Boishaaier 2018

Swimming Team 1945

coming second in the Currie Cup Swimming Gala, beating SACS in the UCT Gala and win- ning Intershools agains Paarl Gimnasium. Full colours were awarded in 1944 to G Nel and J Trebble and in 1945 to D Brunette and R Myers. Paarl Boys’ retained the Paarl Post Swimming Cup (Interschools) once again in 1946, having won it since pre-war years. The swimming teamwon the Gordon’s Gala in Cape Town and the U16s smashed the Western Prov- ince record, which stood for thirteen years. The first swimming photo appeared in the 1947 Year Book. Paarl Boys’ High had once again won the Gordon’s Cup at the Cape Schools gala, beating SACS once again. 1949 and 1950 brought great successes as both the junior and senior teams won all their events at the Gordon’s Gala and many records were broken in 1950. Paarl Boys’ High beat Gimnasium in the Country Gala. Theo Vorster brought glory to the swimming team when he won the U16 Western Province title for diving. In 1960 PBHS came second most of the time to Rondebosch in the Western Province league ga- las. The primary schools presented PBHS with many young swimmers in 1961. The following year, 1962 and 1963 PBHS won the Paarl Post Cup again, and dominated in all the other galas. Pieter Cilliers, an U14 swimmer, was selected for the Western Province Senior swimming team, as he set new records in his age group, as well as in the senior age groups. PBHS won the interschools gala against Gimnasium and J Volks was selected for the Western Province Schools Team. In 1964 the Interschools gala, PBHS vs Gim, was cancelled to PBHS’s dismay. In 1967 George Cilliers was the outstanding swimmer and he repeated his good perfor- mances throughout his school career. In later years he became a Springbok swimmer and much later the coach of an SA team participat- ing in Australia. In 1968 PBHS hosted a centenary gala with Karen Muir and Katinka Germishuys, both Springbok swimmers, as guest swimmers. Swimming First Interschools swimming took place on 16 March 1929.

In 1928 Paarl Municipality built a pool to be utilized by all schools and Paarl Boys’ High founded its own swimming club. Although mention is made of the Paarl Boys’ High Aquat- ics Association in earlier yearbooks and indi- viduals had participated in swimming events (mostly long distance swimming) before, this club would enable local swimmers to partici- pate on an equal footing with the rest of the Western Cape swimmers. The fact that swim- ming is an Olympic event made the sport even more popular. The first Interschools swimming gala between Paarl Boys’ High and Gimnasium took place on 16 March 1929 with Paarl Boys’ High as the vic- tors. This gala had the following events: swim- ming of lengths, furthest dive and diving from the one-yard and the three-yard diving boards. Both PBHS and Gimnasium expressed the in- tention of including Polo (water polo) in the aquatics intershools. On Friday 14 March 1930 the first school gala (what is now known as the Interhouse Gala) was held with great success and attended by many Paarlites, even those who had no ties with the school. The 1930 Interschools Gala was scheduled for 28 March, but was eventually cancelled as a result of continuous inclement weather. Swimming struggled, but was revived in 1933. Though there had not been a PBHS vs Gim- nasium gala since 1930, Paarl Boys’ High did participate in an interschools gala against the old Cape Town schools beating SACS, Jan van Riebeeck and Sea Point. In 1935 the first colours for swimming were awarded to J Fourie, A Hahn, H Hauptfleisch, C Louw and A Louw, but swimming seems to have struggled with numbers. In 1937 the PBHS vs Gimnasium contest re- sumed and PBHS beat Gimnasium by three points. The 1939/1940 season proved to be a very suc- cessful with the U16 team winning the Western Province Schools Championships once again,

George Cilliers excels in 1970. He received the prestigious Speedo Cup at the SA Schools swimming championships and was placed sec- ond in the Western Province Senior Champion- ships. In 1979 PBHS is still without a pool. Despite the lack of facilities PBHS was represented in pro- vincial teams ever since the late forties. Then the dream came true! PBHS got its own pool in 1980. Kennett Sinclair was another swimmer worthy of mention. He broke an SA record in 1991 for boys U14 50 m freestyle. In 1995 PBHS affili- ated with Boland and no longer with Western Province. In 2008 Stefan Viljoen was selected for the SA Schools team and TW Bartleman was selected to participate in the senior Na- tional Championships. The first Grade 8 gala was held in 1998 and has become part of tradition. In 2012 we were back in the Western Province schools A-league and came fourth. Stefan Viljoen participated in Sen- ior National Swimming Championships. Pierre Pretorius and Darren Minnies qualified and participated at the Youth Championships (2015 and 2016). Andre van Huyssteen was se- lected to participate in the Youth Nationals in Grade 9 and from Grade 10 to 12 (2015 2017) he was selected to participate in the Senior Na- tional Championships (where the likes of Chad le Clos swim). Bob Fick swam at the Youth Nationals in 2016 and was awarded a bronze medal. There had been various coaches and organis- ers in the past. Marcelle Steinmetz joined the swimming department in 2004 and Jacques Grobbelaar in 2012. We thank all the coaches at the respective clubs for their contribution in producing swimmers who can compete nation- ally and internationally. All in all, swimming in PBHS is alive and well.

BOISHAAIER 2018 / Swem / Swimming

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BOISHAAI 150 YEARS