This year’s grade eights took up the challenge and joined athletics in huge numbers. 2009 saw the biggest grade eight group of athletes we’ve had in many years. As is tradition, our first athletics meeting – the Zone meeting, saw VP participating in big numbers, matching our rival schools – Pearson and DF Malherbe. This was the first high school competition for our grade eight pupils – a daunting task and challenge for some, while it was a “walk in the park” for others. Athletes have to be placed in the first three positions in each event to qualify for the PEHS Meeting. The following athletes qualified for the PE High Schools’ competition:

U/14 Girls:
Anuschka Assam (400m), Inge Fankhauser (800m), Takara Eriksson (LJ & 1500m)

U/14 Boys:
Tristan Eriksson (1500m), Daniel Vissagie (400m)

U/15 Boys:
Daryl Bailie (100m, LJ), Sinethemba Mdlungu (400m),

U/16 Girls:
Jenny Wren (HJ)

U/16 Boys:
Ethan Frost (100m)

U/17 Girls:
Louise Pretorius (200m, 400m, 800m)

U/17 Boys:
Christopher Jacobson (100m, 200m), Luxolo Dlova (800m)

U/19 Girls:
Susan Wells (100m, 200m, 400m)

U/19 Men:
Ayanda Foley (100m, 200m), Dini Noyo (200m, 400m) and Richard Rautenbach (400m)

The PE High Schools’ competition proved to be very tough, especially for our junior athletes. The best three athletes from each of the 9 zones in PE converge hoping to be placed in the best 4 positions, for the right to compete in the Metro High Schools’ Championships. There were two highlights of this competition – the 100m race for men U/19 and the U/19 men’s relay. Both races were won by VP, with Ayanda Foley winning the 100m in a fantastic time of 10.9s! This achievement was followed with an excellent 4 x 100m relay victory at the end of the day! VP took an early lead in the race through Richard Rautenbach who handed the baton over to Ayanda on the back – straight. Ayanda ensured that we extended our lead before handing over the baton to Dini Noyo who maintained our lead through the second bend. All that was left was for U/17 Christopher Jacobson to cruise to the finish line with very little effort!

The PE High Schools meet also saw Daniel Vissagie, Louise Pretorius and Susan Wells dominating their opponents in the 200m and 400m races. The following athletes qualified to compete at the Metro High Schools’ competition:

Daniel Vissagie (U/14 400m), Jenny Wren (U/16 HJ), Louise Pretorius (U/17 200m & 400m), Susan Wells (U/19 200m & 400m) Dini Noyo (U/19 400m) and Ayanda Foley (U/19 100m & 200m).

The Metro High School’s competition was held at NMMU Athletics Track. This is the premier schools’ athletics event as athletes qualify to compete at the Eastern Cape High School’s competition. Victoria Park was well represented at this meeting.
Daniel Vissagie was the only grade eight athlete who qualified for this meeting. Throughout the competitions, Daniel showed the greatest potential and was placed in a fantastic fourth position in his race. We hope that Daniel will grow from strength to strength, following in the footsteps of some of our best athletes developed at VP.

Another athlete competing in this competition for the first time was Dini Noyo. Dini found the competition to be very tough as he was competing against very experienced, provincial athletes who were, competing at that stage, for the 5th consecutive year. Nevertheless, he gave his 400m race everything he had and finished in 5th position.
Louise Pretorius qualified to compete in this competition for the 3rd consecutive year, but was unfortunately unable to compete due to an injury.

Susan Wells, our best girl athlete for the past four years, qualified easily to compete in the Metro High Schools’ champs. Susan had a tougher season than most as she found it a little hard to reach the heights of previous years. This year, she learnt what it means to struggle for form for an entire season. Knowing and having coached Susan for the past five years, I know that this experience will make her stronger and more determined to achieve her life – long dream.

Ayanda Foley was another VP stalwart who competed at this meeting. Last year, Ayanda shattered the competition as he finished the season unbeaten in the 100m and 200m events. He therefore had a lot to live up to as he settled into the starting blocks for the start of the 100m. This year, however, was somewhat different as “Ace” struggled with a niggling hamstring injury for most of the final part of the season. This led to him withdrawing from competing in the 200m. He once again reached the Metro schools unbeaten in his zone and at PE High Schools, but the title of U/19 Metro champion proved to be a bridge too far for Ace as he finished in 3rd position.

The end of Susan’s 400m race drew a curtain on an amazing High School Athletics career of two of the best athletes I have ever coached in the past 10 years – Susan Wells and Ayanda Foley! The day was very emotional as we sat on the side of the track at NMMU, reflecting on what has been and on what could have been. Very little was said as tears rolled from the eyes as we realized that we have reached the “end of the road” for these two fantastic LEGENDS!

Work done over the previous years has now begun to pay off and several of our paddlers have progressed from gingerly wobbling their way around the lake to racing successfully, not only on  flat water but at sea and down flowing rivers as well.

During the first term Michelle Nowers, Margaret Webb and Dylan Theron all raced very successfully in The Discovery Men’s Health Surfski Series handling some pretty rough conditions along the way and beating many of the older and more experienced paddlers.

At the East Cape South African surf lifesaving Championships both Dylan and Michelle achieved podium positions in the junior category.

We also held our first interhouse races and X house ably stroked by Dylan Theron won all of the events convincingly. Many of our paddlers also competed in the Tuesday night timetrials with our K4 achieving some impressive results.

