Australia 20&U Men’s Head Coach Dragan Bakic and his team have enjoyed a vigorous two-week preparation ahead of the 2025 World Aquatics Men’s U20 Water Polo Championships, which gets underway this evening in Zegreb, Croatia.
Discussing the squad’s excitement off the back of their two-week training block, Bakic noted the importance for the playing group and staff to take in as much experience to help further their development, in and outside the pool as a team.
“This two week preparation is important for us to get a lot of work done. The first meeting I told the boys to look around the room, because these 15 players that were selected for the tournament have never played together before,” said Bakic.
Bakic was quietly pleased with the team’s performances against heavyweights Serbia, the most successful junior team in history, and Montenegro during the training camp.
“The important thing for me was for the boys to be competitive with these two powerhouses. It was really good to see that only after a few days of training together, we were able to compete.”
Further practice matches against Germany, USA and joint training sessions with tournament hosts, Croatia, highlighted the importance of seizing such opportunities to further player development. A chance to build a solid foundation and strong culture to propel the squad members to higher honours to one day represent the Ord Minnett Aussie Sharks.
“I work very closely with Senior Men’s Head Coach Tim Hamill, with some of these boys already training with the Shark’s team. It’s very important that we follow a very similar set up to the senior team, I think their success has come from having strong team culture.”
“That is the mindset I have brought into this group, positive influence, respect and a never-give-up attitude to help prepare them for the next level.”
The 2025 World Aquatics Men’s U20 Water Polo Championships will run between 14-21 Jun, with 20 countries from around the globe battling it out in Croatia’s capital.
Every game of the Men’s U20 Water Polo Championships will be streamed LIVE and FREE on the World Aquatics Youtube Channel – click here.
Australia will play their first game against Colombia this evening, Saturday 14 June at 8pm AEST.
Click here for more tournament information and full schedule.
AUSTRALIAN 20&U MEN’S DRAW
Saturday 14 June | 8pm AEST | Australia v Colombia
Sunday 15 June | 6:30pm AEST | Australia v Argentina
Monday 16 June | TBC | TBC
Friday 20 June | TBC | Quarter-Finals
Saturday 21 June | TBC | Semi-Finals
Sunday 22 June | TBC | Finals
AUSTRALIAN 20&U MEN’S TEAM
Sam Bloomfield (Sydney Uni, NSW), Sean Bright (Queensland Thunder, QLD), Ashton Brown (Sydney Uni, NSW), Zac Izzard (Sydney Uni, NSW), Daniel Magasanik (Phoenix, VIC), Jake Martin (Fremantle, SA), Rex Palazzi (Cronulla, NSW), Ethan Payne (Cronulla, NSW), Oliver Purcell (UTS Balmain, NSW), Lewis Saupin (Sydney Uni, NSW), Thomas Serhan (UTS Balmain, NSW), Jamie Sharman (Sydney Uni, NSW), Harper Stewart (UNSW), Harry Tucker (UWA, WA), Cory Webber (Sydney Uni, NSW)
Head Coach: Dragan Bakic
