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On Sunday 8 September,
our U/11A and U/12A soccer/
cricket teams left Cape Town
for a week tour to the Eastern
Cape. The tour promised to be
an exciting one, as our teams had
very positive result records over
the last few seasons in both age
groups and codes.
9 SEPT: We started our tour with an exciting
game of putt-putt, which was a great ice-breaker
for the group. Individual scores that stood out
were Darian Naidoo and Anthony Pazda who
both shot 33. From putt-putt were went for a
tour of the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium where
the boys were taken to the different parts of the
stadium and were filled in with the stadium design.
Next were our first round of matches on tour,
and we got going in style with a big U/11 soccer
win of 10-0 against Theodor Herzl School (Player
of the Day was JustinWatling). This followed an
U/12 cricket match against Theodor Herzl that
had to be played at the Indoor Cricket Arena in
Port Elizabeth as over-night rain had spoilt pitch
preparations. Parklands restricted Theodor for
133 runs, and scored 241 runs to give us a victory
by 108 runs (Player of the Day was TaneWahl).
This got us off to a dream start on tour and
settled the nerves.
10 SEPT: We started the day with
an hour drive to the Seaview Lion
Park, where our boys were taken
on a two and a half hour tour of
the Lion Park. This was a great
experience, as we got to see
giraffe, meerkats, a puma, tigers
and lion cubs, as well as fully grown
tigers and lions. Our encounters
with these animals were incredible,
and our boys enjoyed every minute of the
experience.
We then headed off to Theodor Herzl for our
second round of
matches. Our
U/12 soccer team
kicked off proceedings
this time, and in a very
close match, we managed
to get a 1-0 win (Player of the Day was
Damian Ewbank). Our U/11 cricketers took to
the field, batting first and posting a massive 166
runs in 20 overs. This proved to be too much
of a climb for the Theodor Herzl batters, as they
ended their innings on 33 all out. This gave us a
win by 133 runs, making it 4 wins out of 4 (Player
of the Day went to Darian Naidoo for his 65 not
out).
Our boys were taken to the movies in the
evening, and watched the animation,‘Turbo’. This
was in 3D and was a first time experience for
some.
11 SEPT: The boys slept in a little
later due to a late bedtime the
night before. Our next stop was
St George’s Park Cricket Stadium,
for an hour tour. This is a cricket
stadium with much history and
our stadium tour guide told us
many interesting stories behind
the stadium. We were taken to the
changing rooms, to the media box, to the
nets and onto the actual stadium ground.
Our third round of matches started with
the U/11 soccer team taking on St Georges
Preparatory School. Once again, our U/11 team
were too strong for the opposition and won
their match 6-0, giving them 16 goals scored in
two games. (Player of the Day went to Luka
September for scoring a hat trick, his second
hat trick on tour). Our U/12 cricket boys had
a tough match against Lorraine Primary School,
who could only field an U/13 team. The team
were up for the challenge, but were unable to pull
off the win. We batted first scoring 67 all out and
Lorraine Primary scored the winning runs in the
19
th
over. In spite of taking no wickets, our Player
of the Day, Moonchang Liang, bowled a great spell
of 5 overs into a very strong wind, and only went
for 15 runs.
Our third day ended with an evening visit to
the Spur for supper, where the travelling parents
joined us.
12 SEPT: Our second last day
of tour was to be our biggest
sporting challenge. We took
on St Andrews, and this was
not easy with some tired boys
who had had non-stop action
for the last four days. Our trip
to Grahamstown took us two
hours, and some of the boys took
the opportunity to take a nap. Our
U/12 soccer team played their match on an
astro turf, which was a new experience for some
of the boys. In a close game that was heading
for a draw, our boys were able to score in the
last few minutes of the game, giving us a great
win. (Player of the Day was Nicolas Papas). The
next game was our U/11 cricket team against St
Andrews, and this was always going to be a tough
one to end our tour off. We bowled first, and
restricted St Andrews to 102 runs in 20 overs
and then came out very determined with the bat.
We were able to knock off the runs in the 17
th
over, winning the game by 8 wickets. This was a
fantastic result for us, and it ended our tour with
7 out of 8 victories. Well done to the boys on an
excellent achievement!
13 SEPT: We were up early, had to load our
baggage on to the bus, eat our breakfast
on the bus and be off to the airport
for a 9am flight.
Our tour was a great success, and
this is due to 29 boys who were
very focused throughout the
duration of the week. They had
learnt how to switch ‘on and off’
at the right times, and showed great
maturity in the way they went about
the sporting week. From Ms Hindle, Mr
Johnson and Mr Knott, we would like to say well
done and keep up the hard work!
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