Excitement and anticipation are in the air as the Ken Short Water Polo Festival draws nearer. The festival will be hosted from February 26 to March 1 by Jeppe High School for Boys.

The festival will attract both local and national schools and contribute to the growth of water polo players.

The history of the festival dates back to the late 1990s.

In 1997, Jeppe High School for Boys staged an U13 tournament and the first year’s sporting age group was U13.

A group of parents who were water polo players and enthusiasts organised it, including Laurie Stegmann, the school’s first water polo captain, and Ken Short.

Ken Short was the father of the school’s 1996/97 water polo captain, Andrew Short, and a leading figure among the parents in the water polo section.

The idea of an U14 tournament was his vision.

Sixteen local teams played in the first tournament, which was a one-day affair.

Ken Short was involved in the organisation of the second Jeppe U13 tournament in 1998. Unfortunately, he passed away two weeks before it was due to happen.

The event went ahead, and it was decided to call it the Ken Short Shield in his memory.

Also read: Hoops and Goalposts: Joburg giants set for thrilling 2026 water polo and basketball season

Stegmann took over the leadership of the organising committee and remained involved for the next 25 years – initially as a parent and later as a member of staff at the school.

He is currently the estate manager at the school and is responsible for the pristine playing conditions which Jeppe is renowned for.

As the Edwardian Cup tournament began to grow, involving more and more out-of-town teams, it was logical that those schools bring their junior teams with them to Johannesburg, and there were requests for places at the Ken Short Festival.

Parktown Boys’ High later introduced an U15 tournament, the Indigo Festival, which meant that some of the Cape and KwaZulu-Natal schools could bring three teams to Johannesburg on the weekend.

In 2025, the Ken Short Water Polo Festival took on a national flavour with 20 teams in action, nine of them from across the country.
2026 marks the 28th staging of the Ken Short Festival, and for the first 22 of those, it was a proper tournament.

There were pool stages, quarter-and, semi-finals, and a final.

In most years, a ‘team of the tournament’ was chosen, and the winning team went home with the Ken Short Shield trophy.

In 2022, Jeppe changed the format to a festival.

There would be no log points kept, no knockout games, and no overall winner.

There would also not be a tournament team announced.

The change was made in line with a decision by the Association of Heads of Boys’ Schools that junior players should not play for trophies or participate in leagues.

The thinking was that boys at this age still have much to learn about the game and about sporting competition, and that making winning the main objective of playing should be removed from the equation.

For most of the learners participating in the festival, this is their first season of water polo, so there is a strong emphasis on learning to play the game instead of winning.

Coaches are encouraged to give all the players in their squads adequate time in the water in all the games.

The list of schools that regularly participate in the Ken Short reads like a who’s who of the top boys’ schools in the country, and the principals of the schools readily agreed to the change.

There were concerns that some of the out-of-town schools might question the time and expense involved if the event was a festival, all the games were friendlies, and the results did not really matter.

However, this was not the case; none of the serious water polo schools withdrew, and the list of schools clamouring for an invitation continues to grow.

If anyone thought that all of that would translate into the festival not being taken seriously, you need only look at some of the coaching staff who have come to Jeppe over the years. There have been current and former national players on the side of the pool, and some of the cream of the refereeing community have done duty there.

Proper introduction to the game, including handling the pressure of multiple games per day at a tournament, is important to beginner players, and the schools are serious about using this festival for that purpose.