I’m uncoachable.
I know I shouldn’t be sounding off on social media – and clever people have
told me not to – but from time to time I can’t help myself.
Accordingly, I
took to the keyboard to express my disapproval about the season-opening
under-14 water polo in Johannesburg being run as a tournament, with semifinals
and a final, and a “best of tournament” team being announced.
My views were
quite solidly affirmed by a pretty heavyweight list from the educational and
sporting arena, but the organiser of the tournament wasn’t very happy, and he
told me so.
He was right to
be cross insofar as my Facebook post never credited him, and his school, for their
efforts and the sacrifices they made in organising and running what was a three-day
event. He correctly pointed out that the aim was to get the kids playing again.
And they had a
great weekend of healthy sport in a quite magnificent water polo facility. I spent
Friday morning there and I came away heartened by the numbers and interest at
this age level, and impressed by the standard of play of some of the teams.
It’s not about
me, I know, but I should point out that the idea of starting the water polo
lives of grade eights who had never played before with a gathering at which
they played multiple games and where their coaches could teach them the game
and have them put what they learnt into practice immediately, was mine. I was
chairman of the then Transvaal High Schools Water Polo Association and I got the
handful of schools that played the game at the time to agree to it. We held it in the
little pool at Highlands North, the idea being that the players could get more
of the ball in that enclosed space.
The numbers have
exploded since then, polo is being played at some primary schools, and the
level of coaching has improved greatly. The boys and girls I saw last Friday
had no problem playing in a 25m pool. The principle behind the festival, I
believe, shouldn’t change though.
That’s where I
don’t agree with the organiser of last week’s tournament. It is, he told me, a
continuation of the Inland Cup tournament that has been staged at Crawford
College over a number of years and it is a proper tournament, running alongside
a friendly festival in which “non-competitive” teams played. He then accused me
creating the perception that the atmosphere was competitive whereas it was
about celebrating water polo and loving being back in the pool again.
My response is
that, clearly, it’s not a perception – it was a tournament with semis and a
final. And that is something that cannot be good for players so young who know
nothing about the game yet.
Amazingly, there
was a tournament at Grey College the week before (the 2nd week of
school) that was run as a competition too. By contrast, the Ken Short under-14
tournament, a national event hosted by Jeppe, was changed in 2020 - it’s 23rd
year of existence - from a tournament to a festival because it was felt it came
too early in the development of those young players – and it is in March! The
headmasters of the, mainly boys-only, schools involved agreed with that.
There’s no
question that even those players who played polo in primary school still have a lot
to learn and competitive matches so early are not the best place for that to
happen. The schools who have polo at their bespoke prep schools stood out at
the weekend – they smashed everyone (which does neither them nor their
opponents any good) - but the others are going to catch up to them and their greater
experience in catching, passing and shooting isn’t going, on its own, to see
them through in later years.
So, well done to
the organisers of last weekend’s event. You certainly did provide an
opportunity for those kids to get started in water polo and, hopefully, to start
loving the game. It was a privilege for them to play in what must be the best aquatic
centre in the land. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to see it being
used for water polo.
I just think it’s
too early for the little ones to be too focussed on winning right now.
I hear you although I have sympathy on the organisers who as you said were excited to get the kids revved up and into the pool at the start of the year. Maybe you need to hear an anecdote from a recent tournament I went in PE. It was second team tournament at Pearson High School. Obviously these are older boys (I'm not comparing it to the u14 tournament) and being a 2nd team tournament (some schools sent a 2nd and 3rd team) it was fairly relaxed but at the same time boys being boys very competitive. The part that will tell you that they boys themselves understand what this is all about happened during the playoffs. As you know with these tournaments all the teams play the same amount of games so eventually there are playoffs all the way down the list including the wooden spoon. Well the boys decided that the wooden spoon game would be turned into the highlight of the tournament they were cheering and roaring away as if this was a world cup final. It helped that the game itself went to penalties and actually lived up to the hype that the boys themselves had created. Anyway it was a fantastic advertisement for water polo and for the fact that these young men understood what in the end was important to celebrate. Anyway my point is the kids sometimes understand things better than the adults and we should relax and let them get on with it.
ReplyDeleteWow! What a great story. I have come across instances through the years when, as you say, the kids understand what it's all about better than the adults. The problem usually is that some teacher comes along and spoils it all. I'm going to steal your comment, and tell the story of one of them in my next Two cents worth. Thanks for commenting. Theo
ReplyDeletePleasure - thank goodness I decided to go I was ummming and ahhhing about whether to make the trip to PE and in the end it was a very enjoyable tournament of which that game was a highlight. I agree sometimes the adults just don't get it - safety-ism in particular has got out of hand. Keep up the writing.
ReplyDelete