SPORTS OVERVIEW
Wynberg Boys’ Junior School has the ambition to be the number one sporting school in the Western Cape in all facets of sporting life. Boasting over 700 learners, we are proud of the fact that we can enter teams in the following sports: Rugby (16 teams), Cricket (16 teams), Hockey (20 teams), Water polo (5 teams), Tennis (4 teams), Squash (2 teams), Athletics, Swimming and Cross-Country. Our Foundation Phase learners also participate in mini rugby festivals, U9 hard ball cricket training and matches, flipper ball, mini hockey as well as the sports skills programme run by external providers and supervised by our learnerships. Our Grade R-7 learners also have weekly Physical Education lessons. There are also private extramural sports such as Karate, Judo and Golf.
Wynberg Boys’ Junior School promotes itself across South Africa and the world with various incoming and outgoing tours. Our annual exchange program with Grey PE keeps getting stronger, with 4 Grey cricket teams visiting us every year in January. The midyear May exchange for rugby and hockey continues to grow from strength to strength. Our U13A rugby team, who have successfully beaten the top boys’ school for the last 4 years, travel to both Johannesburg and Durban throughout the course of the year to attend the King Edwards Easter Festival and the Durban Prep Rugby Festival. Our 1st XI cricket team attends the annual Cape Schools Cricket Week every year, a festival we are excited to host in 2016. The boys also attend St Peters 20/20 Festival in early October. The U13A hockey team tour to Knysna and George every year in June. The water polo team represents WBJS in the Grey PE Water Polo Festival in Term 1. Apart from the outgoing tours, we also welcome teams from England, Kenya, Dubai and New Zealand for various sporting events. Teams from Johannesburg and Durban also visit us for cricket and rugby fixtures.
Fitness and conditioning have become a huge part of the schoolboy sport, and we can proudly say we do our part for our sportsmen. We include strength and conditioning in our Physical Education lessons, with learners doing various assessments throughout the year.
Summer Uniform
Winter Uniform
All year Uniform
CHESS
CROSS-COUNTRY
HOCKEY
RUGBY
SQUASH
SWIMMING
TENNIS
WATER POLO
CHESS
Wynberg Boys’ Junior School has a popular Chess club. We have a junior group on a Tuesday afternoon with Grade 3 and 4 boys. The senior group practices on a Thursday and consists of our Grade 5 to 7 boys. Our most proficient players make up the Chess team who play Chess matches on a Friday afternoon in the Winter terms. They are coached by Miss Tayla Cronje, and also participate in an online Chess programme through the African Chess Lounge.
CROSS-COUNTRY
Learners may join our Cross Country team from Grade One. We have early morning practices on Mondays and Wednesdays. On Wednesdays, we do an outrun up to and around the Wynberg Boys’ High School fields. There are inter-school races on Fridays during the winter months and a Pentangular between the boys’ schools at the end of Term 3. We also have an inter-house cross-country race where boys can win points for their respective schoolhouses by participating in this event. Cross Country welcomes all boys who wish to improve their fitness level for any other sports in which they may participate.
HOCKEY
Hockey at Wynberg is thriving and is classified as an A-category Winter sport. We have 20 teams registered in our weekly school league- four from each age group: U9, U10, U11, U12 and U13. We have a group of skilled and enthusiastic coaches who undergo continuous training throughout the season. Hockey is introduced as an optional extra mural from Grade R. Our Grade 1 and 2s are introduced to the basics of hockey as part of their sport skills programme. The U8s also have two hockey skills sessions with dedicated coaches per week as part of the extramural programme.
Wynberg as a Campus of Schools proudly boasts two astros. This allows for morning and afternoon practice sessions. Matches are played during the week both home and away. Throughout the season, we participate in various festivals and tournaments hosted by our neighbouring schools. We endeavour to host one festival per year. Our U13A team travels to Johannesburg where they take part in the annual KEPS (King Edward Vll Preparatory School) Festival. We also play host to schools from the Boland and our annual traditional fixture against Grey Junior School from Gqeberha is a highlight of our hockey season. We have had numerous Western Province provincial and regional representatives and the jewel in our crown is winning the 2019 Western Province Top Schools tournament.