The paddlers also had some pleasing successes in river racing and both Dylan Theron and Michelle Nowers completed races on the Little Fish, while Michelle became the first of our paddlers to complete a National multi day event when she and her partner performed very creditably on the Breede River Canoe Marathon. The culmination of the season was Dylan Theron’s fine individual performance in completing his first Fish River Marathon, a challenging two day race.

By the time this article appears in the Magazine we will be well into summer and if all goes as planned will have completed our paddling camp and the pupils will have been competing at sea again.

RICHARD RAUTENBACH

RICHARD has always been an underdog in athletics. He clearly has talent for athletics and showed great potential from his first day at training. Richy was a late developer as most of his competitors were far older than he was for his first two seasons and that proved to be a huge challenge for him, particularly as he was competing in the sprints events. Richard, however, never let this get him down, he enjoyed his athletics thoroughly! He was arguably the funniest athlete in our squad as he always had us in stitches, particularly when we were on tour.

In 2007, the other athletes finally stopped growing and Richard caught up with them, both in terms of growth and in terms of performance on the track as he finally started to be a serious contender. The switch from 100m and 200m sprint to the 400m sprint might also have contributed to his new – found success on the track. Although his performances improved a great deal, I always felt that he hadn’t come close enough to his true potential. Richard is also very realistic and honest about himself and his achievements, always the first to say if he has done his best or put in enough work on his athletics. Good luck to you Richard Rautenbach!

SUSAN NOLA WELLS

SUSAN showed glimpses of her potential when she represented VP for the first time in Moorreesburg, a little town just outside Cape Town in 2005. Suzie, as she is affectionately known, had only just made the touring team as she looked nothing like a 400m athlete or any kind of athlete for that matter! A shy, tall, junior with an awkward running style, Susan surprised us all when she returned home 3 medals from the Moorreesburg Top 10 – a silver in the 100m, 200m and a bronze medal in the 400m. Susan’s success in Cape Town was the beginning of a fairytale rise to “stardom” at VP and PE, success which would lead to her achieving her Eastern Province colours 3 years there-after.  Susan has been an inspiration to many at Victoria Park, myself included.

Her sheer determination, dedication, extremely high work ethic and her unrivaled hunger for success were some of her best traits!  She is a very confident person and is often mistaken for being arrogant. Over the years, she showed excellent leadership qualities as she became the longest serving athletics captain since being voted as captain when in grade 9 in 2006. Susan was also a very popular captain as she has a great sense of humour and always has an audience around her! Fluent in IsiXhosa and English, she made friends very easily and has therefore a huge pool of friends. I will miss Susan, so many of her team-mates. I hope that Susan will continue persuing a career in the sports field as her future looks very bright and I await with great anticipation to see what more she can achieve! Good luck to you Susan Nola Wells.

AYANDA ALPHA FOLEY

Although many people would not believe me, AYANDA is probably the shiest young man I have ever coached. Because of this, Ace had a very quiet first two years as an athlete at VP. Unlike most of my athletes, Ace becomes VERY relaxed before competing, something I never became used to. In retrospect, the young man showed a lot of “BMT” as he never panicked or stressed before any of his races. In his grade 9 year, Ace showed some potential, but lost a 200m race as he fell 10 metres before the finish line as he celebrated and teased his competitors who were about 5 steps behind him. It turned out that the joke was on him as he finished the race last because his competitors kept their cool and finished strongly.

That would be the last time Ace lost a race in that fashion and I’d like to believe that was partly because how strongly I reacted to his losing that race! Following that race, a new Ayanda was born and the new Ayanda took his athletics seriously at the end of his grade 10 year as he put a lot more hours at training. His long hours spent on the track and extra hours that he spent on his own in the gym led to instant success as he made the Eastern Province team 4 months later and completed the season unbeaten in the 200m and the 100m! As shy as Ace is, he is very popular with his peers, particularly those of the opposite gender. He has a great sense of humour and has a lot of potential. With a little more work, a bit more focus, I predict we will be watching him “strutting his stuff” on TV soon.

Good luck Ayanda Foley!
It has been an absolute please coaching all these athletes. I wish them everything of the best for their studies and long sporting careers.

Mr Thobela Thoba

2008 was the first year of all junior teams (grades 8 and 9 players) for the girls’ tennis. Last year we received cups for both boys’ and girls’ teams. This year the players challenged to enter a league and the results for the girls were unfortunately disappointing, especially after last year’s triumphs. Three girls’ teams in total were entered and three boys’ teams in summer and two in winter.

Next year the girls should be a lot stronger, physically and mentally, because of greater experience. It is important to note that the girls, especially, are all-rounders  and we accommodate them while they play other sports. As a result of this only one girls’ team was entered in winter.

The third term is given to championships. Congratulations to Justin van der Weide (he played against Josh Barry) and Hayley Jones (she played Curstie Gimingham) who won their championships in closely contested matches.

The boys faired fairly well, by winning at least nine of their fourteen matches. We were particularly pleased with our win against Alexander Road High.

We lose quite a few matrics this year, which leaves about six committed male players. We would like to bid farewell to Justin van der Weide, Travis van der Riet, Dale McCarthy, Luke Harvey, Sandise Magida and Jonathan van der Walt. All these boys have been with me for a number of years and most of them have been very faithful to tennis.

Thank you to Mr Barry and Mr Dickason, who has left us, for helping to drive our teams when we could not be in two or three places at once! It is also worth remembering that it is quite demanding to perform as an individual, as is the case in tennis, yet one is still part of a team. We are also planning to tour in 2010.

Mrs W. van der Merwe and Mrs J. Webb