April 2003
The second half of term was largely dominated by the athletics programme but with brief appearances from other sports as well. The Headmaster and Mrs Querl together with Orlando Fernandes and other coaches put in a lot of work to improve the standard of athletics at the college this term and by and large I think they succeeded, at least in adapting the existing system so that in future years we will produce better athletes.
The first part of the season revolved around the standards competition and the relay days, both inter House and inter Schools. We went for a very much revamped standards programme with boys attempting all events except hurdles. It meant they probably only had one session on each event but on the whole I believe it was a success and with a few modifications for next year is a step in the right direction. It gives a better indication of talent for the school team, occupies more boys more of the time and helps in selection of boys for house teams and heats for Founders’ Day. It also keeps the staff busy as more are needed as supervisors than in the past. An analysis of the results shows that the top Houses were all pretty close together and there are some interesting and commendable individual performances, particularly by those who gained a standard in every event (Click here to view the house results for the standards competition).
Chubb won the inter House relays and Tredgold were delighted to attain 5th position. Then we were off to CBC for the Inter Schools event. This was reasonably tightly contested amongst the usual schools with Plumtree coming out top. We were 2nd which was a fair result but the generally feeling was that we could have done better and some more work was still to be done.
Founders' Day is always a big day in the school calendar and this year was no exception. Some cooler weather in the morning wasn’t ideal and the fuel shortage meant fewer parents were able to attend than usual but it was still an enjoyable occasion and an interesting competition with the lead changing hands on several occasions. The top five houses were all in the lead at some stage if I remember rightly though Chubb were the eventual winners. Hervey were second, George Grey 3rd, Oates 4th, Founders 5th and Tredgold sadly back at the bottom. Tapfumo Musekiwa, the athletics captain from Founders, was the Victor Ludorum.
The following week Falcon hosted an invitation Inter Schools meeting. Sadly Plumtree were unable to attend and in fact only 3 other schools and a small local area group of athletes did attend but it was good to see Falcon win the event relatively comfortably. Records were few and far between both on Founders' Day and at this meeting but Graham Swanepoel achieved a new record for the U17 discus.
Two other athletes who deserve mention are Hamish Henderson and Thulani Mahamba-Sithole who were selected at a CHISZ Schools meeting up at Peterhouse over the half term weekend to represent CHISZ Schools at a meeting in South Africa. Neither of them disgraced themselves but both realised the standards they need to aspire to if they are to compete on a wider stage.
Other Inter House events
We have had some other inter House events since my last report. The junior waterpolo was won by Hervey with Oates 2nd and Founders 3rd. Right at the end of term we held the Inter House Triathlon. Campbell Carruthers of Hervey won the junior individual title while Clinton Prince won the senior award for Tredgold who also fielded the winning senior team and were overall winners. Founders, not a house usually associated with triathlon, were the best juniors. The first leg of the fishing competition was also held on the last weekend with Hervey the clear winners from Tredgold who themselves were well ahead of the rest of the field. Chubb and Oates did not succeed in catching anything!
Tennis
Three Falcon boys attended Zimbabwe Schools trials and our tennis coach, Adam Joelson, has submitted this report:
Ricky Ashworth, Robert Millar and Ross Waghorn represented Matabeleland South at the Inter Provincial Tournament in Harare and played exceptionally well. Mat South came 4th out of 10 provinces behind the two dominant tennis provinces, Manicaland, the winners and Mashonaland A and B. The most pleasing thing was that we came ahead of Mat North who had two teams, CBC making up the bulk of the A team. It was also very pleasing that our three boys were selected for the 23 member team scheduled to play each other early next team for a final selection of 16 players to make up the Zimbabwe Schools team.
Cricket
The beginning of the holidays saw Inter Provincial tournaments at U14, U16 and U19 level with various Falcon boys involved. The U19s were playing in Bulawayo in a 3 day game. I do not know full details but Sean Williams scored 97 in the first innings as well as picking up 2 or 3 wickets with his left arm spin. At Peterhouse with the U16s Gerald Aliseni, Nigel Mubvumbi, Barry Stewart and Jason Graham were the Falcon boys involved. I was there and felt that Aliseni and Mubvumbi didn’t really get a fair crack of the whip. Stewart scored a confident 38 on the last day but Jason Graham with two 40s and some good wicket keeping was probably the most successful. Michael O’Donoghue sadly had to withdraw from the U14 side after breaking his hand in a rugby trial at the end of term (I make no comment!) but Terence Connor and Jack Randle both appear to have acquitted themselves well with Connor winning the Man of the Match award for his 65 (and wickets I believe) in the third match.
Richard Harrison
17th April 2003