4 October 2023
The inaugural Michaelhouse Under-14 Invitational Basketball Tournament debuts this weekend, with 12 teams from KZN and Gauteng set to do battle. Master in Charge of Basketball at Michaelhouse, Clint Sliedrecht, said on Tuesday that this is the first step towards establishing an even bigger event in the future.
House’s basketball prowess has grown in leaps and bounds thanks to the school’s consistent participation in tournaments, Sliedrecht said, but there was a gap of quality opposition at the under-14 level. The establishment of the tournament was a response to that, thus creating tournament basketball opportunities for Michaelhouse boys across all age groups.
“Tournament basketball is quite different to ordinary basketball, like our Saturday fixtures. We’ve found that by giving the boys better exposure at a younger age, the boys cope much better with the bigger tournaments in their senior years,” he said.
Michaelhouse Basketball: South Africa’s best | Pinnacle Schools (pinnacle-schools.com)
An established successful formula
Sliedrecht said he has looked towards Kearsney’s hugely successful Independent Schools Stayers’ Basketball Tournament (ISSBT) for inspiration.
“The aim is to grow this to more than 20 teams, and to start looking outside of our borders even, and to start offering it to a number of good basketball schools in Eswatini and Botswana. We’d love to start spreading the net nice and wide.
“Even the format that we follow is the same [as the ISSBT]. I know Myles Delport very well. He’s the organiser of the ISSBT. I agree with his logic: to be playing short games is not actually doing anything for these guys’ development. They need to be playing full matches.
Playoff results and final standings ISSBT 2023 | Pinnacle Schools (pinnacle-schools.com)
“[The Michaelhouse under-14 Basketball Tournament games are] close to full, four quarters of eight minutes, whereas a normal schoolboy match would be four by 10 minutes. Because they’re getting so many games in a day, I think the development factor is quite big.”
While the inaugural Michaelhouse Under-14 Basketball Tournament takes place over two days, Sliedrecht also envisions a four-day event, like the ISSBT, in future. This would then also include play on outdoor courts.
Building momentum off of on-court successes
Michaelhouse has been among the leading basketball-playing schools in South Africa for quite some time now and, most notably, in 2019-20, House captured two of the most prestigious titles in the game, winning the ISSBT and the Saint John’s Basketball Tournament. The momentum those victories produced for the Michaelhouse basketball programme has endured.
Michaelhouse Basketball: South Africa’s best | Pinnacle Schools (pinnacle-schools.com)
“It has become a bit of a culture thing at Michaelhouse. Basketball is seen as a sport that has performed well over the past few years, and that’s about the old cliché of success breeding success. The youngsters have seen the big boys doing so well, and I think that has caused a snowball effect. We’ve gained a bit of momentum.
He continued: “The boys never have to be asked to go and play in their own time. Being an all-boys’ boarding school, the boys can get down time in the indoor centre. On a Friday evening, the boys are down there having fun. They really love the sport.”
Northwood capture KIBT title | Pinnacle Schools (pinnacle-schools.com)
A crucial stepping stone
Of course, the event serves the development of every school that participates in it and, if the winning formula of the ISSBT is successfully implemented, the Michaelhouse Under-14 Basketball Tournament, will surely become a highly sought-after invitation as schools seek to help their youngest players make the transition from primary to high school competition by introducing them to the challenges of multi-day basketball tournaments and festivals.
A first step on that development path in the picturesque KZN Midlands is an inviting introduction.
FIXTURES
Friday, 6 October
Court 1
08:00 St John’s B vs Kearsney B (1)
09:00 Michaelhouse B vs Drakensberg A (4)
10:00 Michaelhouse A vs St Stithians A (7)
11:00 Michaelhouse B vs DHS A (11)
13:15 St John’s B vs Hilton A (13)
14:15 Michaelhouse B vs St John’s A (16)
15:15 Hilton A vs St Stithians A (19)
16:15 Michaelhouse B vs Kearsney A (22)
Court 2
08:00 Michaelhouse A vs Hilton A (2)
09:00 Kearsney A vs St John’s A (5)
10:00 Kearsney B vs Hilton A (8)
11:00 Drakensberg A vs St John’s A (11)
13:15 Kearsney B vs St Stithians A (14)
14:15 St Charles A vs Drakensberg A (17)
15:15 Northwood A Kearsney B (20)
16:15 St Charles A vs St John’s A (23)
Court 3
08:00 Northwood A vs St Stithians A (3)
09:00 St Charles A vs DHS A (6)
10:00 Northwood A vs St John’s B (9)
11:00 St Charles A vs Kearsney A (12)
13:15 Michaelhouse A vs Northwood A (15)
14:15 Kearsney A vs DHS A (18)
15:15 Michaelhouse A vs St John’s B (21)
16:15 DHS A vs Drakensberg A (24)
Saturday
Court 1
08:00 Michaelhouse A vs Kearsney B (25)
09:00 Kearsney A vs Drakensberg A (29)
11:00 Quarterfinal 1 – A1 vs B4 (31)
12:00 Quarterfinal 3 – A3 vs B2 (35)
14:00 Loser 31 vs Loser 34 (37)
15:00 Semi-final 1 – Winner 31 vs Winner 34 (40)
16:00 5th and 6th – Winner 37 vs Winner 38 (44)
19:00 Final – Winner 40 vs Winner 41 (46)
Court 2
08:00 Northwood A vs Hilton A (26)
09:00 Michaelhouse B vs St Charles A (29)
11:00 Quarterfinal 2 – A2 vs B3 (32)
12:00 Quarterfinal 4 – A4 vs B1 (35)
14:00 Loser 32 vs Loser 35 (38)
15:00 Semi-final 2 – Winner 32 vs Winner 35 (41)
16:00 7th and 8th – Loser 37 vs Loser 38 (44)
19:00 3rd and 4th – Loser 40 vs Loser 41 (47)
Court 3
08:00 St Stithians A vs St John’s B (27)
09:00 St John’s A vs DHS A (30)
11:00 9th to 12th – A5 vs B6 (33)
12:00 9th to 12th – A6 vs B5 (36)
14:00 11th and 12th – Loser 33 vs Loser 36 (39)
16:00 9th and 10th – Winner 33 vs Winner 36
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