Mixed bag for Kingswood
Kingswood College once again hosted a successful edition of the annual Brian Baker Water Polo tournament last weekend.
The first game was played early on Friday afternoon with the exciting finale coming at 5pm on Sunday.
Head of Sport at Kingswood College, Pieter Serfontein said the 1st Team Girls’ Photos: Stephen Penney tournament has “become a favourite amongst teams both within the Eastern Cape as well as from all around South Africa”.
The main reason for this almost certainly being a very gruelling format – where teams end up playing 6-8 full length (4 periods of 8 minutes ‘playing time’) matches in a weekend.
The following teams took part in this year’s tournament: Clarendon, Hudson Park & Stirling (East London), Pearson, Alexander Road & Collegiate (Port Elizabeth), Glenwood House (SWD), St Dominic’s (Johannesburg), Reddam House & Somerset College (Cape Town), DSG & Kingswood (Grahamstown).
This competition was tight, with several teams giving themselves a good chance of emerging overall champions. Pearson & Stirling, playing some outstanding water polo, emerged from the pool stages as the two strongest teams, and met each other in the final for the first time – with Stirling coming out on top 9-8. The win was not confirmed until the very last minute!
Host team Kingswood played some committed wa- ter polo too, and earned the respect of their various opponents throughout the weekend.
On the first day, Kingswood competed well, earning a hard-fought 5-5 draw against newcomers St Dominic’s.
They then gave the home crowd something to crow about with an emphatic 15-3 win against Hudson Park.
Kingswood's next outing was a losing one, 9-5 against eventual winners Stirling.
They beat Alex Road 12-3 and Collegiate 13-5 before losing to a clinical Reddam House team 11-5.
On the final day of the tournament, Kingswood beat Glenwood House 9-4, before losing to Collegiate 5-4 in another tightly contested playoff match.