Senior Sport
Participation in sport is compulsory and all students are required to choose at least one sport per term.
SUMMER SPORTS OFFERED
Grade 8 to 12 students participate in the following sports:
Boys: Cricket, Golf, Indoor Hockey, Rowing, Squash, Swimming, Tennis, and Water Polo.
Girls: Golf, Indoor Hockey, Rowing, Squash, Swimming, Tennis, and Water Polo.
WINTER SPORTS OFFERED
Grade 8 to 12 students participate in the following sports:
Boys: Rugby, Cross-Country, Golf, Hockey, Squash and Tennis.
Girls: Hockey, Cross-Country, Golf, Squash, Netball and Tennis.
We play in the Boland league and organise fixtures against WP top schools. From time to time, we play against UK touring teams. We host a few festivals on our campus for all our teams with the major one being the 1st XI T20 Festival in February each year. We have U14A, U15A & U19A teams who play Saturday fixtures with our B teams playing midweek games. Girls' Cricket is a growing sport and, what makes our school special, is that the girls are allowed to compete in the boys' teams. The school has wonderful cricket facilities; we pride ourselves on 4 cricket ovals, a state-of-the-art Indoor Cricket Centre, 7 concrete nets and 3 turf nets. We have produced to date SA U19 players and provincial players with Faye Turnicliffe representing the SA Women’s Proteas.
As part of providing extra coaching to our students, we have a Cricket Academy that offers extra coaching sessions (groups & one-on-one) and offers coaching opportunities to our coaches within the school. The Academy and its functions are placed under Somerset College with the Head of Cricket and the two Pro Coaches driving its functions. The Academy has since opened its doors to the wider community involving non-Somerset College students in its programmes. All Academy programmes are supported by Somerset College. We aim to advance the game of cricket at Somerset College and beyond our gates through sportsmanship, encouragement, team spirit and hard work. Our goal is to provide the opportunity, environment and facilities to learners of all ages and abilities to play cricket. We are particularly focused on promoting youth cricket and encouraging young players to take up the game at an early age. All its programmes carry extra costs and are done after Somerset College sports practices.
Reaching out to communities is part of Somerset College. Somerset College supports The Leading Edge which runs coaching programmes to underprivileged communities. The school opens its facilities and resources free of charge to all children who attend The Leading Edge for training, coaching and matches. This programme is run by voluntary coaches led by Hilton Toro (Head of Cricket) and Wayne Bosch (Head of Grade 7s).
Promoting high levels of participation in sport, Somerset College is dedicated to nurturing the fundamentals of enjoyment, teamwork, leadership and sportsmanship. Somerset College teams participate with success in an active fixture programme of summer and winter sports.
All students in Grades 8, 9 and 10 must participate in a major (or team) sport. The College enters a large number of teams into the local leagues, giving match opportunities to all teams, at all proficiency levels.
Please refer to our Policy on Steroid Testing.
As so much emphasis is placed on participation, the College is committed to providing first-class coaching. Staff are encouraged to attend coaching and umpiring courses and to keep up to date with changes in the modern game, resulting in highly qualified coaches for all our teams.
Play and practice of sport takes place at the College’s sporting facilities, all of which are of the highest standard and cater to a wide variety of interests.
These facilities include:
An Astroturf, a 25 meter swimming pool, two rugby fields, two cricket ovals, an indoor cricket facility, three grass hockey fields, six tennis courts, two squash courts, four netball courts and a multi-purpose indoor hall for indoor hockey, netball, and wall/rock climbing.
The College Rowing Club has the Eikenhof Dam at the Elgin Country Club as its home venue.
ROWING
At Somerset College, the sport of rowing has continued to develop a legacy of strong, competitive athletes since 2000. The school is consistently placed in the top co-ed rowing schools in the country. Those who decide to keep learning and working on their abilities will discover just how rewarding this sport can be.
For more information regarding Rowing at Somerset College
click HERE to view the Rowing Manual.