Kiwi canoe polo teams aim for medals at world champs
It’s like basketball meeting rugby on the water, and NZ teams are heading to Italy to take on the world’s best.
They hail from Christchurch to Auckland and will soon represent New Zealand on the international stage.
New Zealand is sending four canoe polo teams to Europe to prepare for the Canoe Polo World Championships in Syracuse, Sicily, Italy from August 29 to September 5.
The teams have been practising hard at Naenae Pool in Lower Hutt for their upcoming competition.
Assistant team manager Meryn Hinton said: “For all the players it is the culmination of at least a year of preparation and training.”
Before the world championships the teams (senior men, senior women, under 21 men and under 21 women) will play warm-up tournaments in Europe.
“Overall, New Zealand does extremely well against the European countries,” Hinton said.
She said New Zealand was the third ranked country at the last world champs and one of only five or six countries that took all four teams to championships.
“It is a realistic goal for all four teams to get medals at the 2016 world champs – hopefully gold.”
The self-funded teams will compete against up to 30 teams at the world champs including from France, Russia, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and Iran.
“Unfortunately we are not an Olympic sport – despite everyone wishing it was,” Hinton said.
“Some people have likened canoe polo to a cross between basketball and rugby on water,” she said.
Matches are fast, explosive and played on open water or in a swimming pool, and regular Eskimo rolls are required.
Over two halves of 10 minutes, two teams of five players each battle over a water polo ball to get a goal.
About 50 countries play canoe polo.
Players range from eight to 50 plus with the only limiting factor being the size of the person and their ability to sit upright in the canoe and hold a paddle.
Anyone wanting to get involved in canoe polo needs to be very comfortable in the water, a good swimmer or from a kayaking or surf lifesaving background and someone who likes a fast-paced exciting game with lots of physicality.
- More information on New Zealand canoe polo is available at www.nzcanoepolo.org.nz and for information on the upcoming world championships go to http://www.canoepolosyracuse2016.com/en_GB/
