NEW HOST CITY BRINGS NEW ENERGY ON THE OPENING DAY OF THE AUSTRALIAN YOUTH WATER POLO CHAMPIONSHIPS IN PERTH 

A new city and new venues has delivered much excitement on the opening day of the 2023 Australian Youth Water Polo Championships, with Perth providing a stunning backdrop for the largest water polo festival in the Southern Hemisphere. 

More than 2,000 junior water polo players are set to line up across the two week festival of water polo with more than 140 teams taking part from across Australia, as well as international teams from New Zealand and USA.

For all the replays and live stream from day one - click here

Week one features the 18&U and 14&U teams, with plenty of quality competition making for a thrilling opening day. 

Traveling from the USA, the Mats Polo 18&U Girls team are not only enjoying being part of the Australian Youth Water Polo Championships, but taking in all the unique sights that Australia and Perth have to offer.

Megham McAnninch said: “It’s so nice here, the weather is amazing and it’s such great competition. 

“It’s really hot… we love the accents, we love everything. We went to the zoo, and we got to pet koalas and kangaroos. 

“The level of intensity and the physical side is a lot different here, so we have to make adjustments [to our play].”

Her teammate Elektra Urbatsch echoed her comments: “It’s amazing to come out here and play teams you’ve never seen before so it’s really challenging for us to get our flow against a team we have no idea about. 

“We had two Australians play for our Club 680 in Northern California and they were really welcoming to help us come out here [to Australia] and organise everything for us. We are very grateful.

“We haven’t played with the new rules before.  The coaching, the refereeing and play is different…. so that is something we have to adjust to.”

Hailing from Queensland’s Sunshine Coast Water Polo, 14&U Boys player Will Hanson said: “It’s been pretty tough, we had some big games. We’ve been playing pretty good, our second game was better than our first. 

“Hopefully we pick it up a bit more and get some wins in the next few days, and hopefully place well. 

“We have really bonded together well as a team in training… they are all really good mates of mine.

“It’s my first time in Western Australia… these are really good facilities.”

For all the results from day one and upcoming draw - click here

Don’t miss the live stream via News Corp’s Kommunity TV - click here