KZN u19 girls fit and ready to compete for top honours at IPT
KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) u19 girls’ water polo coach, Cameron Wiid, is relishing the opportunity of leading his side at the Schools Water Polo South Africa (SWPSA) Inter-Provincial Tournament (IPT) in Johannesburg next month.
KZN will be in action from 7-10 December at the St Stithians College Olympic Pool, and the event will be broadcast live on SuperSport Schools.
In 2024, the girls in black and white endured a disappointing campaign in East London and settled for fifth place after beating Buffalo City 13-9 on the final day.
In that final day meeting, Lara Mervis and Kayla Andrews, both of Durban Girls’ College, scored four goals each, while Gemma Malherbe also contributed late to seal the win.
Marvis, the captain this year, and Malherbe are the only two players from 2024’s unit in the 14-player squad set to do duty in Johannesburg.
“I am very excited for the event as a whole,” coach Wiid told SuperSport Schools Plus. “With it being the 50th edition of these IPTs, it’s a massive privilege to be a part of history.
“The ladies are looking forward to the water polo. For a lot of them, it is the highlight of the water polo calendar, and being able to represent their province at the highest level is something they are extremely excited about.”
While KZN missed out on a podium finish last year, they were not far off of it. They played some entertaining water polo but were also somewhat inconsistent.
It was in certain match situations that they let themselves down, like their inability to recover when under pressure, or their inability to put teams away when they had produced a dominant start.
In preparation for this year’s tournament, Wiid said the focus has been on playing as a unit. “So far, I have been pleased with the intensity at our sessions,” he added, and intensity is what they’ll need to better manage those match situations.
“As a coach, it’s very rewarding working at a provincial level, as naturally you have the opportunity to work with athletes who are already highly motivated and competitive with one another.
“This, coupled with the talent in the team, has made the training sessions and scrimmage matches extremely beneficial for the group. I personally love to focus on transition when it comes to gameplay.
“I enjoy fast-paced, counter-attacking water polo, with a major emphasis on playing together as a team with structured attacks.
“Without giving too much away, I’m looking forward to seeing how the ladies interpret my philosophy of the game and add their own creativity to it throughout the tournament.”
The team comprises players from five schools, with two producing the majority of the line-up. St Anne’s Diocesan College has six representatives, while Durban Girls’ College will be represented by five players.
The squad is completed by one player each from St Mary’s DSG (Kloof), Thomas More College, and Reddam House Umhlanga.
Coach Wiid says they’ve gelled well and are working brilliantly as a unit. “Fortunately, with the u19 age group, we have the luxury that, for most of these ladies, it is not their first provincial tournament, and many have been playing together throughout the various age groups.
“They are quite close outside of the water and often spend time together away from the water polo environment. This has allowed the culture in the team to remain very inclusive. and it enables us to push each other to improve at our training sessions without anybody feeling left out or targeted.”
The coach made the transition from boys’ to girls’ water polo this year. He’s keen to see how the province performs overall at the IPT. “I am extremely excited to see how well the province as a whole can do at this edition of the event,” he said.
“In the boys’ section, if we look at last year’s medal positions, KZN was the best-performing province, and, unfortunately, we were unable to win the overall trophy due to a couple of disappointing results on the girls’ side of the tournament.
“This year, we will be looking to take the trophy away from the tournament hosts and hopefully secure the overall best-performing province, which I don’t think KZN has won in a very long time.
“Of course, an achievement like this is never easy, but I feel that with the level of coaching and the talent pool available within our province, a goal such as this should be something we are striving for every year. There is an extremely high level of talent within our province, and it is spread throughout all of our age groups.”
The KZN u19 girls are drawn in Pool B and will open their campaign against Zimbabwe on Sunday, 7 December, at 11:10.
KZN U19 SQUAD
Sipha Ngcobo, Bailey Bartlett, Isabella Stephenson, Lara Mervis (captain), Inge Southey (all Durban Girls’ College), Amahle Mhlongo, Keira Sim, Farrann Elliot, Hannah Savage, Gemma Malherbe (vice-captain), Inez Letschert (all St Anne’s), Erin Mayoss (St Mary’s Kloof), Madison Beetge (Thomas More), Josie Houston (Reddam House Umhlanga).
Coach – Cameron Wiid
Manager – Jade Goosen
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