Grey tops in water polo
New aquatic centre will be major boost for region
GREY High continued to set the standard of excellence in Eastern Cape schools water polo when they annexed the Van Staden Cup, hosted by Pearson, at the weekend.
After an absence of a year, the tournament was back in full swing this year, with 10 teams entering from around the Eastern Cape.
After two days of exciting and competitive water polo, Grey High and Pearson contested the final, with the Grey boys taking the honours 8-0.
The Grey first water polo team have continued their top form this year after winning the prestigious SACS Festival last year. They are ranked as one of the two best water polo teams in the country.
Grey started the year by winning the Port Rex Festival in East London, beating St Andrew’s in the final.
They then attended the Grey College Festival in Bloemfontein, winning their pool games comfortably and beating Wynberg 13-3 in the quarterfinals.
Unfortunately missed opportunities cost them a place in the final when they went down 9-8 to St Stithian’s. They made amends in the third place playoff when the beat the highly rated Clifton team 6-4.
Locally, Grey have been dominant, beating Kingswood (8-3), Selborne (17-8) and St Andrew’s (9-5) at the St Andrews Festival.
At the water polo nationals in Port Elizabeth last year, Grey pupils Brandon Brown and Nick Bezwick made the SA under-19 tournament team. Ryan Rainier was awarded SA Schools colours as a referee. THE Grey schools unveiled a multimillion-rand Powerade Aquatic Centre last week which should be a major boost for water sports in the region.
This international standard facility will serve both the Grey High and Junior schools’ need for a premier water polo and short-course swimming venue, while also augmenting their ability to deliver appropriate facilities for physical education.
The Aquatic Centre was built to Fina international shortcourse standards which could see Port Elizabeth included as a venue in the world shortcourse circuit once it is completed in its entirety.
The pool is able to accom- modate inter-schools, league, provincial, national and international 10-lane 25m shortcourse swimming and water polo events.
It can be used as a full international-sized water polo pool, or be divided into two pools for tournaments.
The venue will serve many swimmers besides those at Grey. For instance, homegrown heroes Kevin Paul, a Paralympic gold medallist, and Jessica Roux, Olympian and top 10km swimmer, both train daily at the centre under Brian Elliot, a former South African swimmer and owner of Aquabear.