Illawarra Water Polo

Happy new membership year! 🎉

If you're playing Senior Spring season, you'll need to register via our website for an 8 game membership. Available at the link in bio.

Keen for our juniors program? You'll need to wait a little longer. Keep your eyes peeled, details are coming soon 👀

Drop what you’re doing and set your alarms, the girls are going for gold at 11:30 on Saturday night! With some outstanding performances from the likes of Abby Andrews, Gabi Palm, and Tilly Kearns in particular, the girls have knocked out the back to back to back Olympic champions, the U.S.A. The girls did it with a super save by goalkeeper Gabi Palm in a penalty shootout, and this isn’t the first time they have beaten the Americans in such fashion. With just 1 second on the clock, Australia also beat the U.S.A. to knock them out 24 years ago, only it was the gold medal match in front of 10,000 fans at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre at the 2000 Olympics. It was Yvette Higgins who shot off the hand and put it in the top left corner to gift Australia a 4-3 win and the sport’s first ever women’s Olympic gold medal.

Water polo is actually the oldest Olympic team sport, first introduced in the 1900 Games. But it wasn’t until 100 years later that it was introduced as a women’s Olympic sport too. Wollongong actually has somewhat of a link to its inclusion, as Kerry Turner, who won UOW’s sportswoman of the year in 1986 (there is a plaque in her honour as you walk into UOW pool) was a leader of the protests that got it across the line.

With 5 of the girls diagnosed with COVID on the eve of this year’s Olympics, the Aussie’s were expected to struggle throughout the competition. Although they have not been smashing teams and will go in against Spain as the underdogs, the girls remain undefeated. They have already done the nation proud and have showcased our sport so well. Bring on the gold medal match!

Training tomorrow night - Monday 22nd July - is CANCELLED 💔

The pool will be closed while UOW UniActive finish off some pool maintenance.

The pool will be full, toasty warm 🔥 and ready for our pre-season games on Wednesday 24th July. See you there!

1️⃣ week til Senior Spring season starts!

Registering before the season starts will help us put on a fair and balanced competition for you ⚖️

Registrations are open on our website; get there ➡️ via the link in bio

Senior spring 2024 is almost here!

Registrations are open on our website; get there ➡️ via the link in bio

Our senior competition is:
🤽🏼‍♀️ for ages 16+
🤽🏽‍♂️ mixed gender
🗨️ social
📈 for beginners through to experts

The season starts on Monday 22nd July, see you there 👋🏼

We're swimming for 24 hours this weekend as part of the MS Mega Challenge to raise funds for MS Plus 🏊‍♀️

Multiple sclerosis affects more young people than any other acquired chronic neurological condition. Most are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 40, and three quarters of Australians diagnosed are women. The search for a cure is ongoing.

Drop in at the UOW UniActive pool to say hi 👋 and if you're able, please consider making a donation. Donations fund MS Plus Support Services, providing life-changing support to people diagnosed with MS for better long term options and outcomes.

Link to donate ➡️ https://www.msmegachallenge.org.au/fundraisers/IllawarraWaterPolo620

Another Illawarra Swim Club Sunday 🏊‍♂️🏊‍♀️

Let's rally up some big numbers for our weekly social dip - free to all, especially the newcomers recruited from o-week!

See you there Sunday 9 am at the continental pool, Wollongong

🩸 Join our Australian Red Cross Lifeblood team 🩸

With 1 in 3 people needing donated blood in their lifetime, donating whole blood, plasma or platelets is a quick and easy way to give back to the community.

Want a donation buddy? Illawarra Water Polo has formed a Lifeblood Team, and we'll be making group bookings throughout the year. Over the weekend we had our first group booking for 2024, with Max and Dan together saving up to 6 lives. How good!

Our next donation day is TBC, but in the meantime, you can join our team! Swipe ➡️ to find out how. Then ponder what flavour (free 💸) milkshake you'll have on donation day.

Join Us For Our Swim Club!

9 AM Sundays

Roll the arms over with a social swim to fight off the Sunday scaries, then join us for a coffee afterwards. Open to anyone and everyone, member or not :)

What a weekend for Illawarra Water Polo!

We've been up in Newcastle for the Senior Country Clubs tournament, hosted by

Our women's team claimed the B Division silver medal, after a tight game - and penalty shootout - this afternoon against the mighty Barbarians 🤽🏼‍♀️

It was also a big weekend for our men's team, who played in the A Division for the first time. They did the club proud, playing with heart against some very strong teams 🤽🏽‍♂️

Spring 2023 - what a season!

