New teacher to the school, Ms. Alex Boyd will head to the Netherlands in March with the New Zealand Women's Water Polo in a final qualifying tournament for Rio.

A Physical Education graduate, Alex joined the Christchurch Boys' High School staff this year in the Maths and Social Studies Department.

Fairly soon, she will be away from school on national duties for the qualifiers.

Eight women's teams attend the Olympics. Thus far, Brazil (as hosts), Australia, China and Hungary have all qualified, leaving just 4 spots up for grabs from the tournament.

The draw for the Olympic qualification see New Zealand is in the pool against France, Italy, Russia, Cuba and the Netherlands.

"The draw for the Olympic Qualification tournament is pretty good for us, as we aim to make top four in our pool play in order to cross over with the other pool in the quarter finals" - Alex Boyd.

USA won the 2012 Olympics, and will be tough in Holland. As will Spain (2nd at 2012 Olympics), and Netherlands (who were 2nd in the recent European Championships).

We wish Alex and the team all the very best.