A prestigious water polo event drew together top club players from a number of schools from across London and from as far away as Lincolnshire to QE’s Olympic-size Martin Swimming Pool.
Teams from King’s College School Wimbledon, The King’s School, Grantham and the Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School competed in one of the preliminary rounds of the U15 London Schools’ Water Polo League, the first time QE has hosted this event.
Ten boys from Years 9 and 10 represented the School in what Nick Bird, the teacher in charge of water polo at QE, described as “an entertaining, high quality and high profile tournament.”
Unfortunately QE’s captain and one of the more experienced players, Dinos Caryotis, was taken ill on the day and had to miss the tournament. “Marcus Rodin of Year 10 stood in as captain and did a great job motivating the team, who initially struggled with an unsettled starting line-up. Sam Carling and Alex Northcliffe also made notable contributions, despite both being a year younger than many of the other competitors,” said Mr Bird.
QE were drawn against eventual winners Grantham in their first match and slipped to a 6-0 deficit in the first half, finally losing 8-2. The second match was a fiercely fought contest, with KCS eventually winning a close encounter 3-2. “By the final game we had lost our vice captain and, although the team continued to battle, fatigue caught up with the squad and we lost our final game 3-0 to the well-organised Habs team,” said Mr Bird.
The team now moves on to the second round of the preliminary tournament which takes place at the beginning of February at the City of London School.