Having not won a premiership since Spring 2019, finally raised the cup again. The mighty had a cracker of a season, claiming both 2nd (Horton's Heroes) and 3rd (Horton's Hotshots) on the podium.

Following a low-key end of season presentation this afternoon, here are our award winners:

🛡️ Tom Adams Shield - Lucy
📈 Most improved - Amanda Moss
💥 Best beginner - Justus Bacic-Johnston

Players' Player - Men 🤽🏽‍♂️
🥇 Daniel Barnes
🥈 Matt Deloraine
🥉 Pat Steele

Players' Player - Women 🤽🏻‍♀️
🥇 Mia Johannis
🥈 Cassie Gibbs
=🥉 Bonnie Sutton & Chelsea Flood

🌞 Summer season starts this week - details to follow 🌞

Massive congrats to our teams for competing at the 2023 competition! The teams put on an amazing show, and were filled with inspiring performances from our Illawarra Waterpolo squad. We couldn’t be prouder of you all ❤️💙💛

Junior registration is open for the 2023/24 season (October 9 start)!

Rego link: https://www.illwp.com/registration/

Mondays training and Wednesdays games

Contact the page or email [email protected] for more info

This was the Rattlesnakes the last time they won the title. It was 2 years ago in the 2021 autumn season. That night, they played against the Beroccas, and with the help of former Hunter Hurricanes Water Polo national league player Ryan Parker, won in a penalty shootout. They'll be up against the Beroccas again tonight (6:50 start), but with a few changes. They've replaced Ryan with another former Hunter national league player (Matt Deloraine) and have added a few others that can certainly play (Vera Bosancic and Joop Sassen to name a couple). The Rattlesnakes are undefeated this year (except for one forfeit) but only beat the Beroccas 6-4 a few weeks ago.

The Beroccas aren't shy of grand finals, winning both autumn and spring grand finals last year. Although they are lucky to be in the granny (beating the Hotshots in a penalty shootout last week), if there is a team to take down the Rattlesnakes, it would be them.

The presentation will be held at the Steelers Club straight after the grand final (8pm) tonight. All are welcome!

Huge congratulations to Sam Rolfe, who recently made the tournament 7 at the U16's NSW Championships with Unsw Wests Waterpolo. He was then named in one of the Australian teams that will head to NZ later this year. On top of this, Sam has led his Rattlesnakes to a minor premiership and will play their semi against the Moisties on Wednesday. Sam's achievements in the pool are outstanding, but he was also shown to give up his time over the summer season to help coach the juniors, which proves how much of an extraordinary person Sam is. We are certainly lucky to have him at our club.

Hi everyone, at last week's games we honoured the tragically short life of our friend Tom Adams. Tom has been a member of the club since 2020, recently taking Horton's Heroes to a premiership and representing Illawarra at almost every tournament. He brought an immense passion and joy to our club and was very charitable with his time (refereeing and coaching each week). Tom was a great friend and will be very dearly missed.

Tom’s funeral will be held from 11am-12pm on Tuesday 9 May at St. Michael’s Church (204 Longueville Road, Lane Cove). The wake will be held from 12-3 at The Alcott (1 Birdwood Ave, Lane Cove).

If you can't make the funeral but would like to live stream, please use the following link: https://www.funeralvideo.com.au/p/2023/05/thomas-peter-adams

Please reach out to the club if you need anything.

Huge congratulations to Beroccas player Sam Christian who recently won the gold medal with the Cronulla Sharks Water Polo Club U18's team in the Sydney Metro competition. This is an amazing achievement for Sam and his team, and adds to his list of premierships as the Beroccas were back to back premiers last year. You certainly want this guy on your team!

Hi everyone, last weekend we participated in a 24 hour relay to raise money for multiple sclerosis. We ended up swimming an amazing 82.05km between us, which was the most of any team. If you wanted to donate to this great cause, please follow the link: https://www.msmegachallenge.org.au/fundraisers/IllawarraWaterPolo442/mega-swim-wollongong

Horton's Heroes emerge victorious in the Summer grand final.

Bowing out 12-2 in last season's semi final to the Moisties, the Heroes were here to seek vengeance tonight. Although the same could be said about the Moisties, who lost to the Heroes in last summer's grand final and proceeded to lose to the Beroccas in both the Autumn and Spring grand finals last year. Both teams showed up ready, with plenty of subs and plenty of fire power.

Both teams recruited well in the Spring - Summer off season. The Moisties recruited Albury duo Sophie Dahl and Cassie Gibbs, who have done the Moisties proud all season. The Heroes recruited well too (albeit lucky). With the Raiders failing to form a team, the Heroes stole former Cronulla national league centre forward Jack Cockington.

