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Why El Shaddai?

We asked those qualified to comment…

El Shaddai was more than just a school I attended – it was an intergal part of the proverbial village that raised me. 

I was fortunate enough to attend ESCS from grade 1 until matric. The high quality of education and superior Cambridge curriculum prepared me for university. Our teachers were always willing to go the extra mile, like my Science teacher who offered us extra lessons to better prepare us for our first year university courses. The small classes were naturally very beneficial. 

Ek is dankbaar dat die skool my voorberei het vir die lewe, en nie net vir n graad of n werk nie. ESCS streef beslis om goed afgeronde jong mense te vorm. Ons was uitgedaag om deel te neem aan kultuur en sport. Daar was seker gemaak ons kan met vrymoedigheid voor mense opstaan en n toespraak gee. Ons was bemoedig om deel te neem aan gemeenskaps uitreike. Ek onthou hoe n Afrikaans onderwyseres seker gemaak het almal wat deur haar klas gaan, kan trots ons volkslied sing. En tot vandag dink ek met elke “Nkosi sikelel’ Afrika” aan haar. 

 

 

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Chantel Goddard – Medical Doctor, Gugulethu CHC

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Scholars Achievements

Adri’s art flies her to 2012 London Olympics

Adri le Roux was a student at El Shaddai Christian School from 1998 until 2009 when she matriculated. Her first art teacher was Auntie Desi! Who else?! Whilst studying art with Auntie Desi, Adri also faithfully attended the Tygerberg Art Centre for extra-curricular art classes.

In 2011 Adri enrolled at Stellenbosch University to study a BA Humanities but soon realised that her passion was in art and design. She changed tertiary institutions in 2013 signing up for a BA Visual Communication Degree at the Stellenbosch Academy of Design and Photography.

Adri graduated from the prestigious Stellenbosch Academy majoring in Graphic Design. She also studied Illustration, Marketing and Visual Studies [Art History]. Adri works and lives in Stellenbosch as a UI/UX Graphic Designer. She cites the following artists as her primary artistic and design influences: William Turner, Casper David Friedrich, Garth Walker, Oliver Jeffers, Ingrid Hall, Alan Fletcher, Stefan Sagmeister, Jessica Walsh and Tobias van Schneider.

Adri’s 2011 design, created with Wacom Cintiq Gouache, decorating the South African Airways Airbus A340-313 which transported the 2012 South African Olympians to London, came first in a nation-wide art and design competition. Adri’s highlights during her prize-winning trip to London included visits to the National Gallery where she got to see original Turners and a train ride to Oxford to see the place where Lewis Carroll, JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis taught and lived.

Adri strives to use her design skill-set to implement social change, close economic gaps and make people think. Adri le Roux is a creative game changer in South Africa; El Shaddai Christian School salutes you.

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Scholars Achievements

Sensational Durbanville Striker, 17, Youngest in SA U21 Women’s Hockey Squad

Tarryn Glasby, a grade 11 student at El Shaddai Christian School in Durbanville, recently became the youngest person to be selected to represent South Africa in the U21 South African Hockey Squad, in the lead up to the Junior World Cup in Germany in 2013.

After the recent National Squad Training Camps and U21 Inter-Provincial Tournament (IPT) held in Pretoria, Tarryn was selected to the 23-player squad to represent SA in the qualifying matches for the Junior World Cup. She is one of five representing Western Province.

Tarryn responded to the news modestly, saying, “Hard work always pays off.”

Tarryn’s mesmerizing skill, executed with scorching pace and lethal finishing, made an impact in 2012 when she represented WP at the U21 IPT in Pretoria, netting ten goals for WP and resulting in Tarryn being named the Top Goal Scorer and also the Most Promising Player.

Tarryn is no stranger to playing in higher leagues, having played in hockey teams one or two age groups higher than her own since primary school. She has represented WP since 2007 and at the tender age of 14 made her WP Women’s Grand Challenge début, turning out for the Durbanville Ladies’ Hockey Team.

