Pearson girl in national team
The South African U18 water polo squad are among the 16 best teams from around the world that will compete for top honours at the Youth World Championships which start this weekend in Belgrade, Serbia.
The event will finish on September 2.
Although the national team are up against tough opponents in their group, head coach Luke Manthe says they will not go down without a fight.
In their pool section of the tournament, South Africa will face Russia, the Netherlands and New Zealand.
Manthe, who is also the girls’ water polo coach at Pearson High, said: “We will definitely give the tournament our best shot. We will throw the kitchen sink at them.
“Russia and the Netherlands will be two tough games for us.
“However, we will look to secure victories and if we can do well against New Zealand, it will put us into a new bracket – we hope to win from there on.
“I am really excited and very keen about this opportunity.”
This will not be Manthe’s first national assignment – he was in the hot seat last year when the national side played in the CANA Zone IV tournament in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, in February.
The team have also played in the European Union U17 tournament held in Prague, Czech Republic, losing to England in the final.
Although the SA team are up against tough opponents in their group, head coach Luke Manthe says they will not go down without a fight
This year the SA side attended the African qualifiers in Durban and won the series 3-0 against Zimbabwe.
They were also entered as a squad in the women’s division of the Currie Cup.
Pearson grade 12 pupil Hannah Reid, 18, is the only player in the squad from the Eastern Cape – the bulk of the players are from Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg. The centreforward said she was excited to be part of such a prestigious event.
“This is my second time competing on an international level.
“Last year I made the U17 SA side and competed in Prague for the U17 championship.
“This will be my first time [at] the U18 World Champs. I am so excited about this opportunity,” Reid said.
“The training that I have been doing has been very intense because we will be competing at a high level.
“It is a bit difficult to determine the training because everyone is from different provinces and we don’t always have the opportunity to train with each other.
“I think the last two days we will have in Johannesburg will be a chance for us to get used to playing [together] again.
“I know that all the girls have been training hard so that we can make sure we do our best at the tournament.”
The team will meet in Johannesburg tomorrow and will spenda few days doing some fine-tuning before heading for Belgrade.