Water Polo Season Ends on a High Note

The 2019 season has been an outstanding one for the St Stithians Boys’ College Water Polo. A total of 125 games were played by our 8 teams, with Saints winning 70% of these matches. The first and second sides led from the front, winning 84% and 100% of their matches respectively. The second team, impressively, has only lost two games over the past two and a half years (one in January 2018 and one in February of 2017).

The weekend of 28th February to the 3rd of March was the official finale of the Water Polo season. Over this weekend, the age group A sides represented the College in various tournaments throughout Gauteng, against the best Water Polo playing schools from across the Country.

The U14A Water Polo team played in the Annual Ken Short Tournament, where they remained unbeaten in the pool rounds. They had wins over KES, Parktown, Westville and Reddam Constantia. In the quarter finals, unfortunately, they lost a nail-biting encounter on penalties to Grey College (after leading for most of the game). They then beat Bishops, before falling 1-2 to Selborne. Saints ended the tournament in 6th place out of 20 teams from around the country. Congratulations must go to Benjamin Scher who received an award for the "Goalkeeper of the Tournament".

The U15A Water Polo team played in the Annual Indigo Water Polo tournament over the weekend. They were placed in a tough pool, however, played with much pride and energy throughout. They recorded good wins versus Reddam Constantia, KES and Paul Roos, ending the tournament in 10th place out of 20 teams.

The highlight of the weekend came when the 1st Water Polo team  won a bronze medal at the prestigious King Edward VII School (KES) tournament. The team won all of their pool games against Westville, Wynberg and Grey in a commanding fashion. This set up a quarter final clash with regular foe Jeppe High School. After a slow start, Saints came into their own and won the game comfortably by 11 goals to 5. In the semi final, another slow start saw Saints 5 goals down to nil inside the first chukka and 7 goals down early into the second. Saints picked themselves up and managed to get the score to 8-10 with 3 minutes remaining, however, this was in vain, as SACS scored next to seal an 8-11 victory. SACS went on to win the tournament. Saints claimed third place, beating Bishops in their playoff game. Cameron Hobbs is congratulated on making the "Tournament Team".

SA Representatives

Dane Tucker was selected for SA Schools U19 in December

Brandon Delport and Kyle Cohead were selected for the SA U16 Boys Water Polo Team that participated in the Cana Zone IV Junior Water Polo Championships in Windhoek, Namibia from 16-20 February 2019 - the team also won the Championships.

Brandon and Kyle have also been selected as part of the SA U16 squad who will take part in the African Water Polo Championships to be held in Cairo, Egypt 24 – 27 April 2019

Currie Cup

The following players were selected to play in the SA Senior National Water Polo Championships (Currie Cup) which were held in Johannesburg from Thursday 14th March – Sunday 17th March.

Gauteng Red Team (A Team)

·         Dane Tucker

Congratulations to Dane Tucker for winning Gold with the Gauteng U18 side at the Currie Cup Tournament.

Gauteng Black Team (B Team)

·        Bradley Smith

·        Elisha Banda

·        Thomas Fitzsimons

 Gauteng White Team (C Team)

·         Matthew Finger

 Gauteng Colts (U16/17)

·         Daniel Schmidt

·         Daniele Sguazzin

·         Kyle Cohead

·         Luca Imbriolo

Reserves

·         Rhys Schipholt