On 23 September, the High School held its Certificate Awards Assembly, honouring pupils who have excelled in non-academic spheres of school. The guest speaker was Farouk Mayman, a past pupil of Cannons Creek who recently represented our country in Waterpolo at the Tokyo Olympics. Farouk began his Waterpolo career and learned the basics of the sport at Cannons.
Farouk explained that he knew he had to train harder, work harder and be smarter to make the team, competing against 63 other players. When his name was announced as part of the team, he knew the real hard work had just begun, and that he needed to make a good impression to secure a place in the team for many Olympics to come. He detailed his Olympics experience, with one of the highlights seemingly involving food – “After the tournament, I ate to my heart’s desire. I had dessert for breakfast, lunch and dinner!”
Farouk reflected upon his team’s performance where they lost all their games, but noted that he has so much to learn from the experience and for his career going forward. “You can only play better by playing stronger opposition,” stated Farouk. Farouk sounded positive about SA’s future by detailing the various upcoming tournaments, and stating that he firmly believes we [South Africa] will improve its ranking. He aims to play until he is 40 years old, and then wants to give back to the sport.
The Olympian ended his address with a few motivating words for the Cannons Creek pupils – “Never give up on your dreams. Only you can determine your success. Be a dreamer, but also a doer. Work hard and success will always follow.”
He gifted the school with the Waterpolo ball he used for training at the Olympics, with his name and team number marked on it – a special gesture.
