“It’s like a family here,” said Laeeq Garrett of his fellow Beacon Hill High School drilling squad members. “Everyone doesn’t have a real family at home. I go to them, most of them, every single day, especially the drummers. That’s my family.”
The 19-year-old’s words were met with applause from his squadmates who returned last week as winners from the Annual National March and Drill Competition in Gqeberha.
“Mr Skink is my father in the drill squad,” continued Laeeq, from Beacon Valley. “Drilling plays a big role in my life.”
“Mr Skink” is Mekyle Skink, Afrikaans teacher, drilling coach, and a former pupil and drill squad member. He has been coaching since 2018.
“We’ve been working very hard for the last five years,” Skink said, but added that covid and finances kept them from competing as often as they wanted.
Last year, with sponsors’ help, the school won the Grand March, inspiring them to push even harder.
“Learners were staying after school for more than three hours, giving up their time to make this a success.”
Principal Melisha Benjamin knows the sacrifices.
“Drilling is very expensive. We’ve reached out to sponsors but I’ve often had to put my hand in my own pocket.”
Some sponsors, like the ward councillor and alumni, provided shirts and shoes; others gave cash, but most of the money came from fundraisers. That cost made pupils fiercely protective of their equipment.
Benjamin recalled how the drumline begged to practise during breaks, though she worried about “wearing out the skins”.
Their persistence paid off when the drumline’s lively routine won first place in Gqeberha. Beacon Hill also won first for Grand March and took home two second-place trophies for Exhibition and Drum Major. Overall, they placed third in the competition.
West End winners
Another Mitchell’s Plain school, West End Primary in Lentegeur, also shone. They won four first places; Best Overall, Drum Major, Drumline and Grand March, and second place for Exhibition.
While Beacon Hill’s squad thrives on friendship and family spirit, West End radiates discipline. When TygerBurger visited last week, the 51-member squad was already marching in tight formation while neighbours watched through the fence and grade Rs playfully marched in time in one corner.
Their coach, Dawood Abrahams, a former pupil and squad member, commanded sharply, and the team obeyed instantly, but beneath the precision, the same sense of family pulsed.
“Every family has troubles and hardships but at the end of the day it shows on the field. All our hard work paid off,” said Abrahams.
Abrahams recalled versing his Beacon Hill counterpart in high school before returning to the school as an intern. In 2023 principal Clive Arries asked him to restart West End’s drill programme.
“Ever since our first year in 2023, we never lost once,” he said proudly.
Unlike Beacon Hill, West End had no sponsors and relied on fundraisers. Arries, however, often dips into his pocket.
“He’ll say, ‘our children must have drums. They can’t play like that.’ Then he buys it,” laughed governing body member Dorothy Trimm.
Deputy principal Garnette Krigga said it would be “criminal” not to acknowledge the phenomenal support of the parents, staff and the governing body. For West End, drilling is a whole-school initiative, she said. The parents, she said, are especially committed.
“We went up to PE with a fleet of cars and taxis following us. We had the most supporters there from Cape Town.”
Impact on discipline
Both schools agree their greatest success isn’t the trophies, but the ripple effect on discipline, which is why the South African Police Service first introduced school drilling more than a decade ago.
“The majority of learners are underprivileged and come from gang-ridden areas,” Abrahams said. “We try to keep them away from these things. This is their safe space. Every day they are the last ones at school, sometimes until six. They forget about the time when they are here.”
He said learners in the programme also excel academically.
“Their bodies get used to a routine and they learn to follow instructions,” he said adding that good discipline leads to better marks.
Grade 5 teacher Muhammad Faizel Toefy agreed saying he can immediately see which pupils are in the squad by their marks and discipline.
“We reap the benefits of what Dawood does with his team.”
He joked that Abrahams sometimes sees the children’s reports before parents do.
“If a child misbehaves in my class and is in the marching band, all I have to say is, ‘I’m going to tell coach Dawood’ and that child changes immediately.”
Beacon Hill’s Benjamin has seen the same transformation. Two squad members nearly “didn’t make it”, she said, because “they were knocking at the gangs’ door”, but the squad turned them around and they are now integral members of the winning drumline.
“The hard work everyone put in was a lot and we did it together as a family,” said Laeeq, to applause.
Though he was 10km away, Abrahams shared the sentiment: “I’m like their father at the school. The learners made me who I am today.”
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