In 2010 was selected for the SA U16 High Performance Squad. The following year she retained her SA U16 status with a clinical ten-goal spree as Vice-Captain of the Western Province team at the 2011 IPT. She rounded off this remarkable achievement with three awards: IPT Winner’s Medal, Top Goal Scorer, and The Most Promising Striker. The inevitable call up to the 2012 National U21 Women’s Hockey Squad Training Camps came shortly thereafter.

Tarryn also represents her school team, where she is coached by her mother, Tracey Glasby.

 

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Scholars Achievements

SA Girls Hockey Duo from El Shaddai

El Shaddai Christian School in Durbanville, with a total of seventy high school girls forty of which forty play hockey, is celebrating their two recently announced U/18A South African players, Beatrix Westdyk and Tarryn Glasby. The two girls have been coached at El Shaddai Christian School by Mrs Tracey Glasby since 2006.

In addition to receiving SA colours for the first time, Beatrix, a Grade 12 student, played outstanding hockey to earn the U/18 IPT Goalkeeper of the Tournament held in Potchefstroom in June. She captains her school side as well as her club side. Her school’s first team play in the WP Girls’ Grand Challenge Competition. Her club, Durbanville Women’s Second Team, play in the WP Women’s Town Challenge League.

Tarryn, still in Grade 11, is having an extremely busy Provincial season, securing places in both the SA U/18A and the SA U/21 sides. The scintillating striker won the IPT Top Goal Scorer Award in 2011 playing for WP U/16A and again in 2012 playing for WP U/21A. She also plays her club hockey at Durbanville turning out for the Women’s First Team that plays in the WP Women’s Grand Challenge League. 

Representing the South African U/21 squad, Tarryn is scheduled to play for the Junior Women’s Africa Cup qualifier matches in Randburg in October this year, in the lead up to the FIH 7th Women’s Junior World Cup 2013.

A third WP player, Nicole Muller, a defender from The Settlers High School in Bellville, was also selected for the SA U/18A Team.

During the IPT, the WP U/18A side, coached by Miss Paulene de Bruin, won their first five matches against Boland, Northerns, Amathole, Peninsula and Eastern Province A to make it into the semi-final against Kwa-Zulu Natal Coastals. The KZN Coastals won that game 4-3 to book their place in the final against Southerns, and went on to win that too. The WP girls had to settle for 4th place in the IPT when they lost the 3rd/ 4th play-off match to Amathole 3-1. 

Staff reporter: Tess Rodrigues 

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Scholars Achievements

The El Shaddai Christian School hockey miracle continues

Jacki Mohlaba, a Grade 11 student at El Shaddai Christian School, has secured the minnow school a very unique hat trick. He is the school’s third South African U/18 A field hockey player in the space of three years. In 2012 Beatrix Westdyk and Tarryn Glasby were included in the SA Girls U/18 A team. The school does not have its own sports fields let alone an astroturf!

Jacki, along with four other Northern District players, was selected for the U/18 WP A Boys Hockey Team that played in the Inter Provincial Tournament [IPT] in Pietermaritzburg during the first week of the July holidays. The Province boys, unbeaten at the IPT and winning 7 out of 7 games, were crowned National U/18 Champions. They beat KZN Coastals 3-2 in the final. 

At the conclusion of the IPT Jacki, along with six other WP players, was selected to play for the SA U/18 Team in a three match test series against Australia. Jacki recalls that to have shared this moment with his Dad, Dr Garish Mohlaba, was incredibly special. The sheer joy of singing the national anthem in front of a full-house home crowd, Jacki continues, was also utterly memorable. 

The SA U/18 Boys’ Team, with only four days of preparation against an Aussie team selected in August 2013, nevertheless delivered three impressive performances in the series. In the first game SA went down 4-1 sadly squandering countless missed opportunities and a penalty stroke save against them while the score was at 0-0. 

During the second game a very lively home crowd spurred the South Africans on to a 3-2 win to tie the series. Headed into the final game, both teams were aware of the fact that a South African boys or men’s hockey team had never won a test series against the Aussies. The SA U/18 Boys’ Team was hungry to be a part of history but, alas, it wasn’t to be. The visitors led 2-1 for most of the second half and scored a third goal at the death killing all hopes of a historic South African win. With their 3-1 victory the Aussies secured a narrow series win. 