With the Moisties winning their first 7 games of the season, they were surely looking to win their first premiership since 2019. But with a 2 draws, a win and a loss (to the Heroes) to finish out the season, a grand final win was certainly not a foregone conclusion. But with the Barnes brothers at the helm for the Moisties, they certainly had a good shot.

Nil all at quarter time in the granny and it was all set to be a traditional low scoring Illawarra final. But with the duo of Jack Cockington and Hamish McDonald, things grew to a 5-0 lead not too long after that for the Heroes. Late in the 3rd quarter however, things started to look brighter for the Moisties, scoring 3 unanswered goals to put things 5-3 in the final quarter. But another 3 unanswered goals to the Heroes (and a last minute goal to the Moisties) in the last put a Moisties win out of reach. Heroes emerging 8-4 winners!

Congratulations to the U16 boys for claiming the bronze medal at the NSW Junior Country Club Championships this weekend in Alstonville. With some help from a couple of players from Bar In Water Polo Club and a long drive up north, the boys pulled through to play an amazing tournament. Keep up the good work, you have done the club very proud!

We’ve got merchandise! Link in bio!

Over the past few weeks we’ve been working on new merchandise for our club members. Starting out with base logo designs and merchandise items, we’ve released a t-shirt and tote bag!

The shirt is classified as a mens fit, however fits all body types comfortably. The products chosen have been tested over the year and have held up design quality very well.

These products are done via print on demand at , meaning they are made one for one specifically for your order. This is an environmentally friendly approach to merchandise that reduces stock wastage that would typically end up in landfill.

It's the night of nights for Illawarra Water Polo: The senior spring grand final. It's been a really tight comp this whole season, but last season's grand final teams are back at it to settle things yet again... The Beroccas and the Moisties.

For those who want to come, here's how things will run tonight (all welcome):
7:30 = 3rd place playoff - Horton's Heroes V UOW Raiders
8:05 = Grand final - Beroccas V Moisties
9 = Presentation at the Steelers Club

To make it here, the Beroccas have done well all season, finishing with 8 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses and a minor premiership. They looked strong last week too, coming up against a full strength Raiders side. It was 8 all in the dying seconds when 17 year old main man Sam Christian put it in for a bar-in goal to win the match 9-8. They are reigning premiers and beat the Moisties in the autumn final 5-3.

The Moisties found the goings tough early on in the season. After starting out with 3 consecutive losses, the Moisties were certainly the favourites for the wooden spoon. It must have been a pretty good team talk from captain Dan Barnes going into round 4 though, as they have only lost 1 game since. The Moisties are by far the most winningest team since the comp's restart in 2012, claiming 6 premierships. Their last premiership however came in the spring of 2019, so they're looking to get back on top of things tonight (here is a pic of the Moisites after winning the 2018 autumn grand final).

Thanks to the The Illawarra Flame were kind enough to do an article on us.

Try FlippaBall - the kid-friendly water polo - The Illawarra Flame FlippaBall competition is an adapted version of water polo for junior recruits to the sport. Jimmy Berry, the President of the Illawarra Water Polo club, explains the modified sport and why kids all over the Illawarra are joining. Tell me about...

Huge effort from the South Coast girls who played in the NSW CHS (NSW public schools) tournament this week. The girls narrowly missed the semi's, and finished 5th overall (8 teams competed). South Coast finished ahead of North Coast/North West, Sydney West, and Sydney South West. They also managed to pick up the most improved team award!

Cronulla Sharks Water Polo Club played Ella managed to make the NSW CHS team, with Rattlesnakes (one of our senior teams) player Vera being selected as a reserve in the team. It is also worth noting that 9 of the 12 players have played with Illawarra at some stage, and 7 of them are current players. Good work team!

It has been a few weeks, but I thought it would be worth writing in to tell you about UOW’s time at the UniSport National Championships in late September. If you have kept up to date with this team, you would know that it was in fact the first UOW water polo team since 2009. We had a practice run earlier in the year in a Homebush based warm up tournament and performed well: the boys finishing 3rd and the girls narrowly losing to Newcastle in the final. With a few extra teams competing at UniSport Nationals (which was held in Perth), we could only dare to dream that we would also finish on the podium. A tournament which boasts UOW’s best performances in 1995 for the boys and 2002 for the girls (both silver medals).

We sent 10 boys and 11 girls over to Perth, with very strong Illawarra representation. 18 of the 21 have played with Illawarra at some stage and 14 of them are current Illawarra players. 3 of those were Horton’s Heroes players, 4 from the Raiders, and 7 from the Hotshots. With UOW also fielding teams in hockey, touch football, basketball and netball, we were certainly set for a week of good times.

