Our top Shirley players flew to Hastings on 24 March to compete in the NZ Secondary School Canoe Polo National Championships, the pinnacle event of their school canoe polo career. They faced fierce competition in the Senior Open A grade from the seven best school teams from around the country that had qualified for the tournament. We came in as the underdogs, largely unknown at the start of the competition. But everyone knew who Shirley Boys' were by the time we left!

We were thrown in the deep end on the first day of competition facing the eventual gold medal winners in our very first game, followed by games against the silver and bronze medal winners. We put up a good fight with a few near misses that could easily have changed the result. But three losses meant we had to win all our games the next day to progress to semis.

On day two, we won the first game but only managed to draw the second game. There was still a chance to progress so long as we beat Hastings Boys' by (we thought) three goals. We won it by two goals and thought we were out, but it turned out that two goals was enough. So exciting - we were in to the semis!

So Sunday morning we put it all out there against the top ranked team to try and get to the gold medal game. However, Fielding High School outclassed us 7-3 relegating us to the bronze medal match against our old mates from Napier Boys' who had beaten us by only one goal on the first day, so the medal was definitely within reach. Both teams came out firing! The crowd was also fired up. Middleton Grange (the only other SI team) lead the cheering for us from the side lines, competing with a large crew from Napier Boys' trying to out-chant them. The crowd was going wild, great atmosphere! Napier Boys' really upped their game going after the medal and got a well-deserved win.

So we ended up fourth, equalling the best result ever from a South Island team. The boys played incredibly well and we received lots of compliments about how well we performed and also what a great sport we were. I think we were the people's favourite. Tom Bishop was selected for the tournament team - huge recognition of a top rate performance! Eli was noted for his speed - labelled as Lightning McQueen by the commentators, Bowen was called the Big Colossus of the team, and Leroy was the Cherry on top.

The boys were amazing, and made their coach very proud. Hopefully they will inspire more Shirley Boys' to follow in their footsteps. It was an awesome weekend of absolutely top level canoe polo - a great experience and development opportunity. We all came home happy and tired.

Players: Kieran Abraham, Reuben Brown, Leroy Cherry, Tom Bishop, Bowen Abraham, Eli Robertson. Coach: Kelly Hansen.