Uplands Pupils Excel on the 2008 Sport Front
A number of our pupils represented their province this past holiday. Timothy Whitfield toured the UK with the Mpumalanga U14 cricket XI. They played 6 matches, won 2 and lost 4. They played mainly against U15 teams and it was an incredible experience. He contributed with bat and ball scoring 64 not out, 34 and 41 in some of the games he played.

Kevin Addison represented the Mpumalanga U18A Hockey team at the SA Inter-provincial hockey tournament hosted by Maritzburg College in KZN. The team as a whole did fantastically well. They played 7 matches and won 5. They caused the biggest upset of the tournament by beating Eastern Gauteng 2-0. Kevin has had a successful tournament and was happy with his level of performance. Jenaed Brodell, in Grade 9, was selected for the Mpumalanga Ladies team which participated in the SACD Tournament hosted by Uplands College this holiday. They played 7 matches and won 3. Jenaed was one of the top goal scorers for Mpumalanga and had a lot of fun being the ‘baby in the team’. Lauren McCreedy played for the North West province in the same tournament and her team came third overall.

Keith Trytsman played for the Pumas U19A rugby team in an U19 Tournament hosted by the North West University in Potchefstroom. The Pumas beat the defending champions, the Blue Bulls on the first day and Keith’s claim to fame is that he scored the winning try four minutes before the end of the game. Unfortunately, they lost to the Griffons in their second game, but managed to beat another so-called ‘big’ union, the Lions, by 22-14. Mr. George van Rensburg, Deputy Head of Uplands was the proud coach of the U19A’s. Thabo Khoza played for the Pumas U18 Academy XV. Their tournament was in George. They also lost to the Griffons in their opening match, but ‘clawed’ their way back to beat the SWD Eagles and the Valke. Thabo scored 2 tries in the tournament.

Joshua Snyman and Danielle Balcou represented Mpumalanga at the Inter-provincial tournaments where Joshua won 7 out of 9 matches. Joshua was also selected for the SACD U19 team to play in a tournament in Stellenbosch. He too, gained invaluable experience considering that he is only U17.

Four of our U14 Hockey boys, Mathew Schofield, Declan Sidey, Nyiko Silinda and Tomas Erskog, and one U14 girl, Lauren Smith, represented Ehlanzeni at the inaugural U14 Festival in Volksrust. The boys played 5 games, drew 4 and lost 1. Lauren’s team had a very successful week. They came second overall, won 5 games and only lost 1 game. They were sheepishly embarrassed to tell me whether they enjoyed Volksrust or not…….

A number of our Show jumpers took part in both team and individual Equitation and Showjumping at the Mpumalanga Regional event. Competition at various levels was against some of the top riders in Mpumalanga, Gauteng and Swaziland. Herewith, some of the results: