Podium finishes for all 6 Junior & Intermediate NH league teams
The Intermediate Blue team won Gold at the NH competition last week, culminating in a fantastic year of water polo for this team.
They took on strong rivals MBIS 8A team who they had only beaten once this year. With two members down due to injury in Josh Leadbeater and Connor Kelly, the team rose to the challenge and played a tremendous game to the delight of their parents, big crowd and their student coaches, Mat Mihlajevich and Ethan McKolskey.
Key penalties were awarded in the first half which saw the team 3-1 up and amazing saves by goalie Matthew, meant the team were in a strong position. The second half proved tight with MBIS quickly gaining some goals and making the game an exciting one heading into the final quarter. Rosmini Blue, however, remained calm and controlled, listened to the game plan and had strong defence. The final result was 5-4! The boys should be very proud of the way they played and have gelled as a team all year. Thanks to coaches, Mat and Ethan, manager Tressa Joseph and all the parents for their support this year.
Meanwhile the Junior B team played their Gold medal match against TAP 8 which also had several Rosmini players in the team. It was a game of two halves, where the B team were up in the first half and TAP 8 clawed their way back. The final result played out in the Rosmini B team’s favour and they also won Gold in this grade 5-4. This team has played extremely well this year in the North Island event, the NH League, Auckland and St Cuth’s league - it has been a rewarding year for this team. Thanks to manager Liz Markovina, old boy coach Ethan D’Souza and student coach George Parker for an outstanding year of water polo, where they entered the St. Cuthbert’s league and gained valuable game time that has led to the team Auckland league, gaining first place in their division. A very successful season for this team!
The Junior A team narrowly missed out on the Harbour final but came out on top against Rangitoto A team winning 7-4 for Bronze place. Thanks to old boy coaches, Michael Slessor-White and Will Catlin as well as manager, Natasha McIndoe for their work all year with this team. The Jun A also gained 5th place in the Auckland competition drawing with WBHS A 7-7 in what was another tense match up against these two rival teams.
Rosmini Jun C played for Bronze vs Orewa College in the NH league coming out on top winning, 9-4. Student coaches, Finn Aitken and Isaac Porter have developed the team all year and focused on building their skills and confidence of the game. They have been up against top teams from some of the other North Shore schools, so another great result.
Rosmini Intermediate White gained Bronze vs Pinehurst 13-2 last week. Coached by student coaches, Ed Wescott and Louis McFarlane the team has improved a lot over the season.
Rosmini Intermediate Red coached by Ollie Sahinkaya and Liam Morley also gained Bronze vs Kristin last week winning 9-5. Again, another great effort by the team and student coaches.
The Glenfield Intermediate team, coached by James McIndoe, has also gained valuable experience in this league all year, developing their fitness, skill level and enjoyment of the sport. Well done to all of our Junior and Intermediate teams and we hope to see all our parents, managers and coaches poolside in 2024!
Thanks to all of our old boy coaches, student coaches and parent managers for their support of our water polo programme. We couldn't do it without you. Follow us on Rosmini_waterpolo on Instagram for further updates and photos.
R Peak
