22 January 2025
When Clifton College‘s Director of Water Polo, Paul Martin, chose to move to Hilton College after 10 very successful years at the Durban school, Clifton knew there were not many coaches of Martin’s quality who could replace him as the head of their impressive water polo programme. So, they reached beyond South Africa’s borders to find his replacement.
Pierre le Roux, who represented the South African men’s water polo team for two decades as a player, is a highly regarded coach, who had spent the last two years in New Zealand, and when he was presented with an opportunity to take charge of ne of South Africa’s leading water polo-playing schools, it was too tempting an opportunity to turn it down. He brings with him vast experience of water polo in South African schools and a very successful record.
As a schoolboy, Le Roux learnt the game from Vladimir Trninic at St John’s College and, immediately after finishing school, began coaching at the school under Trninic, who has built up a remarkable family tree of coaches.
Ahead of the St Andrew’s College (SAC) Shield, which gets underway on Thursday, Le Roux said: “He has a lot of coaches there. Off the top of my head, Jon-Marc [De Carvalho], the head coach of St John’s is there, Etienne le Roux, my brother, who is with Rondebosch, and Michael Stewart [coach of St Stithians] was coached by him at OG Eagles.
“Vlado can be very proud of what he has produced in the calibre of players and coaches over the years.”
Le Roux’s coaching journey included 10 years at St John’s, another of South Africa’s premier water polo-playing schools, a short stint at Reddam House Constantia, which was followed by seven years at St Stithians Girls’ College, where he produced multiple teams that were the best in the country. From there, he moved to Kearsney College, where he coached many of the players that helped the Botha’s Hill school win the Reef Cup, KZN Top 10, and St Stithians Invitational titles last year. After that, he spent two years at Hamilton Boys’ High, in New Zealand, which is home to 2 500 boys.
He has coached provincial teams from the u13 to the u19 age group. Going over his record, Le Roux recalled: “I’ve won IPT titles with the Gauteng u19 girls. I’ve won with the KZN u16 boys, I’ve won with the Gauteng u15 boys and the u15 girls, as well.
“There are a whole lot of silver medals that I don’t like to talk about,” he said with a laugh. “I think I went for five years in a row losing in the final, so that was a bit heart-breaking. But it builds character, and it is good to be in those situations.”
Much like Trninic tapped into St John’s alumni to coach and boost that school’s programme, Le Roux will follow that successful model at Clifton.
He arrived back in South Africa earlier this month and feels Clifton water polo is in a good place because of the high-quality coaches at the school. “The junior programme seems to be strong,” he said. “It comes down to the coaching we have in the Prep school, where Shaun Ferreira is doing a fantastic job.
“Then, Todd Howard, who is a current Springbok, is coaching the u14s. Again, something that I try to encourage is if you are a Clifton Old Boy, and you are still playing, get involved. Mitch Slade, a former Clifton boy [who made SA Schools in 2023] is also back and coaching.”
Given the long move he had to make from New Zealand, Le Roux hasn’t had the luxury to properly prepare his side for the forthcoming season, and it’s going to take him some time to get to know his players.
Looking ahead to the SAC Shield, and its outstanding field of competitors, he said: “The boys’ programme [at Clifton] has been very competitive over the last few years. There will be an expectation of Clifton to do well, I think.
“But I am also a realist. I landed in South Africa 14 days ago, so my traditional pre-season approach to training has not happened. I know that my guys are maybe not as conditioned as they should be, but we have worked hard the last 10 days or so.
“I said to the boys, we have to be realistic about our expectations. We are going there with a slightly younger side, but a side that is reasonably fit and reasonably strong. We’ll take every game as it comes.
“It will be a good indication of where we are compared to the top 10 national teams, and it gives us six weeks to prepare for the KES tournament, to try and close the gaps, to maybe become a little fitter, a bit stronger, and develop our game-plan a little bit.
Le Roux will, also, use the SAC Shield as an opportunity to assess his players under tournament pressure, to get a feel for the character of the individuals when the chips are down.
“Usually, you have three or four years with a player, during which you can identify the character and the nature of the boy, so you know how to treat them, how to talk to them, how to motivate them. You have to try to protect them in those situations. That comes with time,” he said.
On Tuesday, in a final warm-up for the SAC Shield, Clifton edged out Westville Boys’ High, who will also be in action in Makhanda, and a team they will face on the opening day, 9-8.
Being asked to take charge at Clifton presents him with a unique opportunity, Le Roux added, especially because when the College was founded, it chose to focus on water polo, which laid the foundation for its success in the sport. Clifton has, of course, grown, and boys are now heavily involved in many other sports, with most of them playing multiple sports, because Clifton usually competes with larger schools, but the tradition of water polo excellence remains.
Knowing that Clifton is prepared to keep investing in the sport was a strong selling point, Le Roux said, when he was approached about the job: “For any coach, that’s what you want from your employer. You want to know that you’ve got the backing of the school, that they’re willing to overcome the hurdles that we will, inevitably, face.”
Despite his record of winning, Clifton’s new man in charge insists he values other things more than that. He explained: You’re dealing with young men that are socially active. They want to go out, they don’t want to miss out on that aspect. You want to encourage them to have a balanced lifestyle, and that is something that I have always preached to my athletes.
“It’s a three-pronged approach. You have to commit to your sport, if that is what you want to do, but you have to find time to socialise, unwind, and build relationships. You have to, firstly, focus on your academics.
“You’re a student-athlete until you sign a professional contract. Not many guys end up being a Cristiano Ronaldo. Your academics are still the most important thing and then finding the balance elsewhere.”
Le Roux’s ambitions extend beyond leading Clifton to success. He wants to see KwaZulu-Natal’s and South Africa’s water polo succeed. One of the ways to make that happen is to reintroduce a national programme and Clifton, with its superb Clifton Aquatic Centre, has the facilities to support those endeavours.
He said: “I’ve already spoken with our Headmaster and our Head of Sport about bringing our national programmes here, with the boarding house offering athlete packages where they can come here for five days, stay here, eat here, and use the gym, and the pool.
“Our national programme desperately needs involvement from the schools, to offer these things for them, an opportunity for them to train, especially at facilities like this. It’s very present in my head, trying to get that active and get it going.”
Something that is, perhaps, of even greater importance to Le Roux is growing the game at club and university level. “In water polo in South Africa, our biggest problem is not maladministration and Swimming South Africa, it’s the retention of players after school,” he explained.
“If you go to the IPTs, you’ve got well over a thousand athletes playing, but if [at tertiary level] you go to a South African Student Sports Union (SASSU) tournament, you’re lucky if you have two competent teams. We’re losing too many matrics, who are not continuing afterwards. That’s where our club structures and our university leagues are failing us.”
Teaching players to love the game, while helping them to find a balance in life, and not overworking them in their school years can help turn the tide, he said.
He’ll work hard to guide players with international ambitions, but, he added: “There are also boys, the bulk of them, who just want to play for fun. They want to be social. They want to enjoy it. They want to go on tours. It is not about winning at all costs. It’s about being there with your mates and building good memories.
“My best memories are still my tours with my friends at school. Those are lasting friendships that I have made. After a 20-year international career, my best memories are still my school ones.”
He hopes that the boys under his guidance will one day be able to say the same thing.
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