๐๐ฎ๐น๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐ป!
On Wednesday afternoon, 22 March, all Union learners from Grade 5 to 12 participated in the schoolโs annual Interhouse Cross Country event.
This very successful day highlighted the athletic talents and sportsmanship of our learners. The weather was ideal for the event, with the learners racing through the challenging course.
At the end of the day, all the results were tallied up. ๐ช๐๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ก๐ to House Daly who claimed the win!
Thank you to all the marshals and staff members who provided motivation and support on the course to the children.
It really was great to see the entire school out being active in the beautiful surrounds of Union. It may have felt tough to the runners at points, but remember, the physical and mental benefits easily surpass those brief moments!
๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ!
(๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ซ๐๐๐ช๐๐ก ๐ฌ๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐ง๐จ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐ค๐ก๐ก๐ค๐ฌ ๐จ๐ค๐ค๐ฃ.)
Visit our Facebook page to view photographs of the event.
On Friday, 18 March, Union High Schoolโs 1st XV and u/13A rugby teams travelled to Kirkwood to participate in the Kirkwood Sports Day, taking the field against Hoรซrskool Cilliรซ, Susannah Fourie and Frans Conradie, respectively, on Saturday.
We stayed at African Imprint, where the teams were well hosted. The Friday was filled with fun activities, starting with a team building session where the groups had to complete an obstacle course which challenged them mentally and physically.
This was followed up with a swim in the dam and an evening of team building activities, which included war cries, dance offs, team discussions and a cheering session.
This was a unique outing, as the u/13As and 1st XV donโt often get the opportunity to travel together, which made the team building sessions all the more special as the seniors and juniors could learn from one another.
The 1st XV dominated the match from the onset, but poor mistakes at crucial times kept Unionโs opponents in the match. Siya Badiwe scored the first try through a well-worked move assisted by JJ Liebenberg.
In hot and humid weather, Union looked lethargic at times and struggled to put phases together as the match progressed. Cilliรซ responded with a penalty kick. Union led 5-3 at half time. Cilliรซ scored the first try of the second half, taking a 8 โ 5 lead.
This spurred the team on to up their game and they responded with a converted try by JJ Liebenberg. Sustained pressure led to another converted try by Xhamla Magubeni. Sisipho Arnols kicked two conversions. Special mention must be made of Kwande Mhlabeni who put in two try-saving tackles, that kept Cilliรซ at bay. Union won the match 19-8.
๐ช๐๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ก๐ ๐ง๐ข ๐ข๐จ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐๐ ๐ซ๐ฉ who won their encounter against Hoรซrskool Cilliรฉ 19 – 8
๐๐ข๐ก๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐จ๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก๐ฆ to our u/13A rugby team who beat their Frans Conradie Primary School counterparts 19 – 15 today, Saturday, 19 March.
Union High School’s ๐ญ๐๐ ๐ง๐๐๐ ๐๐ข๐๐๐๐ฌ girls participated in the Gregg Beling Hockey Festival hosted by Mark Taljaard of Tallies Sports this weekend, 18 to 20 March, in East London.
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐น๐๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐น๐น๐ผ๐๐: vs St. Michaels of Bloemfontein 2-0, vs St Maryโs DSG of Pretoria 1-0, vs Hoรซrskool Montana of Pretoria 2-0, vs Cambridge High of East London 2-0.
๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐จ๐ช๐ณ๐ญ๐ด!
In between visits to the ER, while playing incredibly strong teams, our very young and inexperienced ๐/๐ญ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ข๐๐๐๐ฌ ๐ง๐๐๐ represented the school very well during this past weekendโs u/16 ๐๐ค๐๐ ๐๐ฎ ๐๐๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐๐ก ๐๐ฉ ๐๐๐๐ง๐จ๐ค๐ฃ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ค๐ค๐ก in Gqeberha.
The school is exceptionally proud of this group of girls, who, while facing teams such as DSG, Kingswood, Queenstown Girlsโ High School and Pearson, left it all on the field, exhausting all possible efforts during every single match they played.
While they didnโt manage to record a win, the girls racked up valuable match experience and walked away winners in knowing that this is the start of something great, that together they are stronger and that courage can be found deep within when every muscle is screaming and spirits are low.
๐๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐น๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ช๐ด๐ด ๐ผ๐ข๐ฎ ๐พ๐๐๐ง๐ก๐๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ณ๐ด ๐๐๐จ๐จ ๐๐๐๐ก๐ก ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ค ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ข ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ.
๐๐ข๐ก๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐จ๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก๐ฆ to Grade 7 learner ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐ต who, following another stellar performance on the athletics track, will be representing the Eastern Province at the SA National Primary Schools Track & Field Championships!
Click here to watch Keanu claiming a silver medal in the 200m event during the recent Eastern Cape Athletics Championships.ย Keanu came second in the 100m event as well.
๐๐ข๐ก๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐จ๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก๐ฆ to Union High School Grade 8 learner ๐๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ฒ๐บ๐ธ๐ฒ who was recently selected to represent EP Biathlon at the 2022 SA National Biathlon Championships being held in Gqeberha during the first weekend in April.
We’d also like to give a ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ข๐จ๐ง to Union High School SGB member Grant Lemke who was also selected to attend this prestigious event in the 50+ age group.
๐ช๐ฒ๐น๐น ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ!
The official handover of the ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐บ ๐๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐ธ๐ถ๐๐ was conducted at Union High School today.
We are incredibly grateful towards our very generous sponsors, Bothaโs Garage, for gifting our players with a brand new kit – which includes warm-up tops and bags – for the season to come.
๐๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ!
On Saturday, 12 March, seven Union High School swimmers participated in a Level 1 Intra District Gala at the Newton Park indoor swimming pool in Gqeberha.
