The Ridge School Magazine 2020

SPORT
SPORT
2020 started like any other year; great excitement and
high expectations for the year that lay ahead.
Everything started off as expected with normal swimming, water polo
and cricket trials taking up the first few days of school in order to select
teams for the first swimming galas, water polo and; cricket fixtures.
Everything was on track, barring the standard weather issues during
mid-week afternoons, causing havoc with Wednesday cricket fixtures
and Thursday U9 cricket and water polo fixtures. The galas were almost
never impacted on.
Our water polo teams performed well in their opening fixtures and our
teams holding their own against some seriously stiff competition. Our
U12 side enjoyed an extremely fruitful tour to Knysna where Oakhill
hosted the Knysna Chukka Festival. They produced some impressive
results setting the bar high for the rest of the season. Our 1 st side
competed well during the KEPS Festival, which was disrupted by a
suspected Covid case. This was to be the last polo fixture for the rest of
the year,. This was very disappointing as we had quite high expectations
to reach the semi-finals at SACS this year.
Our swimming teams also performed well, constantly achieving
impressive placings in all three leagues we participated in. Considering
we are one of a handful of schools able to enter 3 swimming teams,
this shows the depth of our swimmers. A real pity was that we were
not able to compete in the inter-schools’ gala which was called off due
to the arrival of Covid-19. This was quite disappointing considering our
performances of the past few years in this event.
Our cricket sides also had a good start to the season and as a school
we maintained a 60%-win ratio in all fixtures we played. We were able
to host our annual inbound (2 nd – 5 th XI) and outbound (10B and; C,
11B and; C) Clifton tour. Always a tightly contested tour, this year The
Ridge came out tops. Our first cricket side also had a good Prep Schools
Cricket Festival hosted by Cordwalles at Hilton. The most impressive
result was a 10-wicket victory over one of the Natal sides we generally
have very tense matches against.
During this time our senior boys were doing rugby trials on Sundays
in order to select the rugby squad to participate in the St John’s Easter
Rugby Festival. Many boys couldn’t wait to attend the rugby camp
planned at Camp Konka for the second year running. The excitement
was incredible and then Covid hit us in and we were placed under level
5 lockdown. This was to be the last rugby for a very promising side. No
Easter Festival and no Prep Schools Festival to Cape Town, which was
to be hosted by Bishops. This also impacted on our football and hockey
seasons with all our fixtures and planned tours to Nelspruit and Durban
being cancelled. Covid also ruled out any tennis fixtures and; cross
country events for the rest of the year.
What did happen was a change in delivering lessons from our PE
department. Suddenly a Google Meets session was the new norm
with fitness challenges, yoga sessions and various sporting codes skills
development sessions. The PE coaches went out of their way posting
video clips of themselves demonstrating sessions for the boys to follow
and to complete at home. Inter schools’ challenges also became part of
the norm with The Ridge competing in a shuttle challenge and general
knowledge quiz challenges. This was a very different and challenging
time for both coaching staff and boys; however, we made the best of
something that nobody ever expected.
Coming back to school was still challenging as we were not able to
fully participate in sport, do any team training or play any fixtures.
This continued until October when we started playing internal cricket
fixtures and water polo, swimming and basketball training. Cricket
especially utilised this opportunity to iron out possible sides for 2021.
If 2020 is anything to go by due to the unpredictable nature of the
Covid-19 virus, 2021 could be even tougher to predict. Yet we have
based our planning on the hope that things will get back to the “old”
normal; however, planning with a flexibility to adapt as and when
required.
From all the coaching staff at The Ridge.
BENNIE DU PREEZ
Head of Sports
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