2024 Junior North Island Water Polo Tournament Wrap Up
The North Island Year 9 and 10 Water Polo Cup was played over 21-24 November with Rosmini College entering both Div 1 and Div 2 with Junior A and Junior B teams.
The Junior A team had some intense, exciting games and rose to the challenge against very strong competition in their pool. Playing rivals Rangitoto A in the first game, saw the team missing out by 1 goal, but it was a game that could have gone either way.
Next the team took on SHC who were very physical and ended up winning the tournament. A game against WBHS, who we had previously beaten, resulted in a 4-9 loss followed by another close encounter with SKC and narrow loss 3-4.
Although pool play didn't go our way, the team rallied and put in very strong team performances against Tauranga Boys (8-7) and SHC Blue (6-5), finally playing off for 9th place against Tauranga, winning 5-3. Although the boys were disappointed in 9th place, in true Rosmini style they played with spirit and determination, never giving up even when results didn't go our way.
Thanks to the coaches, Will Catlin, Matt Leadbeater and manager Rachael Roset for all their efforts over the tournament, and to the Director of Water Polo, Lachie Griffiths, who was integral in supporting the coaches and boys of both teams.
It was a very busy three days for Junior B at the Junior North Island Tournament. The team had a tough pool with St Peter’s Gold (their top Junior team), MAGS Boys B (their top Junior team) and a very strong Hamilton Boys High School B team. The boys had a shaky start against St Peter’s, but came from behind to finish just short of a draw in round robin. The boys however, picked themselves up against MAGS Boys B beating them 7-4 and taking away a draw against Hamilton Boys High B giving them a top 2 finish in their pool.
The boys had a very tough crossover game against Takapuna Grammar Boys (their top Junior team as well) in their semi final. They fought back from being 3-5 down to 5-6 down in the last quarter and were unlucky to not take the game to penalty shoot out. This meant the boys met St Peter’s again for the Bronze medal match. It was a very physical game and our boys were caught off guard in the first half, but fought back strongly from being 1-7 down at the half, to being 5-9 down coming into the final quarter. Unfortunately St Peter’s were just too strong in the end, coming away with the bronze. However, it was a massive effort from our team to make top 4 and finish 4th overall. Our goal at the start of the year was to make top 4 in this tournament and the boys achieved that and, despite not getting the bronze, the boys can hold their heads high that they pulled through some tough teams to finish where they did.
Big thanks to Old Boy Ethan D’Souza and Ethan McKolskey for their effort and giving up their time coaching the team through this tournament. They did a stellar job with the boys and were constantly giving the boys feedback in and out of the pool. Also thanks to Patricia Khan for all her time, management and support of the boys and coaches.
Photos by Rachael Roset, Lauri Sangster, Patricia Khan
