Kes water polo players show their grit
HOUGHTON – Local school fields a young team against the country's best water polo sides.
King Edward VII School (Kes) can boast another successful display in one of the country’s toughest water polo tournaments.
The 24th annual Saints Water Polo Invitational brought South Africa’s and Zimbabwe’s 50 best water polo school teams together for a four-day spectacle in the pool between 19 and 22 October.
While no matrics played in the tournament, Kes still included one of the youngest sides.
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“We had another tournament that weekend, so we decided only to include four Grade 11 boys,” said coach, Ryan van Rensburg. The rest were Grade 10 boys.
Three wins and three losses for Kes in the group stages were followed by two losses in the cross-pool matches and then a 4–3 victory over St David’s Marist Inanda in a playoff for 11th place, where they finished out of the 20 high school boys teams.
Kes’ group stage wins included a 13–5 victory over Durban High School, an 8–6 win over Pretoria Boys High School and a 5–4 victory over Grey High School.
“For such a young team it is very promising to do as well as we did. It also allows us to build for the next year or two with these players.”
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He said the next big tournament for the team will be when they host the Kes Water Polo tournament in March next year, where Van Rensburg believes his side will definitely take a podium finish.
