Marist Spirit Exemplified on the Sports Field

Term 1 arrived with much excitement from our boys as on-campus learning was back in full swing. With this came the beginning of in-person sports practices across all grades, which the boys participated in whole- heartedly. The second term brought even more excitement as schools were allowed to compete in contact sports once again, and our young sportsmen could test their prowess in fixtures against other schools. Unfortunately, regulations prohibiting spectators meant that the boys’ joy of playing sport again could not be observed from the field-side by parents and friends, but nevertheless the Marist spirit remained intact and the St David’s gents gave it their all for the few weeks that the season ran, even amidst rescheduling of fixtures at late notice due to the resurfacing of Covid-19 at other schools, and some disruptively unseasonal weather.

The College enjoyed the opportunity to once again play hockey and rugby as restrictions on contact sport were lifted. Although the first Saturday fixture of the season came with an unseasonal thunderstorm that saw matches either abandoned or delayed by up to two hours, this did not deter our boys. They maintained positive spirits and 24 of our hockey and rugby teams played against Jeppe on the 15^th of May. The excitement across all teams was evident, and the matches were played with great enthusiasm. While there were a couple of one-sided results, most of the matches were keenly contested and thoroughly enjoyed by all.

In addition to Jeppe, the Hockey club participated against St John’s, St Stithians and Northcliff, as well as at the Festival of the Saints, for a total of 44 matches across the club. The Rugby section played a total of 34 matches against St Stithians, St Alban’s, Jeppe, Rand Park, Heronbridge and King Edward VII School.

The winter tennis league had just gotten underway before it was unfortunately cut-off, and the 1^st team were only able to play one match against St Stithians. Despite the lack of inter-school fixtures, Luke Oosthuizen in Grade 10 was recently selected for the Gauteng Central u19B tennis team.

The Cross Country club participated in five of the qualifying league events before the restrictions on inter-school sport put a stop to the league shortly before the season’s conclusion. A number of our runners were well on their way to qualifying for the league finals and it is hoped that those finals will take place later this year.

Rock Climbing has grown in popularity at St David’s in recent years, and a group of dedicated climbers and coaches train every week at the St David’s climbing facility. Two of our climbers in Grade 8, Benjamin Smith and Guilio Cianfanelli, did very well at the in the U15 age group at provincial championships held at City Rock over the weekend of the 14^th to 15^th of May. To make it to this level of competition is amazing and both athletes are to be commended on how they competed, but also on how they supported not only each other, but their fellow athletes in the competition. Both young men are U14, but in climbing, both U14 and U15 athletes compete in the same category. Benjamin Smith competed in the Bouldering Championship and Giulio Cianfanelli competed across all three disciplines, namely Speed, Bouldering and Lead Championships. Giulio Cianfanelli excelled in the competition achieving a 4th overall position. Congratulations to both young gentlemen and we look forward to seeing them continue to achieve in future Rock Climbing events.

The Canoeing club has been very active in the last few months and many of the results have been included in previous articles on the website. Recently, an article published in the Sandton Chronicle made mention of Matthew Maccelari’s selection for the South African Junior team going to compete in the World Sprint Championships in Portugal in September.

We are extremely proud of these sporting achievements across the College, but we would like to commend every one of our boys that participated in sport practices and inter-school fixtures in extremely unprecedented circumstances, and continued to persevere in the face of adversity for the love of the game.