Schools play for a cause

FOURWAYS – The final round-robin games took place on 18 January at Roedean School with schools including Roedean, Kingsmead Parktown Girls and St Dominics in the pool for the morning games while St Stithians, Rand Park, St Mary's and St Peter's all competed in the afternoon session.

February 3, 2020

Sarah Koning 1 minute read

Gia Allasio from Roedean catches the ball and edges forward. Photo: Sarah Koning

Nine of the top Gauteng schools, including Crawford College Lonehill, took part in the Old Mutual/Roedean School Prestige Cup on 18 January.

Community service lies at the heart of the water polo tournament which began in September 2019.

Parktown Girls struggles against the Crawford defence. *Photo: Sarah Koning*

The final round-robin games took place on 18 January at Roedean School with schools including Roedean, Kingsmead Parktown Girls and St Dominics in the pool for the morning games while St Stithians, Rand Park, St Mary’s and St Peter’s all competed in the afternoon session.

Kingsmead attempts to pass the ball during their match against Roedean. Roedean won 6–2. *Photo: Sarah Koning*

Roedean took on Kingsmead in the first game of the day, winning 6–2 while Parktown Girls struggled against Crawford with a defeat of 21–1.

Crawford Lonehill performs well against Parktown Girls. *Photo: Sarah Koning*

Roedean were again victorious in their game against St Dominics, winning 8–0. Crawford continued their dominant streak as they took the victory against Kingsmead 7–4. St Stithians outplayed Rand Park 23–4 while St Dominics defeated Parktown Girls 20–0, St Peter’s got the upper hand against Rand Park 11–7 and St Stithians continued their winning streak against St Mary’s, concluding the game with a score of 19–6.

Kingsmead takes on Roedean in an action-packed game. Roedean won the match 6–2. Photo: Sarah Koning

Tournament coordinator Kate Lowings said, “Final placings after the round-robin games mean that St Stithians will play Roedean, and Crawford will play St Mary’s in the semi-finals on 22 February. St Peter’s will play St Dominics and Kingsmead will play Rand Park for placings five to eight.”

The respective games will begin at 8am with the semi-finals and will continue throughout the day with the final being played at 3.45pm.

Crawford Lonehill maintains dominance in their match against Parktown Girls. *Photo: Sarah Koning*

The highlight of the tournament will take place on 22 February at 12 noon when the learn-to-swim children participate in a swim-a-thon.

Lowings explained, “The water polo tournament requires all competing schools to have a CSI learn-to-swim component. Each school has partnered with an under-resourced school and has implemented a programme which teaches swimming and/or water polo at its partnership school.”

Kingsmead takes aim at goal against Roedean. *Photo: Sarah Koning*

All participating schools receive a donation towards their learn-to-swim programmes. The prize money for the top three schools is also donated to the learn-to-swim programmes.