On Wednesday 25 November, the Junior A water polo team left to go to Christchurch for the South Island Junior water polo tournament.

We had our first game on Thursday morning against Villa Maria Junior A. It was a tough first game and we lost 7- 4. As that was our only game of the day, we headed to the International Antarctic centre for the rest of the day. There we went on the Hägglund, which is the vehicle used to travel around Antarctica, we went into the snow dome which replicates the temperature of Antarctica, we saw penguins, and watched a 4D movie, but everyone's favourite thing we did there was patting and playing with the Huskies. We all had heaps of fun at the Antarctic Centre and were ready for Friday which was looking like it was going to be two hard games.

On Friday we had two difficult games, we lost our first game 16-0 to a strong St Margaret's team and then did some black Friday shopping. We had our second game at 8 against St Hilda's. After a slow start, losing 8-0 at quarter time, we grouped together as a team and played well for the other three quarters, but ended up losing 13-5.

Saturday was a big day for us, as we had three games. Our first game was against CWP combined, and after a slow start again, we managed to tie up the game at 9-9. After drawing this game, we geared up to play Marion. We won that game 4-3, which meant we got 5th in our pool and played our quarter-final against Villa Maria Junior B. We had a great game and worked well together as a team, and ended up winning 14-1.

Because of our big win on Saturday night, we had to get up early for duty on Sunday morning and then played Burnside to see whether we would playoff for 7th/8th or 9th/10th. After a very physical game, we ended up losing 4-2. We then prepped for our 9/10 playoff against St Andrew's/Malborough combined. After a good start, working well together as a team, we won 8-2, meaning we got 9th. We all developed so much as players and got a lot better as a team. We all thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to play water polo at a higher level, and can’t wait for next year. A big thank you to our coach Sophie Gaudin and our managers, Brett and Lisa Dailey, and Jennifer Hill. Also a massive thank you to Mrs Duthie for coming all the way to Christchurch to watch us play.