The Eastern Cape team dropped one position from fourth in 2015 to fifth in the provincial overall performance in this year’s edition of the SA Schools Sport Championships that ended in Pretoria yesterday
This was revealed at the annual event’s closing ceremony held at the University of Pretoria’s Indoor Sport Centre in the High Performance Centre situated in Hatfield in the country’s capital.
The glittering closing ceremony was MCeed by drama king Somizi “Somgaga” Mhlongo and Akhumzi Jezile amid much fanfare from the young athletes who descended on Pretoria from all over the country and were entertained with the sounds of the likes of Dr Malinga.
Gauteng, as expected, were declared the leading province in terms of the accolades they collected during the competition held in their own backyard.
In second place for silver was KwaZulu-Natal who surprised many while highly regarded Western Cape walked away with the bronze at third place.
At position four was Free State while Mpumalanga came in at position six, Limpopo at seventh place while North West finished at number eight and Northern Cape as always were last on the list at the basement of the table.
Addressing the thousands of athletes, national department of sport and recreation director-general Alec Moemi revealed that the competition will as of next year be divided into three events.
It will be played in different times of the year as it had become difficult to manage an event of a magnitude of more than 6000 athletes at once.
The Schools Sport Champs will now be played during Easter school holidays – athletics and swimming – with winter codes set to have their turn during the mid-year school vacation while summer games will take place during December.
According to Moemi, this change will offer “more opportunities for schools to play more codes as we envisage the number of participating athletes to jump up to 25000 overall in the three events.”
At this current format of one event for all codes, only more than 6700 athletes participate.
With the change, it remains to be seen how this will be accepted by the department of education which is the partner of the event mainly run by Sasa.
More interesting will be the reaction of the demanding teachers’ union Sadtu given that this will mean less vacation for their members involved in school sport.
Moemi praised the event of having grown beyond expectation.
“Since its inception four years ago, the South African Schools Sport Championships have grown in leaps and bounds,” said Moemi.
“A championships event of this nature is by far the largest that we have undertook with success as a country.
“ This success has prepared us well for the future three-tier champions.”
Moemi explained why Pretoria has hosted three of thee four editions of the event.
“Because of facilities, Gauteng is currently the only province with the capacity to host an event of this magnitude.”
Deputy Minister of Sports and Recreation Gert Oosthuizen weighed in:
“Development is the bedrock of sport development and that of transformation in sport.”
Oosthuizen encouraged all athletes who attended to share their experience and knowledge with fellow pupils in their respective provinces.
The all-conquering Eastern Cape girls soccer team were unfortunately not on hand to receive their Milo sponsored prize-money of R20 000.
Ludondolo Junior Secondary School clinched the gold after a 7-1 drubbing of the Western Cape in the final.
Bitter-sweet ending for Province hopefuls
This was revealed at the annual event’s closing ceremony held at the University of Pretoria’s Indoor Sport Centre in the High Performance Centre situated in Hatfield in the country’s capital.
The glittering closing ceremony was MCeed by drama king Somizi “Somgaga” Mhlongo and Akhumzi Jezile amid much fanfare from the young athletes who descended on Pretoria from all over the country and were entertained with the sounds of the likes of Dr Malinga.
Gauteng, as expected, were declared the leading province in terms of the accolades they collected during the competition held in their own backyard.
In second place for silver was KwaZulu-Natal who surprised many while highly regarded Western Cape walked away with the bronze at third place.
At position four was Free State while Mpumalanga came in at position six, Limpopo at seventh place while North West finished at number eight and Northern Cape as always were last on the list at the basement of the table.
Addressing the thousands of athletes, national department of sport and recreation director-general Alec Moemi revealed that the competition will as of next year be divided into three events.
It will be played in different times of the year as it had become difficult to manage an event of a magnitude of more than 6000 athletes at once.
The Schools Sport Champs will now be played during Easter school holidays – athletics and swimming – with winter codes set to have their turn during the mid-year school vacation while summer games will take place during December.
According to Moemi, this change will offer “more opportunities for schools to play more codes as we envisage the number of participating athletes to jump up to 25000 overall in the three events.”
At this current format of one event for all codes, only more than 6700 athletes participate.
With the change, it remains to be seen how this will be accepted by the department of education which is the partner of the event mainly run by Sasa.
More interesting will be the reaction of the demanding teachers’ union Sadtu given that this will mean less vacation for their members involved in school sport.
Moemi praised the event of having grown beyond expectation.
“Since its inception four years ago, the South African Schools Sport Championships have grown in leaps and bounds,” said Moemi.
“A championships event of this nature is by far the largest that we have undertook with success as a country.
“ This success has prepared us well for the future three-tier champions.”
Moemi explained why Pretoria has hosted three of thee four editions of the event.
“Because of facilities, Gauteng is currently the only province with the capacity to host an event of this magnitude.”
Deputy Minister of Sports and Recreation Gert Oosthuizen weighed in:
“Development is the bedrock of sport development and that of transformation in sport.”
Oosthuizen encouraged all athletes who attended to share their experience and knowledge with fellow pupils in their respective provinces.
The all-conquering Eastern Cape girls soccer team were unfortunately not on hand to receive their Milo sponsored prize-money of R20 000.
Ludondolo Junior Secondary School clinched the gold after a 7-1 drubbing of the Western Cape in the final.
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