Saint Andrew’s School will be hosting the 24th edition of the FNB Squash Festival at venues all around Bloemfontein from Friday, 9 February, to Sunday, 11 February. The prestigious event brings together the cream of South African schools’ squash talent.
“This year there are 24 teams participating, all the top schools, including every team that goes to the Top Schools Tournament, so it includes all the big guns,” said event organiser, Margo Morgan.
The 2018 edition of the tournament welcomes Hilton College and a Free State Invitational team that includes players from Bethlehem, Clarens, Welkom and Grey College. Saint Dominic’s (Welkom) returns for a third time to the tournament.
After a break, Menlo Park will again be sending a team to the event. “Another team that has come back after eight or nine years is KES, which is brilliant,” Morgan said.
KES will be one of the teams the Saint Andrew’s 1st team, Free State champions for 17 of the past 20 years, will be facing. They’ll also do battle with Pretoria Boys High School, Selborne College, Grey High School (Port Elizabeth) and St Alban’s College, of which most represented their provinces at the annual Top Schools Tournament in 2017. Saints have in the past been crowned national champions once and finished as runners-up on a further eight occasions.
This year’s 1st team is young, with one Grade 8 boy, three Grade 10s, a Grade 11, and only one matric boy, but it does not lack for experience. New Saints’ boy, Joe Meyer, who was the under-13 number one or two in the country last year.
“The Saint Andrew’s second team has done very well over the years. They tend to play the second tier of strength among the first teams, and they cope well,” Morgan added. Their opposition this year will be Saint Andrew’s College (Grahamstown), Queen’s College, Hilton College, Parktown Boys’ High and the Free State Invitation Team.
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