The National Water Polo Championships were held in Mt Maunganui at the Baywave pool.  We were delighted to have two teams in the Division 1 Premier Grade – our Prem team coached by Gabby Ola’apu and our Senior A team coached by Hannah Ngaire.  We are very proud that both of our top coaches are Dio Alumnae who have been mentored into their roles by Director of Sport at Dio, and New Zealand Women’s Water Polo coach Angie Winstanley Smith.  The depth of our teams was very impressive.

Throughout the tournament our Senior A team showed tremendous skill and strategy in finishing the tournament with only one loss.  Unfortunately, only a premier team can compete in the final 8 so they comfortably won the top second team, only being beaten by the eventual winners.  They defeated many premier teams including St Kentigern College, Epsom Girls Grammar, Carmel College, St Cuthbert’s Senior A team and Aquinas College.  Congratulations to the coaches and parents who were fantastic supporters during the tournament.  The girls showed exceptional ability and demonstrated the depth of water polo at Diocesan.

The Premier Team remained undefeated until the final.  Their resilience in each game leading to the finals was exceptional as each opposition team challenged them with their best games.  The fitness of the Prem team showed with the 3^rd quarter often being their best.  They defeated Palmerston North Girls High School, Rangitoto College, Epsom Girls Grammar, and Westlake Girls and Baradene College to make the finals.  In facing their archrivals, St Cuthbert’s in the final, it was an incredibly tense competition with Dio giving their opposition a 3-goal head start after the first quarter.  They bravely adapted to stop any further goals and scored once in what became a very tight game ending in a 3 goals to 1 loss.  It was an exceptional performance and we were extremely proud of our girls who showed courage, an impressive sporting attitude to finish the competition with grace and pride.

Special thanks to Gabby, manager Christine Lewis and the many parents who cheered and buoyed the students through every challenge and opportunity.  The goalies and captains of each team particularly played an impressive role in leading the teams in and out of the pool.  Thank you for the excitement, for the entertainment and for the camaraderie of sport and for all that we learn along the way.