Home schoolers excel in sport
MIDRAND - Home-schooled pupils from Midrand made their mark in the Greater Gauteng Softball League.
A mother of one of the players, Julia van der Meijden said, “Three years ago, one mom’s dream of getting a few kids together to enjoy playing softball was enthusiastically joined by a group of home-schooled children and their parents from Midrand, Pretoria and Centurion.
“Soon the group expanded and HomeSpun was born – the name chosen for the home school softball teams.”
Meijden said the pupils enjoyed the team sport, parents joined in to help coach and HomeSpun grew in numbers and strength. “The whole group is passionate about the game and have thoroughly enjoyed the challenges set before them. They played their hearts out for their teams,” said Meijden.
This year, HomeSpun made their mark in Gauteng Softball. In October, the U16 boys made it to the semi-finals, the U11 boys and girls and U13 boys made it to the finals of the Northen Gauteng Schools League. The U13 boys and U11 girls won the finals.
The teams then played in the Greater Gauteng League and took home the Gauteng League Trophy.
There were 10 players of HomeSpun who played for Northen Gauteng teams of various age groups at the National Softball Tournament held at the Crawford Stadium in Pretoria.
Meijden said at this tournament teams from Gauteng, the Western Cape, Kwazulu-Natal and North West Province, in age groups from U13 to U19, played two to three games a day, with Northern Gauteng Schools taking the majority of the trophies
“Well done all of you and thank you HomeSpun for the great support, we are proud of your fantastic achievement,” said Meijden.
