Summer Slam: Victoria ready for Australia’s water polo youth championships at Brisbane
They’ve faced more obstacles than most but Victoria is ready to win at the youth water polo championships set to be livestreamed later this month.
Bass Coast News
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Victoria’s under-18 coach is confident his team will be able to hold their own when they take to the pools for the national water polo championships later this month.
Set to be livestreamed, the Summer Slam will be held in Brisbane as states take on each other in two weeks of highly anticipated competition.
>> WATCH THE LIVESTREAM: Waterpolo Australia Summer Slam kicks off Monday, January 10
Games will be held across the Valley Pool, Stuartholme Aquatic Precinct, Musgrave Swim Centre, Yeronga Park Swimming Complex and Langlands Park Memorial Pool, starting January 10.
The competition will begin with the under-16 and under-18 teams battling it out from January 10-13 followed by the under-20 tournament from January 17-20.
Gareth Hunter, the Victorian men’s under-18 coach, said it had been a “really tough” two years for water polo in Victoria with games mostly unable to go ahead.
“We’ve had about six weeks of games in last two years,” he said.
“The junior players coming through have missed out the most, they’ve only played 5-6 games.”
For this reason Mr Hunter said young players were more eager to get in the pool.
“It’s difficult going into this with limited game experience, but we are confident we will be able to hold our own,” he said.
Victoria, unlike most other states, do not have pools in all schools so when the lockdowns happened coaches were scrambling to find a place for their players to train.
Mr Hunter said he tried some land training sessions with his team over Zoom, but he found it hard to keep the boys motivated.
“Parents are telling me they need this competition to go ahead,” he said.
“They’ve missed out on so many aspects of normal life these past two years, it would be a shame to have their hopes dashed again.”
Centre-forward in the men’s under-20 team Alex Le Maistre said he was excited to get back to competitions.
“It was tough after Covid, there was a fair bit of swimming that needed to be done to catch up,” he said.
“But everyone’s getting back into it now and I’m excited for what the tournament will bring.”
Almost 60 games from both tournaments will be livestreamed thanks to a partnership between Water Polo Australia and News Corp.
Fans will get to watch more than 200 games this year in the Australian Waterpolo League (AWL), Australian Youth Championships (under 14s to under 18s) and the Summer Slam.
Games will be streamed at The Courier-Mail, The Australian, The Daily Telegraph, Herald-Sun, The Advertiser, Hobart Mercury, plus many regional websites.
The dates of the Summer Slam are 10-13 (16 and under and 18 and under male and female), 16-20 (20 and under male and female).
SUMMER SLAM LIVESTREAM SCHEDULE
WEEK 1
January 10 (Fortitude Valley Pool)
9am: U18 Boys Group A – NSW Waratahs v Qld Maroon
10.15am: U18 Boys Group A – Victoria v Qld Gold
11.30am: U18 Boys Group A – NSW Blues v ACT
12.45pm: U18 Boys Group A – Barbarians v Qld Maroon
3pm: U18 Boys Group A – Qld Gold v NSW Waratahs
4.15am: U18 Boys Group A – Victoria v NSW Blues
5.30pm: U18 Boys Group A – ACT v Barbarians
January 11 (Fortitude Valley Pool)
9am: U16 Boys Group B – Qld Maroon v ACT
10.05am: U16 Boys Group B – Tasmania v NSW Waratahs
11.10am: U16 Boys Group A – NSW Blues v Victoria
12.15pm: U16 Boys Group A – Barbarians v Qld Qld
2.30-5.45pm: U16 Boys Quarterfinals
January 12 (Fortitude Valley Pool)
9am: U16 Girls Group B – ACT v Barbarians Gold
10.05am: U16 Girls Group B – Tasmania v NSW Waratahs
11.10am: U18 Girls Group A – ACT v Qld Gold
12.25pm: U18 Girls Group A – NSW Blues v Barbarians
1.40pm: U18 Girls Group A – NSW Waratahs v Victoria
2.55pm: U18 Girls Group A – Qld Maroon v ACT
4.10pm: U18 Girls Group A – Qld Gold v NSW Blues
5.25pm: U18 Girls Group A – Barbarians v NSW Waratahs
6.40pm: U18 Girls Group A – Victoria v Qld Maroon
January 13 (Fortitude Valley Pool)
9am: U18 Boys Bronze Medal Game
10.15am: U18 Girls Bronze Medal Game
11.30am: U16 Girls Grand Final
12.35pm: U18 Girls Grand Final
1.50pm: U16 Boys Grand Final
2.55pm: U18 Boys Grand Final
WEEK 2
January 17: 9am-5.45pm U20 Women at Fortitude Valley Pool
January 18: 9am-7pm U20 Men at Musgrave Park Pool
January 19: 10.15am-2pm U20 Women Semi-Finals at Fortitude Valley Pool
January 20: 9am-3.15pm U20 Women and Men Finals at Fortitude Valley Pool
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