A “team-first” approach elevates Saints’ water polo
The St Stithians College first team water polo side isn’t loaded with big names or so-called “star players”, and that’s no secret. But it’s a group of talented players who are always willing to work hard, follow instructions, and put their bodies on the line for each other and the school badge.
This was evident over the past weekend when Saints participated in the annual St Andrew’s College (SAC) Shield in Makhanda.
The side, guided by coaches Michael Stewart and Jason Sileno, wasn’t mentioned among the pre-tournament favourites. They were quick to silence their critics, however, and played some entertaining water polo in the group stage of the competition, winning four of their five matches in a tough and competitive Pool B.
Those results set them up for a quarterfinal clash against Clifton College, which they won 9-7, to progress to the last four. Making it to the semifinals was an achievement in itself for Saints, considering that they finished eighth in 2025.
They took on eventual winners, Bishops, in the semis and showed grit, character, and fight, falling way behind in the early going, but fighting on before eventually losing 5-12 to an on-fire side. There was still plenty to play for on the final day, and St Stithians took on South African College High School (SACS) for the bronze medal.
SACS was one of the tournament favourites. They were the only team to go through the group stage unbeaten, but their winning streak ended in the semi-finals against Rondebosch Boys’ High.
They were favoured to clinch the bronze medal, but Saints had other ideas. The boys from Johannesburg produced one of their best performances at the tournament, outplaying SACS 11-4 to secure third place.
“I’m immensely proud of medalling at SAC Shield,” head coach Michael Stewart told SuperSport Schools Plus.
“This is the first time we have medalled since we first came to the tournament in 2021. Saints’ teams of old had a ‘fourth-place curse’ – we would make semi-finals but often ended up being the lone team in the top four not to walk away with something to show for our efforts.
“This team wasn’t our most talented age group when they arrived in Grade 8. However, what they lacked in talent they made up for in hard work.
“They also have grit; they’re as hard as nails. They listen; they rarely make selfish and ego-driven decisions. I call these ‘TikTok highlights’ decisions, and we try to avoid those as much as possible.”
Before heading to Makhanda, Saints opened their season with back-to-back victories in the KES Thursday Night League.
They defeated KES 9-6 before claiming the big scalp of St David’s Marist Inanda 5-3. That imbued them with confidence, ahead of the SAC Shield.
Coach Stewart revealed the approach that he and coach Sileno took to get the best out of the side: “We really emphasised a simple game plan – get the basics right,” he said. “We also backed every player in the team.
“Jason Sileno and I don’t feel nervous putting any of my players into the pool. We back them and let them work their magic, play their role, and celebrate them when they execute the game plan.
“This doesn’t have to be scoring or making a ”TikTok Highlights reel’ – it’s listening, correct body position, getting into the right space, and making the extra pass. The last thing was to focus on accuracy rather than hype. Getting hyped for eight games in a row is exhausting; it often drains the boys by the fourth match.
“In rugby season, when you only have one match per weekend to play, hype is okay; it brings intensity. However, at long, highly competitive tournaments like the SAC Shield, we need the boys to be accurate, precise, and calculated.
“It’s a think-don’t-feel, read-don’t-respond game plan,” he explained.
Saints, as mentioned above, is also contesting the KES Night League, which takes place every Thursday.
It’s an initiative which pits some of Johannesburg’s best water polo-playing schools against each other, and coach Stewart has gladly welcomed it.
“When the league resumed post-Covid 19 (in 2021), the coaches and managers of Johannesburg schools decided that we would try to play as much ‘polo as possible.
“Water-based athletes benefit from maximum exposure to high-pressure situations, especially seeing as water is not where humans move naturally. This has been our policy as a collective since then, and I think it is one of the big reasons that Central Gauteng has won SA Schools three out of five times post-Covid, and has been in the final every year since 2021.
“This goes for both our girls’ and boys’ programmes. Water polo, unlike rugby, is also a sport which can be played without a high risk of injury. Therefore, the league gives our players maximum exposure. We also don’t have the same number of athletes playing the sport as the Western Cape and KZN schools.
“Saints Boys College has only 60 polo players in the whole school. We have some diamonds from the beginning but, because of the lack of depth, we also need to turn coal into diamonds regularly.
“The best way to do this is play, play, play – expose, expose, and expose.”
St Stithians returns to action on Thursday in the KES League when they take on St Benedict’s College. A win in that clash would see them sitting comfortably atop the standings. The match starts at 18:00.
