Joshua Smith has always dreamt of representing South Africa. Now, at only 20, he achieved his dreams of green and gold by captaining the under-21 South African canoe-polo team at the 2022 World Championships. He spoke with Emma Solomon about his plans to return to next year’s World Championships with the senior men’s team who he has always admired.
Joshua Smith, a Stellenbosch University student, has always dreamed of representing South African sports. After making the under-18 South African canoe-polo squad in his grade 11 year, he knew it was time to commit. “If I’m going to do this I’m going to do it properly,” says Smith. PHOTO: Emma Solomon
Since he was a small child growing up in Bryanston Drive in Johannesburg, Joshua Smith has always had his eyes on green and gold. “You know that feeling when you put on a Springbok Jersey for a Sunday afternoon around the braai, and you just feel good about yourself,” says Smith. That was the feeling Smith was chasing.
“I told my dad when I was a laaitie, that I want to wear green and gold one day, for what, it didn’t matter,” says Smith. He has dabbled in almost every sport you can think of, from hockey to swimming, cricket to water polo, “and I’ve loved every sport I’ve ever played,” he says.
Today, Smith has long surpassed the goals he had set from himself as a young boy, and in a sport that many people have never heard of. In 2022, Smith captained the under-21 South African canoe-polo team to the World Championships in France.
“Just playing with the SA flag on my chest was a really big deal to me, so to be able to come home to my Dad and tell him that I am the captain, that was really special,” says Smith.
Joshua Smith is adamant he will return to next year’s canoe-polo World Championships, after captaining the under-21 team last year. “You have to roll with the punches, sometimes you’re going to lose, the best in the world still loose,” says Smith. PHOTO: Emma Solomon
A ‘niche sport’
“Canoe-polo is a very niche sport,” states Smith. When people ask him to explain how the sport works Smith usually provides the same rehearsed answer, “It’s basically water polo, in a canoe, with a goal that’s 22 metres above the water.” If this explanation doesn’t quite land, Smith pulls out his phone and shows off a few photos of himself, floating on the water with his canoe, mask, helmet, lifejacket and paddle at the ready.
Smith’s introduction to Canoe-polo happened after his family relocated to Knysna at the end of his grade four year. “When I was younger, my heart and soul were into swimming,” says Smith. However, he knew his love for swimming was not enough to get him where he wanted to be, “I had potential but I wasn’t good enough to give my life to the sport,” he recalls. Smith then found waterpolo, and very quickly rose the ranks and made the Western Province provincial team.
“The [Knysna canoe-pool team] used to play in the waterfront, so when my family used to go for dinners we used to see them,” says Smith. “It is such a cool game to watch, it’s intense and has huge spectator value,” so when Smith was invited to attend an open day he couldn’t resist joining in.
At the start, “I never really saw a future in it, it was just a tool for me to stay fit and strong for waterpolo season,” admits Smith. But after his first South African Championships in grade 10, Smith became enthralled with the competition. “We won the tournament hands down,” says Smith.
Smith immediately fell in love with the canoe-polo atmosphere. It’s the type of sport where “you walk away from a tournament, and even if you suffered the most hectic loss you’re still happy because you’re involved.”
“Josh has this sense of calmness and this feeling that you can put your trust in him,” says Kyle van de Merwe, Smith’s roommate. “I couldn’t think of a better canoe polo player, captain and friend,” he says. PHOTO: Emma Solomon
‘Change in ideology’
In 2019, Smith made the under-18 South African canoe-polo squad, and travelled with his teammates to compete in Ireland at the junior World Championships . “Now I knew I was in the big leagues,” says Smith.
“I started getting stronger, getting faster and understanding the game, kinda clicking if you can call it that,” he says. But, in 2020 Covid hit, and the following year Smith started his BCom in investment management at Stellenbosch University, and canoe-polo took a back foot. “I didn’t really play much in my first year of Uni, I was a bit distracted by the big bad world and being on my own for the first time,” says Smith.
Last year, something stirred in Smith that brought him back to canoe-polo, with full force. “We had been speaking about the World Championships for years, there were murmurs everywhere,” says Smith.
Late into an evening with his teammates, sitting at a camp table waiting for the sun to rise, Smith realised the team’s potential. “It was one of those spiritual moments, it was a shift in thinking and a change in our ideology and we just thought ‘we are going to do this,’” says Smith.
“We all started training, and I don’t think I’ve ever been that game strong. I completely neglected everything that wasn’t focused on getting stronger,” Smith states.
After a training camp in Johannesburg, Smith was announced captain of the under-21 World Championship squad. “I didn’t expect it at all, it wasn’t even a thought process for me, I just have the loudest voice in the pool,” says Smith.
The announcement wasn’t a surprise for Smith’s friends and family. “Josh is a natural born leader, he’s got this amazing sense of spirit and drive to perform,” says Smith roommate, Kyle van de Merwe. “He can make people believe in a cause and play for a win. He is a good leader because he sets an example,” says Smith Dad.
“In canoe-polo, when I win, I win with my mates,” says Joshua Smith, captain of the under-21 South African canoe-polo team. “You work together and share your skills, it doesn’t matter how good you are, if the rest of your boys around aren’t with you, your team is not going to excel,” says Smith. PHOTO: Emma Solomon
Playing at the World Championships
As soon as the team landed in Europe, Smith’s vision of the World Championships fell to pieces. “We lost our coach, we lost our transport, our boats weren’t registered. Our keeper’s visa still hadn’t been approved, and he was sitting in South Africa waiting for the next flight,” says Smith about the chaos that ensued.
Despite the odds against them, new coaches, who were willing to drop everything to support the team, were flown out to meet them. Other teams competing in the tournament were eager to assist with boats, “we had to beg, borrow and steal, and had 2 boats flown in the night before the tournament started,” says Smith.
“Yeah there is competition, but nobody believes they are better than anyone else, everyone is there because we love to play the sport,” and were happy to help the South African team, Smith says.
“The tournament was tough, but we played well,” says Smith. The under-21 team didn’t achieve their goal of a top 10 position, but Smith still regards the experience as once in a lifetime.
“The one moment that really defined [the World Championships] for me, was one of the New Zealand players saying to me, ‘you saffa boys have fight,’” says Smith. At first, “I didn’t understand what he was saying because I felt as if that team destroyed us.”
Now, Smith understands the true take away from the World Championship. “We weren’t the biggest team and we weren’t the strongest team, but no one could say we didn’t fight,” says Smith.
“I sat at half past one in the morning, outside my hotel room, putting vinyl on our boats the night before I played my first ever world champs game,” says Joshua Smith, about his first experience at the canoe-polo World Championship in 2022. PHOTO: Emma Solomon
Returning to the World Championships
“I will go to worlds till the day I die, if I can afford it and I am physically fit to play I will be there,” says Smith.
Smith has now aged out of the junior category, and will be competing with the senior men. Playing with the senior men has always been a dream for Smith, and at next year’s World Championships, he will be playing against the men he has admired since he started the sport.
“Now I get to go and face them and say ‘let’s play, I wanna win and I will do anything to beat you’,” says Smith.