The future of Waterpolo is bright at Columba College, with our Year 7&8 team finishing fourth in A Grade at the South Island Tournament held at Labour weekend.

Our Columba team were entered into A Grade at the Tournament, due to their success in the Otago Intermediate A grade competition, in Term 1 this year.  The first ever all girls team to win the trophy.

Player Report from Sophie Gaudin.

Frankie McAuliffe stepped into the goalkeeper roll at the start of this year and has shown incredible commitment and improvement over the weekend.  Darcy Baldwin has shown amazing defensive instinct  and in the attacking end sister Tegen shows outstanding attacking talent.  Grace Hill works very hard and along with Kayla Smith has come into the team eager to learn and improved admirably over the three day tournament.  Clara Peniamina's strength and speed make her an unstoppable attacker.  On defence, Zara Pratley and Amelia Loudon work together to make it difficult for opponents to score, and are still able to score goals on attack.  Anya Rhodes combines her speed and knowledge, to make for an up and coming awesome player.  Zoe Allibone has extreme talent and has an outstanding understanding of the game and Ryan Dailey leads from the front, doing a fantastic job of captaining the team and a true team player with amazing talent and drive.

The Columba team faced mixed teams from Malborough through to Invercargill, and placed fourth overall in A Grade.  An amazing placing, with limited practice and games prior to the tournament, competing against mixed teams who have been training right through Winter.   We are all extremely proud of the team. 

 Also a huge thank you to Year 13 coach Sophie Gaudin, who has worked really hard with the team, assisting the students new to Waterpolo and working with our experienced players and moulding them into an awesome team.  Fantastic effort Sophie, the results reflect the time and effort you have put into the team.