Columba College water polo is on the rise, and the school has had three competitive teams entered in the schools' weekly competition at Moana Pool this season. With numbers and popularity growing, this fabulous sport is sure to grow even more at Columba over the coming years.

With a Senior A team, Junior A team, and Intermediate team all representing Columba, the school has been extremely lucky to have the expert knowledge and support from two community coaches and our student coach, Brenna Lyons, to help grow the game and interest level among students this year.

The Junior A team (Years 9 & 10) has shown admirable enthusiasm and dedication across the season with all team members consistently committing to weekly training. As a result, the team has developed significantly over the past few months. Playing numbers grew as the season progressed, and the team is now extremely competitive in the Dunedin schools competition. Coach Rob Jefferies highlights the rise of this team from Term 1 where they were being beaten by large scores, to Term 4 where they secured two wins, a draw and only narrow losses to their opposition. Progress in motion!

Players from the junior team also helped to bolster the Seniors every week, with up to six players from the Juniors playing for the Senior team. Incredibly, the Seniors only lost twice during the season, with the help of their ably and talented younger peers! Columba Senior A were in a 3rd/4th play-off match recently to finish the regular season and came up against Taieri College Seniors (all boys). The junior players again stepped up and the team played extremely well only losing by one goal – what a great outcome for this young and up-and-coming team of athletes!

The Year 7/8 Columba Intermediate team this year consisted of a fabulous group of students. Playing the whole season short on players, yet still producing impressive results. The team only lost one game and ended up 3rd in their respective grade. They were very unlucky in the end to miss out on a spot in the final. Alice Jefferies and Olivia Brown, both representative water polo players, proved to be stand-out players for the Intermediate team, and the skills and talent these girls both have for the game certainly bode well for the future!

The Columba teams are learning the game of water polo well, and have come to the realisation that swimming is an important component in the sport of water polo  – with speed and fitness required to play the game the way it is meant to be played. Columba water polo has started up optional swimming sessions on Wednesday nights with Sandy Jefferies. Currently, five of the Year 9 girls (in addition to the squad swimmers) attend these sessions with the overall goal of becoming 'water fit' for next year, demonstrating great dedication and a will to get better. Well done, everyone!

The ultimate goal for Columba is to attend the South Island Secondary School water polo championships in Blenheim next year. With the commitment to training and overall dedication witnessed so far by our Columba players, we are sure this goal will be attainable and would like to say a special thank you to Rob and Sandy Jefferies, Flynn, Maia Aoake, and student coach Brenna Lyons for their contribution, guidance, coaching skills, and support of the water polo programme at Columba College throughout 2022. Brenna has shown great dedication and positivity in training and assisting our younger players. Thank you!  

Water polo is definitely on the rise, so if you are interested in taking part in 2023, be sure to sign up in the new year and express your interest to the sports department. All new members and existing players are welcome! 

Here's hoping for a hot summer ahead with plenty of water-time activities!