COLLEGIATE GEARS UP FOR SCHOOLS SPORT AND CULTURAL FESTIVAL
COLLEGIATE girls and teachers are looking forward to rekindling old friendships and meeting new acquaintances when about 1 000 people attend the 15th National All Girls Sports and Cultural Festival in Port Elizabeth, kicking off with the opening ceremony today.
Not only is the festival, which began in 2000, a chance for players to demonstrate their skills in a variety of sports, it is also a chance for 20 schools from around the country to enjoy the camaraderie generated by 15 years of sporting and cultural intermingling.
Collegiate principal Melita Bagshaw says it will be a special occasion for the PE school as they have linked the festival with their 140th anniversary and they will be the first school to host the event for the third time.
While there will naturally be a sense of competition on the sports field, the key aspect for Bagshaw is the spirit of friendship created by the occasion. “This is especially so in the cultural aspects like debating, the drama workshops, the singing and the arts because in those activities the girls do things together,” she said, “whereas in the sports you find it is more one team against the other team. But they [the sportswomen] do get to know each other because they play in many other festivals and tournaments during the year.
“It is perhaps a bit harder for the girls because they are only there for one or two years, while the teachers get to know each other well and, for example, this is my 15th year so there is a lot of camaraderie among the teachers. And we all compare notes as we are like-minded schools with the same rules and the same ethos.”
“Bagshaw, who took over at Collegiate three years ago, moving here from Pretoria Girls High, recalls how it all started, on a much smaller scale, in 2000. “It started with just a handful of schools. I was at Pretoria Girls High School at the time and the principal there, together with Durban Girls, Collegiate, Clarendon, Eunice and Wynberg, spoke to other principals at a conference and said wouldn’t it be nice if our girls played hockey and netball against each other – just the top teams playing hockey and netball and that’s how it started.
“It was such fun, they said what about bringing on tennis and squash, and then we added chess and debating and from there it just grew up to the point now where the host school decides which disciplines it offers.
“For example, last year the festival offered dance, which we had never done before, but Parktown Girls have a dance studio so they could bring dance people in. We don’t have that at Collegiate so we have instead offered art, in which they will do a tour around PE and then do a workshop.
“We are offering 10 disciplines with 20 schools coming and just over 1000 people will be here for the weekend.”
Bagshaw said they had tried to move away from the emphasis on winning, rather aiming to promote the camaraderie aspect, but acknowledged there was a sense of competition.
“We do have winners, places one two and three, but the emphasis is not on who is the best in the whole country, but more about participating,” she said. “But schools do try send their best teams so you can have that level of competition. It’s not a full hockey game so it’s not on a par with a normal match but it’s a real tournament.”
For hosts Collegiate it is also a chance to show off their school and facilities, plus what Port Elizabeth has to offer. For this they have teamed up with NMMU, who will have an opportunity to promote the varsity to girls mostly in Grades 11 and 12.
“If you know children, they want to go to a university which is not in their home town,” Bagshaw said, “and they often have UCT and Stellenbosch in mind. So here is an opportunity to say, ‘come to PE, there’s a good university here.’ So we have partnered with NMMU and they have been fantastic giving us all sorts of things such as goodie bags, refs and coaches. They’ve really come on board.”
The festival kicks off with the opening ceremony today with the sports – hockey, squash, netball and tennis – starting tomorrow. The games will be played at Collegiate High and junior, Grey High and Old Grey (squash).