The opportunity to play sport is seen as a vital part of the growth of all individuals. Sport and the experience of playing in a team are microcosms of society. Our coaches strive to teach our girls life lessons through the medium of sport.

The St Mary’s sports coaches are passionate about their sport and have proven themselves in their field of expertise. As with anything, our success will not be measured by getting to the top, but rather in our ability to remain there!

Athletics

The athletes work hard in a very short season at the start of Term III. We have weekly meets on a Thursday afternoon and an inter-high in the week before half-term. Owing to the brief season our events are limited to:

• 100m, 200m, 400m 800m 1500m
• 80m hurdles
• High jump and long jump

Athletes work with different coaches and follow training programmes pertaining to their various disciplines. Athletes work on stretching, strengthening and conditioning exercises as well as agility, speed and speed endurance. Our training sessions take place on the Howell Hub, but we are fortunate that the majority of our events take place on the tartan track in Germiston.

Basketball

Basketball has grown rapidly at St Mary’s. At present, we have teams in every age group, that are eligible to play matches on Wednesday afternoons. We participate in a newly formed girls’ league which includes many schools from around Johannesburg. Several schools compete in this league, and matches are played in the first and third terms. Also included in this league are tournaments for each age group. We host our own St Mary’s Summer Shoot Out in the third term. This tournament included U16 and senior sections and is always a great success. The St Mary’s 1^st team, as well as the St Mary’s invitational team, also compete annually in the Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High School tournament. The 1^st team also competes in the Old Petrian’s Tournament in Term I and the St Peter’s Festival in Term III. Teams from across South Africa and neighbouring countries compete in these latter two events.

Diving

We’re very proud of our wonderful diving facilities. We have a half-metre board for training purposes and learning new dives, as well as two 1m springboards, two 3m springboards and a 5m platform. There are bubbles under each board to help the divers learn new dives and boost confidence. This, coupled with the fact that we have excellent dry-land facilities consisting of two trampolines (one with an overhead spotting rig), a dry board and a well-equipped gym, results in better performances and an increase in the number of accomplished divers at St Mary’s.

Teaching and coaching is provided for all interested children, from Grade 1 to matric. There is a diving club that operates from St Mary’s for anyone who would like to develop her diving skills beyond the school forum.

Equestrian

Horse riding has been a formal school sport at St Mary’s since the inception of the Equestrian Schools’ League in 2003. Competitive riding has expanded over the past years and the South African National Equestrian Schools Association (SANESA) league allows riders to compete in many disciplines. The main disciplines include dressage, show jumping, working riding, working hunter, performance riding, equitation and eventing. Western mounted games, stadium eventing and mounted archery are disciplines that have been recently introduced.

Each rider needs to have access to a horse or pony for the season, irrespective of whether the horse is owned, baited or on loan. The league caters for riders of all levels, provided that they have access to a horse that is able to participate at the level offered.

St Mary’s competes in the Johannesburg region of the Gauteng SANESA league. The Johannesburg league comprises four qualifying shows in each calendar year and the girls are encouraged to compete in all four of the qualifiers. Riders are awarded individual and school points based on where they are placed in each individual show. Based on their performance points in the four qualifiers, riders qualify to represent the Gauteng region at SANESA Gauteng Finalsfinals. After successful participation at Gauteng finals, teams are chosen to represent Gauteng at the SANESA National Championships.

Girls are also encouraged to ride in competitions outside of the schools’ league, and are acknowledged for achievements in these endeavours.

Hockey

St Mary’s has a proud hockey tradition. We have enjoyed much success over a number of years. This success is a result of the hard work and commitment of our coaches and players. Many of our past pupils and coaches have represented provincial or national teams over the years. The success of St Mary’s hockey is, however, not only measured by the results that have been achieved but more importantly by the number of pupils who choose to participate in the sport and continue to do so once they leave the school.

The hockey facilities at St Mary’s are amongst the best in the country. The Nathan AstroTurf was laid in 2000 and the second AstroTurf, the Howell Hub was put down in 2019. These two AstroTurfs are named in honour of Wendy Nathan and Ros Howell who together have contributed to St Mary’s hockey for over six decades.

The highlight of the hockey season for the senior players is undoubtedly the St Mary’s Hockey Festival which is held annually a week before the end of the first term. This festival has grown to include 32 teams from around the country. The matches at the festival are 25-minutes long which makes for some very exciting hockey. The festival atmosphere is electric, and the event really brings the larger St Mary’s community together.

The balance of the hockey season is played in the second term with matches being held on a weekly basis. The season culminates with the newly introduced top schools’ tournaments for U14, U16 and U18. Teams are required to be ranked among the top 12 schools in the country by the end of May. St Mary’s qualifies for these tournaments regularly and this provides our top players with the opportunity to test themselves against the best in the country.

Netball

Netball is one of the popular sporting codes in the Senior School, with age groups ranging from U14 to U19. The main netball league is played during our winter term, Term ll; however, we begin with pre-season practices, team trials and festivals after the half-term break in Term l.

Where possible, teams participate in pre-season netball festivals, to help finalise team selections and assist with preparation for the league. These festivals are a great opportunity for our netball girls to be exposed to different styles and levels of play, as teams from across the province and country participate.

The district league is short, but intense, with play-offs taking place before the half-term break in Term ll. In preparation for the league, the girls are invited to attend a training camp the last week of the April holidays.

Rhythmic gymnastics

Rhythmic gymnastics is a performative dancing sport done on a carpeted floor with an apparatus such as ribbon, ball, rope, hoop and clubs. The sport combines elements of artistic gymnastics, ballet and different dance styles. Girls involved in this activity develop an appreciation for music and movement. The sport combines creativity, fitness and eye-hand co-ordination.

The sport was first recognised in 1963 and became an Olympic sport in 1996. Gymnasts can compete individually or in groups. They are judged on how well they execute the movements, on their musicality, expression and synchronicity as well as the difficulty of their apparatus work. They perform leaps, balances, acrobatic elements, dancing steps and rotations along with handling apparatus.

Rhythmic gymnastics has been at St Mary's since 1991. During this time, the majority of our gymnasts have qualified to participate in the Novice Zone Festival (levels 1-3) and South African Gym Games (levels 4-10). Some senior gymnasts have also been selected for the South African Gymnaestrada team. The Gymnaestrada is held every four years and attracts teams from all over the world for gymnasts perform in mixed group dances with apparatus. St Mary’s gymnasts participated in Finland in 2015, Austria in 2019 and The Netherlands in 2023.

Rhythmic classes are offered from Grades 1 to 12, and we teach from beginners’ level to level 10 as well as groups. Gymnasts take part in competitions during the year and high scoring gymnasts represent our province at the South African Gymnastics Games.