Latest news with #GreyHigh
IOL News
04-07-2025
- Sport
- IOL News
Springbok legends unleashed: inspiring youth through rugby's greatest tales
The short series of Springbok related-books. Image: Supplied A short series of books has been published aimed at the youth and are well worth a read. The six books feature current Springbok greats in Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Faf de Klerk, Cheslin Kolbe, Handre Pollard and Eben Etzebeth. The stories are told in simple language to make them easy to read for youngsters and are packed with inspirational anecdotes that youngsters can embrace and adopt in their own lives, even if they are not rugby players. In a short paperback of 90 pages, you can read about how a young Kolisi had to endure rats crawling over him at night as he slept on cushions in a shack in the Zwide township, near Gqeberha. Many nights, he went to bed with an empty stomach. Kolisi earned a rugby bursary to Grey High in Gqeberha and was terrified because he could not speak English, but he overcame the challenge. The books talk a lot about why Bok coach Rassie Erasmus means so much to the players. It is because while he is a good coach, he is an even better human being. Erasmus told the Boks, 'Work hard in silence and let success be your noise.' And 'How dare you even think of not giving your best when fans pay a lot of money to watch you play?' Erasmus says, 'Rassie chooses the right players, not necessarily the best players.' These books capture the excitement of winning World Cups and the weirdness of the series against the British and Irish Lions during the Covid pandemic. The players sang the national anthem in front of TV cameras and zero spectators, with their voices echoing around the empty stands. Etzebeth, the most capped Springbok of all time, grew up with posters of Bob Skinstad and Jonah Lomu plastered on his bedroom walls. He played wing at primary school. A driven kid, he had a list of goals pinned to his bedroom door. One of them was to play for the Springboks. He trained the hardest among his friends and was never tempted into errant behaviour like smoking or drinking. In Etzebeth's final year at primary school, he was victor ludorum at the sports day, excelling in sprints and high jump. Almost unbelievably, he was small when he went to high school and couldn't make the A team. He decided to go to the gym and ate eggs and tuna to get protein. By the time he got to matric, he was a 120 kg monster and had long before moved to lock from the backline. Academically, he also excelled, matriculating with a B aggregate. Olympic gold medalist Wade van Niekerk and Kolbe are cousins and often raced each other as boys. They played in the same rugby team, with Cheslin at scrumhalf and his cousin at flyhalf. Wade stopped playing rugby to concentrate on athletics. The two would grow up to represent South Africa at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Cheslin was with the Blitzboks, who earned a bronze medal, while Wade landed the gold. Du Toit talks about how he was inspired to be a Springbok because his grandfather, "Piet 'Spiere' du Toit played for the Boks in the 1960s as an immensely powerful prop. Pieter-Steph found his grandfather's old boots and walked around the family farm in the Western Cape in them until they fell apart. 'My father said that instead of putting them on the mantelpiece, we should put the boots to use," Du Toit says. "I can say I walked in my grandfather's footsteps. I grew up with a sense of destiny. I believed I would one day play for the Springboks.' Pollard's first introduction to rugby came when he was still in the crib, while his family was watching the 1995 World Cup final. 'My mom told me that when South Africa won, I started crying because everyone was making such a big noise.'
