An inter-house netball competition at Prestwich Primary School in Green Point has strengthened pupils’ bonds.
With a committee of 10 teachers, including Mahdi Samodien, the principle of Prestwich Primary, whose team won the championship, Grade 6 teacher and sports coordinator Gadijah Waggie managed the netball competition.
The school held a football competition last term, “Prestwich introduces sports to boost school spirit, June 3, 2024,” which encouraged them to keep playing inter-school games.
“We are developing our sporting codes so that learners can be more involved and they are, we have seen the difference in their attitudes, they are excited about school and they are excited to play sports,” Mr Samodien said.
“We have this competition during intervals because our learners come from as far as Mfuleni and Khayelitsha. We can’t keep them after school to do this as we don’t have the funds to keep them here and pay for transport. We had a successful soccer tournament and this was just as successful.”
According to Ms Waggie, the girls were eager for a netball competition because usually the boys and girls prefer to play soccer during break time.
“We had to start with the basics, we had to teach them and it was a good learning curve for them as well as for the teachers. They picked up the rules of the sport quickly because they were having fun. The teachers that played netball all joined in and shared their expertise,” Ms Waggie said.
“We had grade four, five, six and seven competing. They were divided into four houses in their age group to keep it fair. Every game was a learning experience as we had to explain why it was a foul, or why the whistle was blown for an offence.
Ms Waggie said that it was an all girls tournament and there was 160 players. The boys were excluded as the majority did not want to play a “girls sport”.
“The boys were there to cheer on the girls for the better part of the tournament. But when a senior mixed team from CPUT played an exhibition game you could see they were impressed and I’m sure next year they will join in.
She adds that break times were worthwhile as pupils who did not play cheered for their favourite teams and players.
Lethokuhle Dube, a grade 6 pupil from Brooklyn, says it was fun to compete.
“This was my first time playing netball and it was a fun experience for me. We won, I was the blue house captain and we won our division. I’m looking forward to playing again next year,” she said.
Buhle Madwantsi, a grade 7 pupil from Fish Hoek, agreed with Lethokuhle and said playing netball was highly enjoyable.
“Soccer is my favourite sport and I play it often. But netball taught me how to play, to pass, because you have to use your teammates to move the ball forward. I didn’t know how to play and I did not think I could, but I can and I enjoyed it and hopefully more kids will join us next year,” she said.
