The Havelock North High School senior girls’ team have won back-to-back Canoe Polo New Zealand Secondary Schools titles.
The Havelock North High School senior girls’ team have won back-to-back Canoe Polo New Zealand Secondary Schools titles.
Hastings hosted the Canoe Polo New Zealand Secondary Schools (NZSSC) Championship and Cup competition in March, just a month after Cyclone Gabrielle devastated Hawke’s Bay.
Across six divisions, 17 high schools from around the country sent 40 of their best canoe polo teams to battle it out at Hastings’ Mitre10 Sports Park, with one school coming from as far south as Christchurch.
Hastings high schools took out the top spots in more than half the divisions. Out of the six divisions, three Hastings high schools placed first in four, with one of those local team captains winning top goal scorer.
Due to Cyclone Gabrielle, Lindisfarne College had not been able to compete at the regional qualifier and was given a wild card into junior open division two.
They showed up at the National Secondary Schools Cup and with a very high score of 5-8 in their final game, the team took out the division two junior open grade at the NZSS Championship tournament.
Three Hastings high schools took out the top spots in four out of six divisions.
Two Havelock North High School teams ended the NZSS Championship tournament at the top of the senior girls’ division and the junior girls’ division respectively.
Also a wildcard entry, Havelock North High School Junior A went through to the final unbeaten, however, the final against the other locals Taradale High School proved to be exciting going into golden goal, meaning they were drawn at full time.
In the end, Havelock managed to clinch the first goal in overtime and win the junior girls’ grade.
For the second consecutive year, the Havelock senior girls’ team took out the NZ Secondary Schools Championship.
The Havelock senior girls’ team had a mixed weekend - although they remained unbeaten, some games were very close.
The finals day saw them compete convincingly in their semifinal but their win in the grand final was extremely close against a well-drilled St Peters College team.
The St John’s College senior team’s captain won top scorer and the junior team ended the NZSS Cup tournament at the top of the junior open division two table.
Forty high school teams battled it out at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Championship and Cup competition to see who is the best of the best.
A NZSS canoe polo spokesperson said the Hawke’s Bay event was “a huge success”.
“This was the first time we had managed to be able to run a full national secondary school competition in canoe polo since 2019 after the disruptions with Covid for the last three years,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that “everyone was in really good spirits. It was three days of full-on competition and participation and we were really happy with the running of the event.”
Due to Cyclone Gabrielle, teams from outside of Hawke’s Bay faced issues with accommodation, however, local players were ready to set up billeting and camping was available at the sports park.
A few cyclone-related hiccups aside, the NZSS spokesperson said, “We were really excited that we could still host such a fantastic event even after the effects some of our players had gone through, and there was a really fantastic vibe throughout the whole weekend.”