Many of the events had up to 10 heats of 8 swimmers each participating, but, despite some tough competition, a lot of our swimmers did well to place in the Top 3 positions in their respective age groups.
๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ง๐ค๐ช๐ ๐ค๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ง๐๐จ๐ช๐ก๐ฉ๐จ ๐ค๐ช๐ง ๐จ๐ฌ๐๐ข๐ข๐๐ง๐จ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ซ๐๐.
โข Miley Burger came second in the 50m Backstroke Girls 10 & Under;
โข Gerda Clarke came second in the 100m Backstroke Girls 11 Years;
โข Zoรซ Mills came third in the 50m Breaststroke Girls 11 Years and;
โข Daniel Marais came first In the 50m Backstroke Boys 14 Years, second in the 50m Freestyle Boys 14 Years and second in the 100m Freestyle Boys 14 Years.
Our mixed relay team, consisting of Miley Burger, Zoรซ Mills, Connor Horn and Daniel Marais, placed second in the 200m Freestyle relay which made for an exciting finish to the day.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ธ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ช๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ 1๐ด๐ต, 2๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ณ 3๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด: Miley Burger, Zoรซ Mills, Gerda Clarke, Brogan Koeberg, Jourdon Koeberg, Connor Horn and Daniel Marais.
UHS 1st XV vs St Andrews
On Saturday, 12 March, the 1st XV played against Bloemfonteinโs Saint Andrewโs School at home.
After 5 minutes, Union won a free kick at a scrum on the half way line. Quick play by Kwande Mhlabeni saw the ball shifted to Sisipho Arnols who put Alutho Cekiso into space.
Sisipho ran a very good supportive line and received the inside pass back from Alutho to dot down for the 1st try.
Ill-discipline and unnecessary mistakes kept the score 5-0 for about 26 minutes. Sisipho broke the defence from a scrum and carried on scoring a fine try. This was converted by Hlaki Skepe. Union led 12-0 at half time.
A poor start to the second half, saw Saint Andrewโs score their first try after some miscommunication on defence. Hlaki Skepe converted a penalty to take the score to 15 – 7.
Union scored another try from the restart with Sisipho Arnols completing his hat-trick to take the score to 20-7 in our favour. Some terrible defence and perhaps poor decision-making saw Saint Andrewโs run in two quick tries to lead 21-20. Hlaki Skepe converted another penalty kick leading 23-21.
With 5 minutes to go, the Union boys had a chance to score after Sisipho Arnols broke the line once more. The team, however, failed to capitalize on this wonderful opportunity. In turn, Saint Andrewโs breached Unionโs defence one more time to snatch it at the end and win the match 26-23.
โAlthough the loss was heart breaking, the lessons learned from it will be invaluable towards building the team for the season ahead,โ said coach, Mr Christopher Felix. โI am proud of the boys, and I believe we can only get better from here onwards. I wish to congratulate our junior teams with some fine results achieved, well done to the players and coaches. Lastly I wish to extend our heartfelt thanks to our super crowd, the team sincerely appreciates the support.โ
Union’s U/16A rugby team enjoyed a 30 – 5 ๐ฉ๐๐๐ง๐ข๐ฅ๐ฌ over Saint Andrew’s School.
๐ช๐ฒ๐น๐น ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ฐ๐ต, ๐จ๐ป๐ถ๐ผ๐ป’๐ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐น.
Match summary: Union won the toss and elected to play with the wind in the first half to get an early advantage. This worked in the team’s favour.
Despite the first 22 minutes of the game being riddled with penalties, the score started to climb as the game started to flow.
๐๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ญ.
U/๐ญ๐ฑ๐ won their match 22 – 0.ย Well done to Issy Ahmed who delivered a stand-out performance.
Well done to our U/14A rugby team who won their match 31 – 0.
The young rugby lads really enjoyed their first big fixture for the season.
Although the boys struggled to find their rhythm at the start of the match, it was a wonderful display of team rugby when they eventually got going.
Fantastic defense and tackling by the Union side meant that the St Andrew’s offense couldn’t break through.
๐ ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ด๐ผ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐จ๐ป๐ถ๐ผ๐ป’๐ ๐ฆ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ฒ ๐ ๐ฏ๐๐๐๐ฒ.
The ๐จ/๐ญ๐ฏ๐ team played their first official rugby game of the 2022 season.ย The Union team played against the wind in the first half, during which one try was scored against them. The second half went much better and Union managed to score two tries, with a strong defence and solid ball running leading to Union eventually clinching the game 12-10.
๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐บ๐ด!
๐จ/๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐๐๐น๐ฒ
On Saturday, 12 March, Union’s u/11A rugby side played their very first match of the season against the boys from Saint Andrew’s School, Bloemfontein.
The game was played on Union’s Murray Field, with the visitors eventually winning 15 – 5.
Jordan Maritz was the try scorer for Union.
The Union boys must be commended, as, not only did they display great team spirit, but a lot of heart and a never-say-die attitude, showing that they have the potential to play great rugby in the years to come.
๐๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ!
This past Saturday, 12 March, Union High Schoolโs 1st hockey team travelled to Gqeberha to participate in an ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ป ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ ๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น๐ weekend.
Our team was drawn with some tough opposition, coming up against Collegiate, Pearson and Brandwag, but this served to bring out the best in the girls, who went on to play very attractive hockey, setting them up for what promises to be an exciting season to come.
โข The ๐/๐ญ๐ฐ๐ participated in the u/14 EP trials held at DSG in Makhanda on Sunday, 13 March.
The girls played in an Invitational Festival Team, so they had to adjust as quickly as possible to new teammates.
Congratulations to Leigh-Ann Murray, Mecoli Vorster and Mischa Newton, who played exceptionally well throughout the day.