Stirling girls make a splash in tough event

EAST London's Stirling took the honours in a hard-fought Brian Baker First Team girls' water polo tournament in Grahamstown at the weekend.

Hosted by Kingswood, Stirling claimed the title ahead of an impressive Pearson side for the second time in three years.

The three-day event was attended by some of the best water polo schools from Port Elizabeth, East London, George and Cape Town.

A popular teacher at Kingswood, Baker, who died in 2004, was instrumental in developing girls' water polo at the school.

The tournament, in its third year, was named in recognition of his contribution to the game at Kingswood.

"The appeal of this particular tournament is undoubtedly its grueling nature," organiser Pieter Serfontein said.

"Teams play no less than six full-length games – four periods of eight minutes playing time, as per the Olympics – in a full-sized playing area.

"The tournament has grown in popularity since its inception three years ago and the intention is to keep attracting the best water polo teams in the country."

Grahamstown teams Kingswood and DSG acquitted themselves well, with the hosts impressing with narrow losses in hard-fought matches against Clarendon (5-4) and Reddam House (8-6).

The final placings were: 1 Stirling (EL), 2 Pearson (PE), 3 Clarendon (EL), 4 Collegiate (PE), 5 Reddam House Invitational (Cape Town), 6 DSG (Grahamstown), 7 Stirling Invitational (EL), 8 Kingswood (Grahamstown), 9 Hudson Park (EL) and 10 Glenwood House (George).