Top national accolade for Grey High

Port Elizabeth’s Grey High School added another feather to its illustrious cap in being named as the Top Boys Sports School of the Decade earlier this week.

The Mill Park school came out tops from a list of more than 100 of the country’s top boys sporting schools, according to a list compiled by school sports publication SA School Sports Magazine and published on its website on Monday.

According to the SA School Sports website, the list was compiled by taking the selected schools results in four sporting codes in cricket, hockey, rugby and water polo.

Grey High director of sport Neil Bielby said it was a huge honour for the school and everyone involved in making the school a success over the years.

“We are certainly very proud of the achievement and it is certainly a wonderful achievement for the whole Grey community.

“It is particularly pleasing to get recognition for four different sporting codes. We try our best to always keep a balance between our sports,” he said.

“We always encourage, where ever possible for a boy to participate in both a summer and a winter sport, which allows them to have a very balanced approach to their sport.

“A large portion of our teaching staff are involved with our extramural programme and this forms the backbone of our sport at the school.

“We also have specialist coaches in the various sports and they along with our academic staff put in many hours of effort and practice to make a success of Grey sport.

“There is also a culture within sport at the Grey that has been built over many years and our boys are determined to maintain these standards set by their predecessors,” he said.

Springbok World Cup-winning captain Siya Kolisi,  SA water polo player Jason Everzard and more recently, SA under-19 cricketers Luke Beaufort and Tiaan van Vuuren are just some of the many names to have attended the school.

Asked how they would build from this into the next decade, Bielby said it was important that they maintained the drive and passion at the school for sport and to be competitive while still enjoying it.

“Our aim is that when a boy matriculates, he will still want to continue playing sport whether it be socially, at clubs, provincially or internationally,” Bielby said.

The Top 10 Sporting Schools of the Decade are: 1 Grey High School 99 points, 2 Grey College 95.64, 3 Rondebosch 90.38, 4 Glenwood 86.19, 5 Selborne College 85.11, 6 Paul Roos Gym 84.62, 7 Affies 83.58, 8 St Andrews College 83.09, 9 Hilton College 81.32, 10 SACS 80.76.

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