worthwhile.
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