With access to a range of high-quality sporting facilities in our city, St Andrew’s Cathedral School has a long-standing tradition of extending learning beyond the classroom through sport and co-curricular activities.
Gymnastics classes began as early as 1886 and Cricket teams date back as far as 1890 with Archbishop Dr Saumurez Smith being invited to play a few overs with the students – and was bowled out for a duck in short order. Boxing was conducted in Chapter House in the 1950’s, with the students facing up against each other using a ring borrowed from the Police citizen’s boys club- the same ring where Jimmy Caruthers won the Bantamweight world championship. As St Andrew’s welcomed girls in 1999, girl’s sporting teams naturally followed. In our inaugural year of co-education, we fielded girls’ teams in several sports including Hockey, Netball, Water Polo, Tennis, Swimming and Athletics.
The School has a long and successful history in the sport of fencing which dates back as early as 1953. A photoshoot of the fencers was once taken on the rooftop of the “New School building” in 1972 – three years before St Andrew’s House was even built! Part of our success here was due to the services of Maestro Tex Clark, who ran our fencing training for over 27 years. In the 2000 Sydney Olympics, our Fencing students had the honour of competing on the Olympic strip just before the Olympic competition took place. We even had an Old Andrean serving as the Olympic Fencing competition manager that year -William (Bill) Ronald (OA1967). Bill has served our fencing program for an extensive period and is currently our Head Coach of Fencing, which he has held for over 10 years.
Interschool sport has been part of the school’s sporting history since as far back as 1966 with games being organised on a case-by-case basis. Our involvement in a more organised interschool sport began in 1996 when St Andrew’s joined the Independent Sporting Association (ISA). This provides avenues for weekly competition but also pathways for sports not within the competition, such as boys hockey and girls rugby. The association is made up of a diverse and eclectic group of 19 schools ranging from schools of 500 to 3000 students, boys only, co-ed, female student cohorts within co-ed independent schools. They are as far afield as Jindabyne, Orange, Bathurst, Bowral and the Central Coast. In addition to our involvement with ISA sports the school provides has developed alternative competitions for numerous other sports as well as activities that promote life long physical activity through our Fit for Life offering.