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Sport

At St Catherine’s Convent we aim to develop our learners in all spheres.  St Catherine’s Convent acknowledges the importance of sport as a way of fostering a good self-image, participation skills, leadership skills and the ability to work co-operatively in a team.

St Catherine’s Convent aims to provide the best possible environment in which to encourage and develop a love of individual and team sports.  We believe that sport is an important facet of school life as it provides not only a physical outlet for learners, thus promoting good health, but also invaluable mental benefits.

At St Catherine’s Convent, despite our size, we have a proven success rate in many of our sporting activities.  Many of our teams, across the various age groups, are winners of their particular league and a number of our learners participate or have participated at regional, provincial and national level.

St Catherine’s Convent offers learners the best possible training available and employs experienced and qualified coaches, referees and umpires for most of our sporting activities.  A number of our coaches currently play or have competed in their respective sport at either provincial or national level.

The following sporting activities are offered at St Catherine’s Convent:

Swimming is alive and well at St Catherine’s Convent, both in the primary and the high school and the school is going from strength to strength.

St Catherine’s Convent hold an annual inter-house swimming gala where all the learners from primary and high school are urged to participate.  On an inter-school level, we compete in the A League, alongside some of Johannesburg’s biggest and most prestigious swimming schools.  Though small in size, our swimming teams are large in stature and regularly place in the top 5 positions at inter-school swimming meetings.  Both our A and B teams can boast at least 8 swimmers per grade and age group.

St Catherine’s Convent currently has a number of swimmers who are participating at regional and provincial level.   We are also proud of past learners who are participating at national level.  We are privileged to have a former National swimmer as our swimming coach so the girls receive training of the highest possible standard.

St Catherine’s Convent offers regular swimming clinics with the highlight of the swimming calendar being the swimming tour to Umhlanga in KwaZulu Natal.  This tour aims to build team spirit, as well as the opportunity to get fit before the swimming season begins.

The swimming team has undertaken a swimming tour to Australia where our swimmers competed in galas, as well as receiving training sessions with well-known international swimmers.

St Catherine’s Convent’s long distance and open water swimmers also participate in the annual Midmar Mile and achieve noteworthy times for this event.

At St Catherine’s Convent, we believe that the fun aspect of any sporting activity should also be emphasised, hence our Swim-a-Thon where our learners from all grades are sponsored to swim as many lengths of the swimming pool as they can.  All girls who achieve the maximum number of lengths required receive a certificate. Further entertainment is also provided by the teachers who dress up in silly clothes and swim alongside the learners.

At St Catherine’s Convent, all our learners are given the opportunity to play tennis all year round.  We offer learners the chance to either be a member of the competitive tennis teams or just play social tennis.  The learners may also participate in a ladder competition against other St Catherine’s Convent learners.

We have a professional coach on hand twice a week to offer coaching to the league teams and to beginners, from both primary and high school.

St Catherine’s Convent’s tennis teams are very successful and we have won the D12 B- league for the past 10 years.

High School Tennis

The tennis season takes place during term 1 and term 3. St Catherine’s Convent High School is a member of the Southern Gauteng Girls Tennis League and all league matches are played during term 1 and term 3. We do, however, continue to offer tennis coaching during term 2 and term 4, but the seasonal sports for these terms take preference. We have a professional coach who is an active league player herself and is qualified to coach at all levels – beginners to league level.  The coaching includes fitness training at all practices. Girls are also encouraged to attend additional fitness training prior to the commencement of the tennis season. The league team consists of six players and two reserves. Grade 12 learners only play in term 1 as the term 3 league only allows for players from for Grades 8 – 11. League members are required to attend league practice which is always held a day before league matches. In order to be awarded a tennis scroll, players need to attend 80% of practices and play 80% of matches for three consecutive years. An additional scroll is awarded after a further two years of 80% attendance and matches played.

Mini tennis provides children with the perfect opportunity to learn the fundamentals of tennis at an early age. Designed for children aged between 4 and 10, mini tennis utilises smaller courts, nets and rackets as well as lower-bouncing tennis balls to develop vital tennis skills and techniques. It’s a way to get young children introduced to the game, before building up gradually to play on full-size courts with standard tennis equipment.

At St Catherine’s Convent, netball is enjoyed by both the Primary and High School.  The girls receive coaching on fitness and netball skills.  We compete in the Roodepoort League where the high school netball teams have won their league on many occasions.

Our girls also attend district trials on a yearly basis, which gives them the opportunity to be selected for district teams.

The St Catherine’s netball players are not only encouraged to excel in sport, but also to develop their social skills and be part of the wonderful netball family.

Mini Netball is a modified form of the game offered to players 9 years and younger.
A rotation system allows the players are exposed to all positions on a Netball field to develop holistic players for the future. It stimulates as many girls as possible to play netball and create love of and interest in the game. Players can experience the joy of netball as a team sport. Players can learn the importance and responsibilities attached to each position on the court. If they experience different positions they will be better players. It will prevent players from getting “stereotyped” in one position because either of her length or speed.
Mini Netball develop the following skills: movement, footwork, throwing, catching, attacking, defending, goal shooting
Young players are given the opportunity to play matches on a pleasurable level where
enjoyment of the sport is what counts and not winning.

St Catherine’s Convent’s hockey teams are going from strength to strength.  In both the primary school and the high school, the learners are offered hockey coaching by a professional hockey coach.

The high school fields three competitive teams in the West Rand League, where we compete against large schools that field many teams.  Despite our small size, we are proud of our achievement of winning the league and competing at inter-district level.  Each year our players attend district trials and we are privileged to have had players who have been selected for both district and Southern Gauteng teams.

St Catherine’s Convent’s hockey teams are testament to the feeling of unity and camaraderie that exists within the school as well as the wonderful spirit of sportsmanship.

At St Catherine’s Convent, cross-country is a fledgling sport but has already proven its popularity amongst the learners.  We compete in the D12 League and a number of our runners have been selected for the D12 team.

Our learners undergo intensive training, which includes inner core training and speed work, so that they are able to run a comfortable 4km in 24 minutes.  The learners are encouraged to supplement their training and to train at least 4 to 5 times per week.

Many mornings our runners can be seen hard at training in the early mornings before school, supervised by an experienced and dedicated cross-country coach.

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