{"id":88910,"date":"2026-01-21T14:24:56","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T12:24:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=88910"},"modified":"2026-01-21T14:24:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T12:24:56","slug":"simplicity-the-keyword-driving-st-davids-marist-inanda-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=88910","title":{"rendered":"Simplicity – The keyword driving St David\u2019s Marist Inanda in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This year, St David’s Marist Inanda will aim to match or even better a very successful 2025 campaign. Photo: Shot by Shani Photography<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a resplendent season in 2025, the St David’s Marist Inanda<\/strong> water polo first team intends to build on the momentum of a memorable year in 2026.<\/p>\n

The Sandton-based school impressed last year, playing a dynamic brand of water polo that saw them win the Vides Water Polo Tournament<\/a><\/strong> and finish second at the prestigious SACS Water Polo Tournament<\/a><\/strong> in Cape Town.<\/p>\n

A talented group of players lifted their game to new heights under the guidance of head coach Dean Whyte<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Their 2026 campaign began shakily a week ago at the King Edward VII (KES) Thursday Night League<\/strong>, which hosted its inaugural games between KES, St David’s, St Stithians College<\/strong>, St John’s College<\/strong>, Jeppe High School for Boys<\/strong>, and St Benedict’s College<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

St David’s narrowly lost 3-5 against Saints, and they’re eager to bounce back against KES this week.<\/p>\n

“We had a lot of work to do on the drawing board; there’s lots of stuff to fix,” Whyte told SuperSport Schools Plus<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

“We have to work on holistic points – from mobility to intensity, to the physiological side of things.<\/p>\n

“One of the big things we want to put our focus on is that it’s a new year, a new team, a new us, and we’ve got to start from the ground and work right back up.”<\/p>\n

The newly formed Night League means the Gauteng schools will battle each other weekly with silverware on the line. The final round takes place on Thursday, 19 February.<\/p>\n

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SA Schools’ star Cooper Haworth will be a key player for St David’s this season. Photo: Hannes Nienaber<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It’s an initiative that coach Whyte believes was needed in the region. “It’s great to finally have a night league,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Although the Gauteng schools have a deeper range of alternative sports, I just find that it’s super busy, in particular with the swimming season. With that said, this is good. We need more games to close the gap in terms of competing.<\/p>\n

“It also develops the sport and allows younger players to come into the fold and step up. It’s nice for blooding in some of our younger players as well.”<\/p>\n

Apart from competing in the league, St David’s will also defend their Vides title next month in East London. Whyte, however, isn’t looking too far ahead.<\/p>\n

“For us, it’s one game at a time. We will worry about the next game when it arrives,” he reckoned.<\/p>\n

“I’m very focused when it comes to these things because school sports are not professional. We are not looking at six or seven games down the line.<\/p>\n

“We will go with the intention to compete in every single game. We focus on good processes, and the outcomes we want will follow.”<\/p>\n

St David’s locks horns with KES on Thursday at 18:00, while Jeppe takes on St Benedict’s at 18:45. St Stithians and St John’s will be in action at the SAC Shield<\/strong> <\/a>in Makhanda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a resplendent season in 2025, the St David’s Marist Inanda water polo first team intends to build on the momentum of a memorable year in 2026. The Sandton-based school impressed last year, playing a dynamic brand of water polo that saw them win the Vides Water Polo Tournament and finish second at the prestigious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":88911,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=88910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/88911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=88910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=88910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=88910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}