School water polo champions crowned

Crescentwood

Fort Garry

The waters at Pan Am Pool were a-churning recently, and the stands were bumping as the Manitoba Water Polo Association’s school league champions were crowned following an intense weekend of playoff and final action on Nov. 29 and 30.

In the end, St. Mary’s Academy won the girls high school championship, Vincent Massey took home the boys high school title, and teams from École Viscount Alexander were the middle school winners and runners-up.

“It was a very exciting weekend of water polo,” said Lisa Cuppels, past-president of the MWPA. “For us, the true success story is St. Mary’s Academy, as this is only their third year in the league. Most of their athletes came from competitive swimming and were convinced to give water polo a try. Many of them have since joined the Vortex club in Winnipeg, and at least one of them is playing at the highest level of competition that we have in water polo for club players.”

“We’re feeling great,” said James Villa, teacher and water polo coach at St. Mary’s. “It was a really long season, with lots of effort. The girls played their hearts out and I couldn’t be prouder of them.”

Villa was particularly pleased to see so many “homegrown” water polo players at St. Mary’s on the championship team, which beat Vincent Massey’s girls team.

“We’ve got several players who are club players, so they’ve been playing forever,” Villa said, noting his daughter Jamie, a Grade 9 student, is one of them. “But we do have several girls who got their start when we introduced the program here. That’s the whole point of the school league program is to try to grow (the sport) here in Manitoba.”

Goaltender Daria Piotrovicz started playing water polo in Grade 9 when the sport was introduced at St. Mary’s. The Grade 11 student now plays club water polo with Vortex and is considered one of the top players in western Canada.

“She’s pretty amazing,” Villa said.

Vincent Massey’s boys team was also a mix of homegrown and club team players, with some added help.

“It was a great season for them,” said Susanne Suffield, a counsellor at Vincent Massey and one of the water polo team managers. “For our boys, we had the addition of two international students. Both of them were wonderful additions to the team. We have other students, one who plays club through Vortex, and others who have been playing with the school for up to four years. Some played middle years as well. They’re a great group of kids who really jelled well together.”

“It’s a real team effort,” said co-manager Kristy Vigilance. “It feels incredible. We’re so proud of them — they were just beaming.”

“We have several students graduating who have been part of the team the last four years,” Suffield added. “So it’s so nice to see them grow and develop, both as players and as people over the years.”

This year, the MWPA’s high school league included six boys teams and seven girls teams. Miles Macdonell, Dakota, Kelvin, Vincent Massey, and Collège Jeanne-Sauvé competed in both girls and boys divisions, with St. Mary’s Academy added on the the girls’ side.

The league’s middle school division featured eight teams: three from River Heights, two from Viscount Alexander, and one each from Charleswood, St. Mary’s Academy, and Van Walleghem School.

“It was pretty exciting (to win),” said Lucille Dufault, teacher supervisor for the water polo program at Viscount Alexander. “But that isn’t the most exciting part, to me. Winning championships is great and we’re absolutely going to celebrate that, but to me, the confidence and growth that the kids experience is what it’s all about.”

As an educator, Dufault believes water polo has plenty to offer students — so much so that she has taken the sport up, recreationally, herself.

“The middle years school league as a whole is such a growth environment,” Dufault said. “It’s all about learning, it’s all about improvement. That’s, to me, the most important part.”

The strength of the teams from École Viscount Alexander certainly bodes well for Vincent Massey teams to come, as the middle school is a feeder to the Fort Garry-based high school.

“Every single player I’ve had I’ve just watched their skill and confidence grow,” Dufault said. “I’m so impressed with this sport. The improvement is minute by minute, not even practice by practice. It’s kids really reaching their potential.”

School league teams in Winnipeg play beach-format water polo, where games consist of two 10-minute halves. Each team is made up of three field players and one goalkeeper. The game is played in deep water, so that players cannot touch the bottom. Top players from the recent playoff tournament have been selected to play in an all-star tournament on Sunday, Dec. 14 at the East Kildonan Pool (909 Concordia Ave.).