Description
Hi everyone, I am James and I have a passion for water polo!
Here is my story…
I was 12 years old when my dad first made me come along to a social water polo game at our local pool in Stanmore Bay. Being a reasonably talented swimmer and fan of ball sports, he thought I would enjoy the sport much like he did when he was younger. Much to my surprise, he was right. I took to the sport like a duck to water.
I am now 18 years old and that all feels like a very long time ago. Since then I have made a much bigger splash in the water polo world than anyone could’ve guessed. I am a player in the North Harbour Senior Men’s team, captain my school’s premier water polo side, and have been involved in a few New Zealand teams. Last year I was lucky enough to be selected to play in the NZ Under 20 team that took part in the Junior World Championships in Belgrade, as well as the NZ Schoolboys team that played in the annual test series against Australia in Canberra. I am now in the NZ Youth Worlds and Schoolboy squad for 2018.
My number one goal since I started playing New Zealand age group polo back in 2016, has been to travel to the world championships and I hope our team can achieve the best result ever by a New Zealand team on the international level. I am already working part-time as a referee and do other casual jobs to try and earn money but this by itself is not enough. Being a school student in my final year with most of my time taken up either studying or training, I cannot really hope to achieve this goal on my own, which is why I am reaching out for help.
My water polo story has been one of a constant, consistent and absolute grind to be the best I can be at the sport because I absolutely love it.
