The Diocesan School for Girls (DSG) Grahamstown attended the annual St Stithians Easter Sports Festival in Johannesburg over the Easter weekend – the largest sports event of its kind in the country with seven sporting codes and 58 schools competing. DSG’s 1st hockey, netball and squash teams were up against some of the strongest opposition in the country.
It was the squash team who flew the colours of DSG the highest, winning all five of their matches, including impressive wins over the hosts, St Stithians, as well as St Andrew’s Girls (Johannesburg).
On the hockey field, DSG showed took home a mixed bag of results. After playing teams from Johannesburg, Pretoria and Bethlehem, they won two of their five matches, with two draws and only the one loss to a highly rated Menlopark HS team.
The netball team found the going tough as they were up against quality opposition. After the first two days of competition, the team had not won any of the five matches played. The losses, however, were by the narrowest of margins, with just two points separating DSG and St Anne’s and four points in the match against St Dominic’s Girls (Boksburg). DSG bounced back on the final day to draw with Fourways HS before beating St Peters to end the festival on a high.
DSG Director of Sport, Chris Hibbert, said of the festival, “It is always great to travel to this event with a large contingent of hockey, netball and squash players, as we see it as flying the flag for Eastern Cape school-girl sport. We realise that we are in a fortunate position to be able to travel and compete in this type of event, which puts even more of a spotlight on our performances, approach and attitude. To be able to return having not only been competitive across the sporting codes but also to have attracted positive attention made the whole venture worthwhile. However I am more proud of the girls’ behaviour both on and off the fields and courts of play, as they were great ambassadors of their sport, the school and the province.”
In news closer to home, the DSG U16A hockey team attended the Woodridge College Easter Sports Festival held in Thornhill. The team returned unbeaten from the festival with five wins and two draws from the seven matches played.
DSG’s full results from the Easter weekend were:
Hockey – St Stithians Easter Festival
DSG vs Waterkloof – DSG won 3-2
DSG vs St Stithians – match drawn 2-2
DSG vs Menlopark – DSG lost 2-4
DSG vs Voortrekker (Bethlehem) – match drawn 3-3
DSG vs St Andrew’s (Johannesburg.) – DSG won 3-0
Hockey – Woodridge Easter Festival (U16)
DSG vs Cambridge – DSG won 1-0
DSG vs Woodridge – match drawn 0-0
DSG vs Kingswood – DSG won 3-0
DSG vs Alex Road – DSG won 9-0
DSG vs Somerset College – DSG won 4-0
DSG vs Stirling – match drawn 0-0
Netball – St Stithians Easter Festival
DSG vs Tholulwazi – DSG lost 21-28
DSG vs St Anne’s – DSG lost 20-22
DSG vs St Dominic’s – DSG lost 15-19
DSG vs St Stithians – DSG lost 19-24
DSG vs Fourways – match drawn 18-18
DSG vs St Peter’s – DSG won 19-16
Squash – St Stithians Easter Festival
DSG vs St Andrew’s (Johannesburg) – DSG won 3-3 (152-141 in games)
DSG vs Egoli – DSG won 18-3
DSG vs Northcliff – DSG won 12-6
DSG vs St Stithians – DSG won 12-10
DSG vs Festival – DSG won 18-2