“Despite coming away with a series defeat,” says Jacki, “we were very proud of the manner in which we approached and played each game, and the experience as a whole was once in a lifetime; you only get to make your international début once! I felt so honoured to be a part of this talented team, and look forward to hopefully meeting up with some of the lads again in senior teams at major tournaments.”

Jacki started playing 1st team hockey for El Shaddai Christian School [ESCS] midway through Grade 8 in 2011. The ESCS First Eleven won the U/19 Boys Shield event that year. In 2013 Jacki was awarded the First Eleven’s Player of the Year and also the ESCS Sportsman of the Year.

Much of Jacki’s success on the hockey field can be attributed to his splendid and speedy indoor hockey skills. Exquisite close control, hand-eye deftness and resilient retention of the ball are but three facets of Jacki’s vast and burgeoning hockey repertoire. He has played top flight inter-provincial PSi [Pro Series indoor] Hockey since 2009 until the present and was selected for the PSi All Stars Series team for four consecutive years. In April this year he made his international indoor début playing for the U/17 SA Indoor Team in a three match series against a Namibian U/18 side.

Australian defender and 2011 International Hockey Federation [FIH] Young Player of the Year, Matthew Swann, is a player Jacki greatly admires and hopes to play against in the near future. Swann won Bronze at the 2012 London Olympics and Gold at the 2014 FIH Men’s World Cup held in The Netherlands earlier this year. Jacki is swift to acknowledge his various coaches for their dedicated mentoring, namely, Jody Erasmus, Darryl Christians, Miguel Edwards, Fareed Abrahams, Shudley Hendricks, Caryn Maart, Robert Goslett, Jason Mulder, Erith Budge, Jaco Maree, Josh Nel, Lelynd Natus, Peter Sawers and Les Ryan. He- sincerely thanks the ESCS Boys First Eleven Hockey Team for their exuberant camaraderie, and, of course, his loving family for their invaluable support. Special thanks also to Jacki’s generous sponsors Tayla Sportswear and Gryphon Hockey.

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Scholars Achievements

El Shaddai Christian School Girls First Hockey Team Win WPGHU Town Challenge

The El Shaddai Christian School Girls First Hockey Team, coached by Mrs Tracey Glasby, has won the 2010 Western Province Girls Hockey Union [WPGHU] Town Challenge Competition with their very first appearance in the season long event. This victory ensures the team a place for 2011 in the WPGHU’s top contest namely, The Grand Challenge, where they will compete with the province’s eleven best hockey schools.

The El Shaddai girls posted an emphatic 5 – 1 win over Tygerberg High School on Tuesday the 17th August to wrap up an immensely successful season. The team’s score card tells the story of exquisite, clinical and consistent hockey: 31 points were gleaned from a possible maximum of 33; 43 goals were scored whilst only 12 goals were conceded. The team earned a draw against Edgemead High School and won 10 out of their 11 games and thus remain unbeaten this season.

The school’s Headmaster, Mr Erith Budge, is absolutely delighted with the team’s success and congratulates the coach and her girls on their magnificent season. An elated Mrs Tracey Glasby commends her players for ‘really giving their all’. The victorious El Shaddai Christian School Girls First Team consists of the following players: Aimee van der Reis [Captain and WP u18A], Tamlyn Murrell [Vice-Captain], Jamie-Lee Glasby, Rebecca Webster, Abigail Nel, Georgia Nel, Beatrix Westdyk [WP u16A], Stefanie Walzl, Mia Diedericks, Abbi D’Agnel, Natali Frenz, Shannon Teppler, Jenna McCallum and Tarryn Glasby [WP u16A and South African u16 High Performance Squad 2010].


Miss Tarryn Glasby, the August winner of the Tygerburger Sports Star of the Month Award, is also the top goal scorer for the Town Challenge Competition as well as for her school team with 25 goals this season. She also stars for the Durbanville Ladies Hockey Club First Team which plays in the WP Ladies Grand Challenge League.