In a competitive tournament held in East London in the run-up to the World Cup, Victoria Park High School from Port Elizabeth once again reinforced their claim to being a top soccer school. With entries in three age groups, the teams came up against schools from the Western Cape, KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng, as well as local opposition.

The Under 14 team dropped only one point in the round robin stage, which left them top of the group and facing a strong team from Westville Boys’ High in the final. In the pouring rain, VP secured a 2 – 1 victory to win the trophy. Reece Brower was the top goal scorer of the tournament, while VP captain Achuma Mtati was voted Under 14 Player of the Tournament.

In the Under 16 division, VP swept all before them in the round robin stage and topped their group unbeaten. They then faced Selborne College, whom they had beaten earlier, in the final. This time Selborne exacted revenge and VP went down narrowly 0 – 1.

Victoria Park’s First team were dominant in their section. They were unbeaten at the end of the round robin stage, and with 5 wins they topped the group. In an exciting final they romped home against St David’s from Johannesburg  4 – 0, thus successfully defending the title they won last year.

Ex-Bafana player Brendan Augustine was on hand to choose a Team of the Tournament.  The ten VP players who made this team were: Sima Myathaza , Sonwabo Belewa ,Yongama Dilima,, Loyiso Zitho, Unathi Tyala, Freedom Funani, Sinoxolo Booi, Sibulele Rwexana, Mandilakhe Zaze and Siseko Xatase. In addition, Unathi Tyala received the award for the top goal scorer and he was also chosen as Player of the Tournament.

Coach Mr Ralton Leander said he was very satisfied with the standard of soccer played by his team.                             They will test their skills against more tough opposition in August when they travel to Bloemfontein to take part in the Grey College / FNB Schools Soccer Tournament.

Results

Under 14

VP       5          Greenfields       0

VP       1          Cambridge       1

VP       15        Buffalo City      0

VP       2          Westville Boys’ High                0

VP       2          Westville Boys’ High                1          (Final)

Under 16

VP       6          Gonubie High               0

VP       4          Greenfields                   0

VP       2          Selborne College          1

VP       5          Knight’s College           2

VP       4          Birmingham United       0

VP       0          Selborne College          1          (Final)

First Team

VP       11        Bridge House               2

VP       1          St David’s                    0

VP       2          Kimberley Boys’ High   0

VP       4          Glenvista High  0

VP       3          Kearsney College         1

VP       4          St David’s                    0          (Final)

Damian’s Full Achievements: 2004:

• EP U/12 HOCKEY TEAM

2005:

• EP U/13

2006:

• EP U/14
• EP U/16
• SA U/16

2007:

• EP U/16
• SA U/16

2009:

• EP U/18

2010:

• CAPTAIN – EP U/18
• SA U/18
• EP U/21

Much like Damian, Winchester Scott started playing hockey for Shouder Park Mini Hockey in Gelvandale. He was selected to represent EP for the first time in 2003 and has been selected for EP junior teams since then.  In 2009, he came close to being selected for the SA U/16 team as he was part of the SA reserve team, but this year was a different story. After scoring four goals at this year’s IPT held in Pietermaritzburg, “Chester” – as he is fondly known at school – was included in the SA U/16 Hockey team, much to his delight and that of his family and school. These two youngsters have shown that hard and dedication does pay off as they have been playing hockey from the tender age of 8. Now, representing VP’s first team, they are central to our team’s success. They showed their quality when each of them scored two goals in the 5 – 0 drubbing of Alexander Road High School, giving VP their first victory over Alex in 3 years! Victoria Park High School wishes Damian and Chester all the best for their future and we look forward to watching them represent South Africa at the Olympic Games one day.

The VP girls struggled early on and took a while to adapt to the conditions, but eventually they managed to feed the ball to Haylee Jones to pop it in the corner to open up the goal scoring for V.P.

The girls had to stick to basic hockey and short passes, as the ball didn’t travel far on the fields. The ball was distributed nicely amongst our girls and we kept possession of the ball. Buyolo Twetwa made some excellent runs and took a great hit from the top of the “D” to make it 2-0 going into half time.

In the second half the girls started to switch the ball more and Zipho Mafu made some good runs down the line feeding the ball to the forwards. The girls made better passes and ran off the ball well leading to 2 more goals being scored by Michelle Drake. The end score was 4-0. Our player of the match was Zipho Mafu.

Other scores on the hockey field:

U/16A             6-0

U/16B             6-0

2^nd 5-0

1^st BOYS’ HOCKEY:

VP drew first blood about 10 minutes into the game. This was short lived however as DF came back hard at VP and managed to get one back with a deflection which lofted over the VP keeper’s head in to the goals. VP came back with another goal which sailed into the top right corner to take the lead once again. It wasn’t much longer and then the third goal went in for VP to give them a comfortable lead into the half time break.

During the second half, VP provided all the action and controlled all the possession. One attack after the other VP threatened the DF circle only to miss narrowly on numerous attempts. This provided plenty of entertainment for the VP crowd who were there in numbers. Despite attempts to increase the score, the final whistle blew and VP won 3 – 1.

The best of PE took on the best of Graham’s Town this past Wednesday in a game that promised only the best of both teams…

Going back to the previous 2 years of this fixture, VP were seen as the under dogs with a point to prove as Kingswood had won both previous encounters 2-1 and 1-0. VP, with perhaps a side that, on paper wasn’t as strong as previous years, went into the game hungry and with nothing to lose but everything to gain…

The game started off very slowly with many stoppages. Kingswood controlled most of the possession and did most of the attacking and managed 3 short corners in quick succession towards the latter part of the first half, VP defended well and we went into half time tied at 0-0.

Both coaches realising the need to capitalise and score a goal provided both teams with stern words of advice and encouragement.

VP obviously took the advice to heart and realised the need and desire to beat Kingswood at home. An early second half substitution brought damian Kimfley on to the field and with him, a sense of belief. VP began to string some passes together and dominate Kingswood, cutting them down at every opportunity and applying reverse counter- attack hockey.

This paid off when the ball was passed across the Kinswood D and Brian Upman was presented with a par post “tap-in”. Moments later and just before the final whistle, Damian Kimfley scored VP’s second with a quick fire back-stick strike to beat the keeper.

3 years it took to accomplish this, final score 2–0 to VP. A true reflection of what hard work and VP character can accomplish!!!

On Thursday afternoon Harvest 1^st team came to play Victoria Park high school. The girl’s took some time to get their head in the game, with the first half very disjointed. The girl’s had moments of individual brilliance, but were not able to put together constructive passes. The girl’s found themselves playing down the same channels and not getting back quick enough when Harvest counter-attacked.

The girl’s managed to step up the pace after the half-time talk; they played more of a passing game and pushed up more in attack. They were putting together better passes and about 15 minutes into the second half, Haylee Jones scored a phenomenal goal on the left post from a ball crossed into the circle.

Despite not playing to their full potential, the girls claimed a good win and we look forward to our next game.

Our second team played Linkside first team and claimed a very good win. Goals were scored by Kayla-Rae Bradfield and Robyn Larkin. Unfortunately our u14 C girls went down to Linkside, 0-2.