Biggest school waterpolo event

The biggest South African schools waterpolo tournament is set to get under way across East London on Thursday.

Boys’ and girls’ teams will compete in the U13, U15, U16 and U19 divisions.

“This is the biggest SA schools tournament in the history of SA schools waterpolo this year, numbers-wise,” organiser Andy Reeves said.

“There will be 126 teams from 10 or 11 provinces, but most are bringing more than an A side, with some B and C sides also going to play.

“So there are about 1,600 competitors and with managers and coaches about 1,850 people will be representing the provinces, and with supporters that could be in the region of another 3,000 people.

The tournament’s opening ceremony is at 3.30pm on Thursday, with play starting at about 5pm.

A few matches will be played at the Joan Harrison pool and at Hudson Park High on Thursday, with the bulk of the action starting on Friday morning at the other venues.

“The Joan will be hosting the U13s, the U16 girls and U19 girls and boys sections, Selborne College will be used for the U15 boys, Clarendon the U15 girls, Port Rex the U14 boys, Hudson Park High the U16 boys and Merrifield the U14 girls,” Reeves said.

This is the first time Border has hosted the competition since 2013 and as hosts the Border teams will be eager to impress and pick up a title.

“Our girls U19s were finalists last year, so they will be ones to watch, while our U15 girls side is also very strong,” Reeves said.

“A few of our boys’ sides, particularly the U15 the U16s, are also looking pretty good.”

Interesting matches on Thursday will be the Nelson Mandela Bay U19A boys against Boland U19A and Central Gauteng U19A boys v Zimbabwe U19A both at the Joan Harrison at 5pm.

At Hudson, the big match will see the Border U16A boys side take on Eastern Gauteng U16A at 7.45pm.