Senior Water Polo Academy Builds South Island Championship Team

By Leo Holt Captain Senior Water Polo 2020 | Posted: Thursday March 5, 2020

On Saturday the 22nd of February, Senior Water Polo teams from OBHS had a real boost!

We were lucky enough to secure training time in the deep dive at Moana pool. This is a rare commodity as are the services of an experienced water polo enthusiast such as Paul Wagner. Paul has a strong background in the sport both as a player and a coach and he is currently involved with Otago Water Polo. Paul was also able to enlist the help of Troy McGuiness from OWP to give one on one coaching to both the senior and junior goalkeepers. We extend our thanks to both Paul and Troy.

It was an extremely beneficial training since the majority of the boys normally train only in the school pool but this gave them the chance to run full games in the pool that will be used for competition. The Water Polo Academy was a great success, reaching its goal of identifying players to represent OBHS in the upcoming South Island Secondary Championships, but also in identifying and developing future talent.

Leg work and ball skills formed the basis of the academy and the boys were most excited by the round-robin tournament in the last hour which fully tested their skills and brought the values of perseverance and excellence to the fore. One of the key features of this Academy Training was having a few junior players who were handpicked to attend. These players are aware that they were chosen to “step up to the plate” and that they are on the radar as future stars of water polo.

It was a great opportunity to have. A free subway footlong of our choice was a great help halfway through! The final team senior team that have been named to represent OBHS at the upcoming South Island Secondary Schools’ Championships are:

Leo Holt, Captain
Cameron Jefferies
Walter Savage
Eddie Wright
Ethan McGregor
MacLeod Glaister
Whetu Price-Koopu
Junaid Gydien
Harry Summers
Tim Orchiston
Izak Wilson

Well done boys! Keep up the hard work and I’ll see you at training!

Increased training times in the run up to SISS are:
Tuesday 5pm - 6pm with Paul Wagner at OBHS pool
Thursday Lunchtime with Leo Holt (Captain’s Training) at OBHS pool*
Thursday 5pm - 6pm with Paul Wagner at OBHS pool*
Friday 7.15 - 8am with Paul Wagner at Moana Pool

*new additional training times

Leo Holt, Captain of Senior Water Polo 2020