The focus of hockey at WBJS is not solely about winning, but rather to teach boys the benefits of teamwork, team spirit, communication, confidence, discipline, decision-making abilities, respect and humility. WBJS hockey adheres to the school’s ethos of developing the whole child through the sport, service, culture and academic pillars.
RUGBY
Rugby at Wynberg continues to be one of the flagship sports, and is currently classified as an A category sport in the winter terms. We have seventeen teams entered into the league for Saturday fixtures – five U9 teams, and three teams in U10, U11, U12 & U13. Our coaches are all BokSmart accredited, with a number of coaches either Old Boys’ or current Varsity Cup players for the UCT Ikeys.
Our U7 & U8 age groups continue to grow with over fifty boys taking part in each age group. These groups are managed by our Foundation Phase teachers and coached by our enthusiastic volunteer dads.
The U13A team travels to Durban each year to take part in the Durban Prep National Rugby Festival. Apart from the outgoing tour to Durban, we host a number of schools from around South Africa, namely KwaZulu Natal, Eastern Cape and Gqeberha. Our age groups also take part in various end of season 7-a-side festivals hosted by our neighbouring schools, with WBJS hosting the U12 event. The focus for rugby at WBJS is enjoyment, creating team spirit amongst the boys and teaching the boys the fundamentals of the game. Although winning is enjoyable, it is not the be-all and end-all of team sport. We aim to mould our boys into true sportsmen who can go onto High School and play sport in the way it is truly intended. All rugby matches at Wynberg are played in boots (except U9) and all matches are played on a Saturday morning.
SQUASH
Squash at WBJS has become more and more competitive over the past few years and its classified as an A-category Winter sport. We start squash from U10 all the way up to U13. We have two teams who play league squash in Term 2 and 3. Our Top 8 play against Grey Junior in our annual traditional fixture against Grey Junior School from Gqeberha.
Our focus for squash is to grow the sport by encouraging the development and enthusiasm of players during the summer terms.
Wynberg Campus of Schools proudly has four squash courts. Matches are played on a Friday during the Winter terms, both home and away. Throughout the season, boys are encouraged to participate in various Squash tournaments hosted by Western Province Youth Squash. We have had numerous Western Province provincial U11 and U13 representatives.
SWIMMING
Swimming at WBJS has been given a boost in recent years by our revamped Aquatic Centre. We now have a beautiful 25m swimming pool, plus the addition of the lap pool, which are both heated. This has allowed us to run a swimming programme from Grade R – Grade 7. We also have a great team of enthusiastic swimming coaches who ensure that our boys’ confidence, love and enjoyment of the water keeps growing. In Term 1 and 4, we compete against other local schools at swimming galas. Our main focus is to get as many of our boys as possible water safe and feeling confident in the water thus allowing them to fully enjoy the sport.
TENNIS
Tennis is one of the smaller sports in Wynberg, but we have excellent tennis players.
We offer the boys in Grades R-3 private tennis lessons and once in Grade 4, the boys can join developmental tennis where they improve their skills, work on their serves and practise playing single and double matches. Boys are then chosen to represent our U11 and U13 teams. The lessons are coached by external coaches and each team is represented and looked after by a teacher.
The U11s play double matches on a Thursday afternoon and the U13 boys play double or single matches on a Friday afternoon.
WATER POLO
Water Polo at Wynberg has grown exponentially over the past few years due to the upgrade of our pool facility. We have started water polo from U9 level and have A and B teams all the way up to U13. Our U13As go on a tour to Grey Junior in Gqeberha at the end of the first term to participate in their annual water polo festival. Our focus for water polo is to grow the sport by making the most of our beautiful facilities and also to ensure that the coaches hired are qualified and enthusiastic about the sport.