Peninsula Canoe Club flies flag in Ireland

OWN Correspondent|Published 1 year ago

The Peninsula Canoe Club’s under-18 women’s team that travelled to Ireland for the International Junior Canoe Polo championships. In the back row, from left, are, Sara-lee Bottger, Mia Verster, Sienna Super, Caitlin Storrier, Avila van Bever Donker, Abigail Bottger and Keeshia Lackay. In front is Gabriela Guberman.

Peninsula Canoe Club’s Junior Canoe Polo Team were part of the SA squad that took part n the International Junior Canoe Polo championships, in Belfast, Ireland, at the end of last month.

The club, coached by Terrence Pomeroy-Ward, owner of Paddle Experience based in the south peninsula, had nine juniors reprinted in three of the four teams that went over.

Although it is a relatively small sport in South Africa, canoe polo is popular in Europe where it is played regularly at club and national level. So the level of completion was exceptionally high right from the start. Peninsula’s teams were overwhelmed at the speed and aptitude of the international players on day one but quickly regrouped to be far more competitive for the rest of the tournament.

There were 56 teams at the tournament so the squad had the opportunity to test their skills against local clubs and some of the best players in Europe, for example the Danish and Czech Republic under-18 and under-21 teams. The tournament was a good building exercise for SA teams preparing for the world championships next year.

The Peninsula Canoe Club’s boys’ under-16 team who took part in the recent International Junior Canoe Polo championships, in Belfast, Ireland. From left, are. Dru Guberman, Samuel Love, Oliver Dunkley, Ethan Simpson, Romano Lackay and Jesse van Never Donker

The under-18A took bronze in their division, the under-18 girls came sixth and the U-18Bs finished 11th.