In mid August, Shirley Boys headed down to Oamaru to compete in the South Island Secondary Schools Canoe Polo Championships. We won a silver medal in the u15 grade and came eighth in the senior open grade in a hotly contested tournament.

Bowen Abraham (yr 11) was selected in the Tournament Team. He was also selected for the Mainland Region u18 team to compete at inter regionals in Hastings in October.

Our mission didn’t start well with Nico Parkes-Brown breaking his collarbone the day before the competition. But we still had four experienced and three rookie players keen to make their mark in the u15 grade. And so they did. But after three long and intense days of play, we were beaten in the final by Dunstan High School and claimed silver.

Half the junior team also played in our senior team in the much more intense Senior Open grade. In a super tight game against the eventual third place-getter, we were only just beaten by one goal in the final seconds. We ended up playing off for 7/8 in another hotly contested game which went into extra time. But the demands of playing in two teams caught up with the boys and we couldn’t repeat our earlier win over Southland BHS and finished eigth.

Congratulations to both teams for a great effort.

Junior team: Bowen Abraham (yr 11), Eli Robertson (yr 11), Reuben Brown (yr 11), Riley Thomson (yr 11), Matteo Bec (yr 10), Lukas Ross (yr 9), Angus Anderson (yr 9).

Senior team: Bowen Abraham, Eli Robertson, Reuben Brown, Riley Thomson, Felix Hunt (yr 11), Leroy Cherry (yr 11).

Our regular Wednesday afternoon inter-school competition will restart in term 4. New players are always welcome.