Over the past five years, St John’s College, SACS, and Bishops have taken turns at the top of South African schoolboys’ first team water polo, with Bishops the pacesetters over the past two years. However, a threat is emerging from KwaZulu-Natal, where Kearsney College‘s under-15 team recently completed an exceptional two-year run in the junior ranks.
Under the guidance of Director of Aquatics, Nick Rodda, who represented the South African national water polo team at the Tokyo Olympics, Kearsney has become one of the leading water polo programmes in the country.
Winning the Reef Cup in March 2024 signalled their emergence, and it boosted the team’s confidence. That was followed by the Saints Invitational title in October 2024, where they beat Bishops 17-14 in the final. That made others sit up and take notice. Kearsney’s first side was a team to be reckoned with.
In 2024 and 2025, Kearsney was also the overall champion of the KZN Top 10, which brings together the province’s top under-14, under-15, and first teams.
Meanwhile, through 2025 and 2026, Kearsney’s under-14, then under-15 side, coached by Chelci Rodda, quietly and efficiently went about stacking titles, coming out on top time and again against South Africa’s leading water polo-playing schools.
Over the course of those two seasons, Kearsney won an eye-opening eight titles, taking on the cream of the crop from around South Africa – including Bishops, Rondebosch Boys’ High, SACS, Wynberg Boys’ High, St John’s College, St Stithians, Hilton College, and Clifton.
During 2025, they played 33 matches, winning 28, drawing one, and losing only four.
Their first title-winning success came at the Curro Under-15 Tournament, despite being the only U14 side in action. Then, up against the best teams in the country, they won the Rondebosch Boys’ High Under-14 Water Polo Tournament, defeating SACS 8-5 in the title game.
At the Hilton College Under-14 Water Polo Tournament, they defeated another Western Cape powerhouse, Rondebosch, in the final, winning 7-5.
Astonishingly, 2025 merely set the table for an even more spectacular 2026 season, which included a 30-match unbeaten streak.
In February, they bagged their first title, beating Grey College 8-5 in the final of the Dallas Hutton Under-15 Water Polo Tournament at Northwood, which was the closest any team came to stopping the Botha’s Hill boys in that event.
At the start of March, Kearsney captured the Indigo Cup at Parktown Boys’ High, winning the title for the second time in three years.
They beat Maritzburg College, Pretoria Boys High, St David’s Marist Inanda, Jeppe, St Benedict’s, SACS, Michaelhouse, and Hilton College along the way, defeating Hilton 8-5 in the final. They also had a close call against St Stithians, playing to a 5-5 draw.
In September, they became the first team from KwaZulu-Natal to win Wynberg Boys’ High’s Ian Melliar Cup. They represented KZN’s hopes, along with Hilton College and Clifton College, taking on another 17 of the country’s leading under-15 sides.
On their way to the final, they dealt St Stithians a 7-4 loss in the quarterfinals.
They were at their best in the semi-finals, firing into a 6-1 lead after the first chukka, and eventually securing a convincing 15-9 win over Bishops. That put them into the final against Wynberg Boys’ High.
Again, a strong first chukka, which ended with Kearsney 4-1 up, led to an emphatic win, with the match ending 12-6 to coach Chelci Rodda’s charges.
Hilton College finished third, beating Bishops 12-8 in the bronze playoff, and they stood in Kearsney’s way at the KZN Top 10.
First, Kearsney dealt with Clifton in the semi-finals, claiming a hard-fought 5-4 win. Then they beat Hilton 7-6 in the title game, landing the school’s first KZN Top 10 under-15 title in 18 years.
“This age group, I like to compare them to Jack Russells,” Rodda said, explaining why her team kept winning close games.
“They have that Jack Russell personality, where they just go. They play against the bigger boys – because we do have a smaller side – and they keep at it. They will go and go until that last whistle blows.”
Matching their feat of 2025, the Kearsney boys also won a title playing against older opposition. However, this time it was even more impressive, with the team pulling off an astounding comeback to edge out Clifton after a penalty shootout in the final of the Nick Rey u16 Water Polo Tournament at Durban High School (DHS).
In the title decider, Kearsney trailed by three goals with a minute and a half to play. That’s when their Jack Russell character showed itself. They struck three times, including twice in the last 45 seconds, to even the scores at 7-7. They won the subsequent shootout 3-2.
Their record also included wins over Jeppe, Affies, St John’s, Thomas More, DHS, St Charles, and St Stithians.
In mid-October, their excellence was on display at the Northwood Stayer Water Polo Tournament, where seven under-15 players helped the Kearsney first team finish as the runner-up, despite facing under-17 players.
“I hold my boys to a high standard. I want them to be at first team level in the way they play, the attitude around the pool, the attitude in the pool, and how they treat other teams. They must carry those standards until they are in the first team,” Chelci Rodda said about her charges’ successful step up to the top level.
“The way we [(Nick and I] coach, and our approach to life in general: you build boys to where you want them to go. You can’t just take a boy who is good, but who doesn’t have the mental strength to play first team and can’t understand the pressure, and then throw him into the first team, and expect him to do well.
“If you take a Grade 9 that has that mental strength, the physical strength, and that drive to play and win, you are setting up the first team for the next three years to do really well.”
“Nick and I both coach very similarly. We both have the same approach to dealing with the boys. That’s why, when the boys go to the first team, they fit in so well with Nick’s coaching and expectations.
The under-14 and under-15 age groups are the hardest to coach, she reckoned, explaining that it is about more than teaching the sport, its tactics and technicalities.
Under-14 boys, she explained, “are new in the school, and they’re out of their depth, and don’t know where they fit in. You have to be their support, help them, and build a relationship with them.
“You have to build a relationship with them, where you can get when they are having a bad day, or something is off, and you can deal with that.”
The structure of Kearsney’s water polo programme helps to get the best out of the players, she said: “At Kearsney, we do a two-year rotation. You go with the team from under-14 up to under-15. That helps nurture that relationship and helps to create that bond.
“It’s not always about winning. Yes, we have done extremely well, but, like I told my boys, if we don’t win a game or a tournament, it’s not the end of the world.
“I want them to enjoy the game, enjoy playing, and enjoy the team that they have with them. I think that’s very important.”
Incredibly, Chelci Rodda helped her charges achieve their successes despite juggling more than water polo balls, but that never detracted from her love for the game and her commitment to her team.
“I love coaching. I really enjoy it,” she said.
“It has been a bit harder because I have a baby now and another daughter. Coaching with the two of them has been complicated. However, I still love. It is still one of my big passions.
“I don’t think I’ll stop any time soon.”
