My name is Lwandile Simelane, and I am a product of Bryanston High. I have wonderful memories from my school days and, if I could do it all over again, I definitely would!
I still remember my very first day at Bryanston. It was a nerve-wracking experience, and I also remember my uniform being too big for me!
When people ask me why my parents chose Bryanston High as my high school, I say it’s because I basically forced them! So many of my friends were going to Bryanston, and I badly wanted to be with them in high school. I went to the best school, and had the best time with the best friends! School is definitely the best time of our lives.
I still keep in touch with friends from school, even if we don’t see as much of each other as we used to.
A big part of my enjoyment of school was the sport element. I eventually played hockey for my country, having started playing from a very young age. All through primary school and high school I was obsessed with the sport, and I am still involved with sport to this day. I’m now the vice president of SA Hockey, as well as the first vice president of SASCOC.
I got involved with all these things because sport has been such a massive part of my life. At school, we used to have big rivalries, especially with Fourways. Obviously Bryanston were better, but we always used to love playing against them and getting one over them.
Coming to school on Monday after winning a big game on the Saturday was always a special feeling. We would wear our white scarves and first team jackets, and there would be a strut in our step. The rest of the school and teachers would also know what had happened so it was just a great feeling.
Bryanston had some cool traditions that we all took part in, especially when we went on sporting tours. If you were a senior, you could basically have a junior become your skivvy for the whole trip. Luckily for me, my senior was really nice, and never made me do anything too dramatic.
We would all look forward to becoming seniors in our own right, so that we too could have a junior become our skivvy. It was a rite of passage.
I think it’s absolutely awesome for kids. It is just amazing that you can be watched by the world now, and not necessarily have to wait until you wear national colours. It’s also great for friends and family to be able to watch you, even from afar.
If I just imagine what it might have been like for us to have our games streamed back in the day, I think we would have definitely tried even harder. If we won, we would have made sure that the celebrations are even louder! And, if we lost, we would be extremely motivated to get it right in the next game, because you know that there are so many people watching. I think it would have just given us even more motivation because we would know that relatives and friends are watching, so you want to do your best at all times.
I think Supersport Schools is a great initiative, and I really want to see all communities benefit from this platform.