PATH TO PERTH - FROM PLAYER TO COACH

Victorian Phoenix AWL player Pavle Macic is preparing to make his debut at the 2025 Australian Youth Water Polo Championships in Perth this month - but not as a player, as a coach. 

The 19-year-old will this year be at the helm of the Melbourne Collegians 18&U Boys team, who will be looking to build upon last year's AYWPC performance which saw them walk away with bronze in Brisbane.

Pavle admits that he expects it to be quite a surreal experience when he walks into Perth HPC  wearing a coaches polo instead of a player cap. 

“I have been at every AYWC since the first and they are the best memories that I have had playing water polo,” said Pavle. “So it will be weird this time coaching instead of playing. 

“I wanted to give coaching a go when I finished playing (in the AYWPC). I started coaching U16 and then a few months ago the club asked me to coach the 18&U Boys at the AYWPC and I have been really looking forward to it since.

“Coching is kind of my way of giving back for everything that water polo has given to me."

The rookie coach will be looking to continue to build upon the coaching legacy his father, Slobo Macic, carved during his time at the Collegians. 

And Slobo, who is now the head coach of the UWA Torpedoes Men’s AWL team, has been quick to impart a few key pointers.

“He (Slobo) has given me a few tips, one of them being to have some authority,” said Pavle. 

“Although I’m only a little bit older (than the players), he told me to make sure I don’t let them mess around when I’m coaching. 

“I think sometimes the players thought that when I first started coaching they could get a way with a few things, but I was quick on that…threatening them with butterfly seemed to do the job."

Pavle has played alongside a number of the players he now coaches, players like Lucas Heffernan. 

This will be the last AYWPC Lucas will play in before he ages out next year, and he will be looking to make the most of it. 

“We are all eager to get started,” said Lucas. “We have been training quite a bit and this year we are playing as a combined team with the Richmond Tigers WPC”.  

When asked what he will miss most about competing at the AYWPC the answer is simple.

“It is a really good culture that we have and it is a lot of fun meeting new people as well as playing, basically, at the top level a junior can play at for water polo in Australia,” he said. 

Lucas is looking forward to not only playing in his fourth AYWPC, but playing under new coach Pavle. 

“I really look up to him (Pavle),” said Lucas. “We were coached by his dad Slobo for ages and now Pavle has stepped up and he has done a really good job.”

The 2025 Australian Youth Water Polo Championships will be held in Perth from 14-24 April. For more information on the event - click here.

Passport to Perth

The Australian Youth Water Polo Championships will make a stunning return to Perth / Boorloo, Western Australia in April 2025.

Planning on joining us in Perth / Boorloo? Check out these awesome spots and make your week of water polo one to remember - click here to find out more.