AUSTRALIANS APPOINTED TO INTERNATIONAL AQUATIC COMMITTEES

Two Australian water polo luminaries have recently been appointed to international aquatic committees.

John Whitehouse, Water Polo Australia Board director and for 21 years honorary secretary of FINA’s Technical Water Polo Committee, has been named to the International Swimming Hall of Fame’s (ISHOF) Honouree Selection Committee’s water polo sub-committee.

Whitehouse is the Oceania representative on the 10-person committee that will sift through a myriad of nominees for induction each year. The sub-committee will then prioritise a small number of possible inductees to go to the electoral college, which consists of about 150 aquatics specialists worldwide and up to two people will then be inducted, generally at the ISHOF headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, USA.

Gary Payne, a long-term West Australian player and official and masters promoter internationally, has been named to the International Masters Swimming Hall of Fame (IMSHOF) Honouree Selection Committee.

In Payne’s role, the newly formed six-person committee will do the same for all the masters disciplines with Payne the sole water polo representative.

ISHOF Executive Nomination Committee chair, Russell McKinnon, of Western Australia, who also oversees IMSHOF, said the pair was well suited to the positions.

“John has been a voting member of ISHOF for at least two decades and his dedication to the sport and knowledge of the code over 50 years as an elite referee and administrator, which has brought him into contact with many people in line for induction.

“Gary, as a member of the Perth Cockatoos, which won the past two world Masters over-70s’ water polo crowns, is in a unique position to express his knowledge of masters water polo while also trying to lobby FINA to include over-75s’ competition at next year’s Masters World Championships in Japan.”

Inductions are done yearly and the three Australian water polo members who have been elevated are Debbie Watson (2008), Tom Hoad (2011) and Bridgette Gusterson (2017).