This year, the annual St Anne's Water Polo tournament saw an increase from 10 to 12 teams. New additions were Collegiate Girls' High from Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape as well as Durban Girls' High School from KZN.
The other teams, from various parts of the country, who attended this year, remained the same as in previous years:
Clarendon Girls' High School
Danville
Durban Girls' College
DSG Grahamstown
Kingsmead
Pietermaritzburg Girls' High
St Dominic's
St Mary's Kloof
Westville
The spirit of the St Anne's Tournament is special in the way that all teams stay within the boarding houses of the school and spend much time together making friends from all over the country. Despite the less than desirable weather experienced in the first few days, the girls braved the conditions and there was some great water polo played. The tournament runs with two pool sections, each containing 6 teams. The teams are awarded 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 for a loss. The top two teams in each pool battle it out in a cross pool play-off and the winner of these two games determines the final.
The tournament got underway with a convincing win from St Anne's over the reigning champions from St Mary's Kloof, St Anne's showing great promise and was a clearly determined side. There was also an exciting draw between the Durban derby of Durban Girls' College and Durban Girls' High School. Impressive performances were noted from Clarendon Girls' High School and Collegiate, both from the Eastern Cape, proving to be tough competition. The weather cleared up and, with two days left, the spectators returned and the stands filled.
Durban Girls' College remained impressive with no losses. However, it was St Anne's College, the home team that was the team on all participants' and spectators' lips, from an end position of 8th the previous year; they made it through to the semi-finals with a clean sheet of no losses to face Clarendon. In the other semi-final Durban Girls' College would battle it out against DSG from Grahamstown. The final was an intense game between St Anne's and Durban Girls' College, the end result a 4-3 victory to DGC. The tournament was a great success, a weekend of tough water polo and good camaraderie.
St Anne's girls who represent KZN u16 Water Polo are pictured here: Emma Lunde, Reserve (left) and Camilla McCormack (right).
News and photograph supplied by St Anne's Diocesan College, a private girls school in Hilton, KZN.