While most of us are entering the end-of-term wind-down, our 1sts Water Polo team are doing the exact opposite, upping their energy in anticipation of the annual Trans-Tasman tournament in New Zealand.

A highlight of Newington’s sporting calendar each year, the Trans-Tasman Schoolboys’ Cup provides our players with an opportunity to challenge themselves in a highly competitive environment.

‘We always take our premier team and so knowing there is an overseas tour on the horizon is something our players really look forward to,’ says Mr Ryan Moar, Director of Water Polo at Newington. 

‘We have students who are foregoing the NSW State Championships and a training camp with the National Junior coach to enable them to represent the College in this tournament, so it’s a significant event for us.’  

The Trans-Tasman Schoolboys Cup has been held annually since 2004 and is always hosted in New Zealand or Australia. In its inaugural year, Anglican Church Grammar School in Brisbane ran the Cup as an invitational event due to the cancellation of a previous event known as the Southern Skies Water Polo Tournament. The official Trans-Tasman Schoolboys’ Cup was established with the intention of rotating it annually around Auckland, Queensland, and Sydney or Melbourne.

Longtime competitors have included Westlake Boys High School, Sacred Heart College Auckland, Auckland Grammar School, Brisbane Boys’ Grammar, Church Grammar, Rangitoto College, Newington College, Melbourne High School and St Aloysius. 

‘Historically, Newington has typically performed very well at this tournament,’ says Mr Moar.

It’s a very tough competition, but we’ve often placed among the top schools. We’ve also won the entire competition twice — first in 2015 when we hosted it here at Newington, and again in 2019 when Sacred Heart College in Auckland was hosting.’

‘It’s a big week for our students – they’ll play two matches on most of the days, battling it out to increase their scores as much as possible towards the pointy end of the tournament,’ says Mr Moar.  

This year, the six-day competition will be held at Westlake Boys High School in Auckland from 3 December. Nineteen schools will compete, with around 200 players expected to participate.

In preparation, our 1sts are currently hitting the pool up to four times per week. 

‘Preparation for the Trans-Tasman is part of our regular Water Polo Program so for the most part we stick to the same training schedule throughout the season,’ says Mr Moar, former Olympic and NSW coach. 

‘We discuss tactics and slightly adjust our training in anticipation, but not by a significant amount. 

‘This is a fantastic opportunity for our top water polo students and we’re very excited to see how they execute their skills during the competition.’ 

The 2025 Water Polo season at Newington has been an exciting one with some notable achievements. Year 11 student Sam R was selected for the CIS Secondary Boys 18&U Team, as well as the Combined AAGPS team along with peers Rob W (Year 12), Flynn V and Henry G (Year 11), and Orson O-J (Year 10). Find out more about Newington’s recent sporting achievements in our latest issue of The NC magazine.   

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If you are part of our Newington community, you can find out more about our Water Polo Program here: https://newspaces.newington.nsw.edu.au/homepage/3648. 

You can also find more information about our sports program at Newington here on our website.