Daily Maverick
17-06-2025
- General
- Daily Maverick
André van Staden: Celebrating four decades of transformative leadership in education
From Gqeberha's classrooms to the rich tradition of Paul Roos Gymnasium in Stellenbosch, André van Staden leaves a powerful legacy as a passionate educator. The former Pearson principal and Grey High teacher reflects on guiding children toward their best futures. In the 1980s, as a young novice teacher André van Staden taught Afrikaans at prestigious Grey High School in Gqeberha, then Port Elizabeth. This would hone his insight into the minds of his pupils, a sensitivity that no doubt propelled his four-decade career. From an Afrikaans home himself, Van Staden describes tutoring language as a privilege: 'When you teach a language, you know the soul of the kids you are teaching. Marking their essays and listening to their orals, you've really got the privilege to know their inner thoughts.' For this interview, Van Staden is speaking inside his wood-panelled rector's office at Paul Roos Gymnasium in Stellenbosch — a space he will relinquish to his successor, Jannie de Villiers, at the close of the second term on 27 June 2025. Asked to point out an item of special significance in this space, Van Staden does not hesitate: a photograph taken at the school's 150-year anniversary in 2016, a year before he commenced his tenure. 'Look here,' he says, index finger hovering as he names the faces: 'Dr Edwin Hertzog (former Mediclinic chairperson); Wim de Villiers (former Stellenbosch University vice-chancellor); Portchie (the artist); Etienne van Heerden (award-winning author); Koos Kombuis (poet and novelist); Jan Braai (recipe author); Waldimar Pelser (former editor and MultiChoice channel director); Tshotsho Mbovane (rugby player and coach); Hendrik Odendaal (freestyle relay medallist); Johann Rupert (chairperson of Richemont and Remgro) …' He adds: 'So you see, there is no mould to the successes of Paul Roos kids.' Balance During the course of our conversation his reflections often pivot around 'balance' — between academic, sporting and cultural achievements — while also bearing on pupils whose talents fall beyond conventional metrics. Once a week at assembly he acknowledges and credits accordingly, he says, finding time to congratulate participants beyond the top teams. Opening a lever-arch file, Van Staden turns through printed notes and photos. 'Now you know my secret,' he says, conspiringly. 'I write out my assemblies. Because you must remember, in a busy school of nearly 1,300 boys you've got only once a week to talk to them and it's important to give recognition across all spheres, even if it's a smaller achievement — that child wants some recognition.' These notes are projected as slides during assembly, he says, pausing to indicate recorded rugby results for both the Under-19 A and G teams. 'And of course we can't always show all the results, but then we make sure to include a photo of a lower team. 'And soon, the kids feel that they represent the school, it doesn't matter whether they are in the A or G team. Not all people are super talented at everything. But that kid can go home and say: 'Well, today when they showed the rugby results in assembly, our team photo was up there!' Sometimes teachers miss that, that kids say these types of things at the dinner table to their parents.' Of course, Paul Roos has a formidable rugby reputation, again cemented when they triumphed 36-3 over Grey College from Bloemfontein at the highly anticipated annual interschools clash in August last year. 'That was special,' says Van Staden. 'Definitely our best performance ever against them.' Van Staden is popular in rugby circles, with blog describing him as a 'Winelands powerhouse' and a 'likeable leader'. Leaning towards balance, Van Staden details other sporting highs: 'Many people don't know that most years we have the best tennis team in the country. This year, in golf the SA High Schools Championship is still coming up, but we definitely stand a good chance of being number one. Also, what people don't always see is that we were number two in hockey last year.' Musically, we are exploding. Discussing the school's choir consisting of 120 pupils, his face lights up: 'That's nearly 10% of our school, I mean when they walk onto the stage the stream of maroon blazers is just never-ending.' He adds that Paul Roos has built up an orchestra of 50 boys, 'so musically, we are exploding.' Furthermore he points out the school's strong academics, with a 99.6 % pass rate in the 2024 matric exams (230 out of 231 candidates passed). Van Staden's versatility was exemplified at Pearson High School, also in Gqeberha, where he served as principal from 2004 until 2017 (and as deputy head since 1995). Infrastructure additions under his leadership included a heated Olympic-sized water-polo pool, floodlit AstroTurf, the Eve Alexander Music Auditorium, new academic wings, a science laboratory, a gym and a sports pavilion. 'It was a small school at the end of the city,' he says. 