Water Polo Australia bolsters staffing ranks to support the national system

Water Polo Australia is excited to announce the addition of three new staff members who will join the national office to help deliver key projects and develop capacity at all levels of the sport.

Jacinta Houston (Resource Development Project Officer) commenced Monday, with Katie Foulkes OLY (General Manager - Learning and Development) and Nicola Browne (National Growth and Education Coordinator) set to expand the team in the coming weeks.

WPA CEO Richard McInnes said Jacinta, Katie and Nicola will help in building capacity within the sport at all levels.

“All three bring to the organisation a depth and breadth of knowledge and experience that will add value to our organisation and enable us to grow our sport,” McInnes said.

“Our community worked hard last year to develop the national strategic framework and over the past few months WPA have refined our organisational structure to enable us to deliver that strategy. 

“We are now finally in a position to welcome some great people to fill that structure and enable us to empower and support the water polo community in creating a great experience for our participants.

“The first phase of the WPA operation plan is to build our capacity and capability by June 2022 and all three of these roles, will be focused on providing support and resources to our community.

“We have some really exciting projects in the operation plan and I am looking forward to working with Jacinta, Katie and Nicola,” he said.

Katie Foulkes OLY has come on board in the role of General Manager - Learning and Development, leading the restructure of the Learning and Development framework for coaches and referees. Katie brings an extensive background to the role as a dual Olympian, club and national coach and has a Psychology degree as well as a Masters of Science in Coaching Psychology.

Foulkes is well equipped to harness the technical knowledge in our water polo experts combined with her own experience to refine the delivery of our current education framework.

In addition, WPA are currently seeking Expressions of Interest for two panels, a Water Polo Technical Coaching Panel and a Coach Developer Panel. Both groups will play a critical role in the development of the Learning and Development framework and the delivery of practical coaching programs around Australia.  Please see the Water Polo Australia current vacancies page for more information.

Nicola Browne will join the WPA team in the role of National Growth and Education Coordinator, whose primary role will be to support the General Manager - Growth and General Manager - Learning and Development to empower and support State Associations and Clubs to deliver participation, retention and education programs for players, coaches, officials and volunteers.

Following more than a decade as an elite athlete, Nicola brings to the team a broad range of experiences across sport development and participation programs, where she has worked extensively with Cricket ACT and Tennis Queensland and is a Level 3 Coach.

WPA has been engaged Jacinta Houston, on a project basis, to develop a suite of resources to be accessible by States and  Clubs around Australia. This project will directly contribute to the National Strategic Framework priority of innovate the delivery models to enhance participant experience and addresses two of the key initiatives within that strategic priority

Jacinta comes to WPA having delivered a similar project for community AFL clubs around Australia so is very familiar with community sport and the pressures faced by volunteers.