From zero to hero Singapore Sports School clinch back to back titles in B Division water polo

SINGAPORE – Six years ago, the Singapore Sports School (SSP) did not have a water polo team. Two years ago, they had a combined team with Meridian Secondary School who finished fifth in the B Division competition of the National School Games (NSG).

And in 2024, they claimed their maiden B Division title, before retaining it on Feb 19 with a 14-8 victory over Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) in the final.

From starting its water polo programme to back-to-back titles in just five years, SSP’s achievements in water polo have created a splash.

Ng Kok Wei, SSP’s individual programme senior general manager, said the school’s dominance in the past two years is due to various factors.

One key initiative was their collaboration with Singapore Aquatics aimed at developing up-and-coming water polo talent. Under the partnership, players have had the opportunity to spar with those in the national youth development squad.

Having national men’s assistant coach Rio Shirahama as the SSP coach has also accelerated the growth of the team, with Ng saying “there’s an environment of discipline that coach Rio emphasises”.

The players train up to 10 times weekly, which sometimes includes two sessions in a day.

SSP captain Javier Ng, who scored two goals in the final, said: “Since last year, we’ve been preparing for the B Division competition and every day we train one to two times and we barely have any rest.

“Even during Chinese New Year, we trained every day and rested only one day.

“This win is not just a gold medal, but it’s (a testament to) the amount of effort we put in during the past few months.”

While it is a rigorous routine, left driver Rhys Vaswani believes the training regimen has been crucial in getting the team ready for the NSG, especially with