Jeppe to defend unbeaten home record against St John’s
Following the holidays and a pre-season preparing for the opening game of the 2025 water polo season, Jeppe High School for Boys’ coach Lucky Letshabo believes his side is ready and raring to go in their tough forthcoming home fixture against Jon-Marc de Carvalho’s St John’s College on Saturday, 18 January.
Jeppe showed great improvement in the fourth term of 2024, and they closed it on a high note by remaining unbeaten at home.
Letshabo looked back on those games proudly, telling SuperSport Schools Plus: “Reflecting on the first team’s result over the last term, we had three home fixtures. There was an exciting 10-10 draw against Affies, and wins over King Edward VII (KES) and St Alban’s College.”
Jeppe also played some good games at the Saint Stithians Water Polo Invitational, which brought together top sides from around the country, Letshabo said.
“There was some really good water polo displayed by the players against some really difficult teams. I think our game of the tournament was in a losing effort against SACS, in which we went 10-13 down. It showed how vast the improvements the boys have made are.”
Jeppe’s improvements were also reflected in the selection of nine players for Central Gauteng teams that contested the 2024 Schools Water Polo South Africa Inter-Provincial Tournament, including Ethan Horn and Mukhethwa Maemu in the u19B team, and Aiden Khoury in the gold medal-winning u16 side.
Diego Caetano and Brayden Macfie turned out in the u16B side, while Everett Carlin was a member of the u15A team, and Ayanda Mabaso, Joshua Dobrowsky, and Trent Horn were included in the u15B side.
“Again, that shows the growth that Jeppe is experiencing at the moment,” Letshabo said.
After a welcome break following the IPTs, the coach feels his team is well set to perform strongly. “The players were involved in pre-season from last week. They have a clean bill of health and everybody is ready for the season,” he shared.
However, trying to keep a clean home record against De Carvalho’s St John’s College side will be a tough challenge.
“We didn’t for some reason have a fixture with St John’s in last year’s calendar, so it will be interesting to see how the boys shape up there, but our preparations have gone well,” Letshabo said. “We are also preparing for the Grey College tournament that happens in a fortnight.
“I know St John’s is preparing for the St Andrew’s Shield, so it is an opportunity for myself and Jon-Marc de Carvalho to put some final things in place ahead of those two tournaments next week.
“We are expecting an exciting fixture against a St John’s team that includes provincial players who were standouts in last year’s IPT. We want to kick off our season, so we are very much looking forward to it,” said Letshabo in conclusion.
