Summer Sports Festival 2025
The Independent Schools October mid-term break is synonymous with the St David’s Marist Inanda Summer Sports Festival. It is massive gathering of school sportsmen, participating in three summer codes: basketball, water polo and cricket.
The biggest of the three is basketball. The Inanda Hoops Classic Challenge runs from Thursday 16 to Sunday 19 October. It was arguably the biggest schools basketball tournament in the land last year already, and this year it is even bigger.
The number of teams in all three age groups have been increased. There will be 10 Under12 teams in action and 20teams in the U15 and U18 sections. The action starts on Thursday October 16 at 10m and runs until Sunday October 19 with the U15 and U18 finals scheduled for 12.45 and 2pm, respectively.
Law firm, Fasken are once again the sponsors of the tournament, continuing their contribution towards school sport in general, and their partnership with St David’s Marist Inanda in particular.
The Inanda Cup Water Polo Tournament is for U14 teams and 12 schools will be in action. The games run from Thursday October 16 to Saturday October 18, with the final scheduled for 1.30pm. These U14 players are at the end of their first full year of water polo and this tournament gives them an opportunity to show what they have learnt, under tournament conditions, in a full-size pool.
At the same time. On the St David’s Marist Inanda’s turf wicket cricket pitches T10 Cricket Festival, featuring Grade 5 and 6 players from seven primary schools will be taking place.
The idea, according to St David’s Director of |Cricket and High Performance, Mr Dave Nosworthy, is to give the boys an early taste of the pressures of limited overs cricket.
“All matches are played on our College’s Main Cricket Fields, which is a privilege and a genuine experience for all the boys,” he said. “They also get to play on quality grass pitches, and they get to experience much bigger fields than what they would normally experience.”
The Cricket Company, the leading specialist cricket and hockey suppliers not only in Johannesburg but also around the entire country. is once again the title sponsor and partner for this festival.
Ten overs-a-side cricket is a fun-filled format and, in keeping with this, the participating schools have chosen funky names for their teams and they will be playing in colourful shirts.
They are: St David’s Dynamite, Rivonia Raiders. St Peter’s Pirates, Jan Cilliers Chiefs, St Stithians Supermen, Themba Bavuma Tigers and Montrose Meteors.