'And we really changed it to the school of choice in Port Elizabeth. Actually it was a major success story, we used to have a numbers problem and worked extremely hard, and today Pearson is flourishing.' Leaving Pearson to take up at Paul Roos in 2017 was hard: 'I was at Pearson for 22 years, so then it's difficult to leave. And there was a temptation to stay there until I retired. The school becomes your baby.' He truly cares about people and makes people feel special and supported. English and History teacher Jayd Georgiades' voice grows tearful while recalling Van Staden appointing her at Pearson in 2015: 'He truly cares about people and makes people feel special and supported,' she says. Georgiades first met Van Staden a year earlier when she was a student netball coach at Diocesan School for Girls, Makhanda. After a series of netball matches at Pearson, she was struck by the neatly attired man cleaning up: 'I was walking around the campus trying to find the bibs and the balls to put on the bus so we could go back to (what was then called) Grahamstown. And this gentleman came up and started helping me, very professional looking in a blazer and tie. I didn't know it at the time, but it was Mr Van Staden. And as the principal, he would stay long after everyone had gone, making sure there was no litter, that the tables and chairs were packed away. And he helped me pack up, as a member of the opposing team.' In his office at Paul Roos, Van Staden is seated on the visitor's side of his large mahogany-hued desk. 'Saturday is a very important working day for me,' he says. 'I love spending time watching all the teams, including the lower teams, achieve. I really get energy from that.' He adds that Paul Roos has 140 staff including 75 full time teachers, with plenty of tasks including the coaching of certain sports, facilities maintenance, and more, outsourced: 'A school is a special place but I always say this, you have to drive it because it's a big business, too. I mean we are a school of over a R100-million budget per year.' Commenting on teaching values to youngsters in light of recent events such as Stellenbosch University residence Wilgenhof's closure late last year, he says: 'I think you have to carefully guide boys on what's acceptable. And that's a process and you really have to sell to them: with what's not acceptable you have to draw the line and say, no, that can't happen. I always say to the boys: we must not lose what's precious to us because of the mistakes that we make.' Van Staden is married to Adia, who retired from teaching at Paul Roos last year. Their sons are Quintin, a medical doctor specialising in haematology in Bloemfontein, and Kurt, an actuary, who lives in Stellenbosch. Currently the couple live on the school's premises at the foot of Stellenbosch Mountain. Van Staden says they will remain in the Boland town after he retires. He will continue working in project management in education — but not at Paul Roos. 'I think, especially at the beginning, I will give (Jannie de Villiers) space. And I think to myself, the fact that I'm leaving after eight years does not mean that my affection and my heart will not always be here. I'm still truly passionate about kids. And it's a special school in a very special town. I'm definitely not tired, you know.' Former colleagues and Boland schooling executives will attend Van Staden's official farewell on Thursday, 26 July. Notably, De Villiers from Ermelo also started out as an Afrikaans language teacher. He has served as head of the Diocesan School for Girls in Makhanda since 2020. DM
The Herald
03-06-2025
- General
- The Herald
St Andrew's seize their chances in exciting win over Grey
In a cracking affair on the Kolisi Field, St Andrew's College held on for a thrilling one-point win over Grey High, taking the schools rugby match 28-27 to register a rare away win over their Gqeberha rivals. They visitors shocked the Grey supporters when they broke through for two outstanding tries by Qhawe Madikizela and Aphindile Ngcuka to put them 12-0 in front by the 16th minute. The match was a fluctuating battle, but eventually Grey found a way through, largely through the magical feet of fullback Meyer Prinsloo, who scored an outstanding try in the 23rd minute as he bamboozled the visiting defence. That was followed by a pushover try for flank Cody Wilmot, but St Andrew's astutely created some scoreboard pressure through the accurate boot of Will Stevens. He knocked over two penalties to make it 18-10 at halftime and three minutes after the restart he added a third penalty. Grey's line-out did not function smoothly, with St Andrew's lock William Beamish poaching a number of balls at the front, but when it did, they were able to drive forward for Wilmot's second try. The visitors, however, were always innovative, often taking quick taps, and this resulted in Beamish storming over for a crucial try from about 15 metres out. The superb touchline conversion by Stevens was significant because it put them eight points ahead, which was just as well for them because Prinsloo was again at it soon after the restart. Receiving the ball on the halfway line, the Grey fullback swiftly sized up his options and again sliced through the visitors' defence for his second score of the match. He slotted the conversion to make it a one-point ballgame, but neither side could add any further points during the last 10 minutes and it was St Andrew's who erupted with joy at the end. — The Herald