The 5 day tournament consisted of 8 teams for both men’s and women’s. We were to play each team once and then it was finals time. The women’s side started very strong, beating the reigning champions UTS in their very first match. They went on to beat Macquarie, Bond and ANU, and lost to Sydney, Newcastle and ACU. This placed them 4th, earning them a spot in the semi final against the much feared Sydney Uni side on the Thursday, who had already beaten them 10-3 earlier in the day. Sydney Uni were not only feared in this tournament, but are historically by far the best team, winning every year from 2005-2012 (although they hadn’t taken it out since then). Unfortunately, the Sydney Uni girls were too good again, claiming a 9-2 victory and going on to claim a narrow victory over ACU in the final. The girls from The Gong were to play Newcastle for the bronze on the Friday; a team they had lost 9-6 to earlier in the tournament, and managed 2 close losses against at Homebush earlier in the year. With players like Tenisha Cook and the Carroll sisters playing out of their skin, it looked like UOW were on track to claim the bronze. It wasn’t to be though, the girls going down 5-3 in what was a great game of polo.

It wasn’t quite the same vibe with the boys on the other hand. It became very clear early on that there were 5 teams ahead of the pack (Sydney, ACU, UTS, WA and Newcastle). The other 3 (us, Macquarie and ANU) vying for 6th place. Although we had comfortable losses against those top 5 sides, we did hold our own and played some fantastic water polo. Our focus however was on the games against ANU and Macquarie. Unfortunately, we went down 5-4 to ANU in what was an intense but fair encounter. We then drew with Macquarie 4 all later in the week, losing our star player Hamish McDonald to a back hand to the eye. We were to play Macquarie again in the last place playoff on the Friday. But with Hamish and a few others quite worse for ware, we went down 4-1; Macquarie presenting us a signed wooden spoon after the match (all in good spirits).

Some honourable mentions for the tournament:
The boys fielded a 4 X 50m free relay team after our 10-2 loss to Newcastle (they also fielded a team). It was a tough ask for the boys, swimming against some proper elite athletes. Bond ended up winning the race in 1:33.81 (2 of them swam 22 seconds). We came in flying home in a 1:49.47, which wasn’t really close to anyone except the Newcastle water polo team, who beat us by 3 and a half seconds. Although we got smashed, the team spirit from the crowd was insane and a fun time was certainly had.

And who could forget the hockey girls’ appearance in the men’s game against ACU. The girls rocked up to support our team in force and brought an immense amount of spirit with them. They even performed a gym based dance routine at halftime, which certainly left a lot of players scratching their head.

Massive congratulations to Sam, who represented NSW at the National State Championships in Melbourne last week. Sam played for the U15's 2nd's team and was the team's top goal scorer for the tournament.

TONIGHTS GAME TIMES
🤽🏻‍♂️🤽🏼‍♀️
Get keen to get back to competitive polo

The 2022/23 junior season will kick off Monday 10 October and registrations are now available on the Illawarra Water Polo website: https://www.illwp.com/registration/. Please email [email protected] with any questions, issues or concerns.

Game Times and Duty for tomorrow!
🤽🏼‍♀️🤽🏻‍♂️
See you all there for another great week of polo!

Last weekend the Illawarra men’s and women’s teams enjoyed a trip down to the nation’s capital for a lovely weekend of water polo. We competed in the B division of the Canberra Cup, which was very well run.

The women’s side included: Angel Durdin-Paul, Chelsea Flood, Karla Vincent, Ducky Brown, Vera Bosancic, Odette Krizsan, Amelia Kirk, Bonnie Sutton, Mia Corbett (Southern Highlands Water Polo), and Maeve Ryan (Drummoyne). They played all 4 of their pool matches on the Saturday, losing 2 (to Canberra Grammar School and to Flamboyance, a team made up of mainly Ovens & Murray players) and winning 2 (to the Gungahlin Dragons and to ANU). Some standout performances came from Vera and Odette (our 2 junior players) who only started playing in the senior comp this year. I can’t wait to see what they continue to produce moving forward. Another standout came from Canberra junior Bonnie Sutton, who scored top corner goals for fun. And the last one I will mention is Maeve Ryan, a current UOW student (she’ll be going to UniSport Nationals with us next week) and current Drummoyne national league player. Maeve turned out to be one of the all time great recruitments, with outstanding performances in and out of the water. She can very much be attributed to the team’s improvement throughout the tournament due to her leadership, and she put her hand up to ref other matches as well. An outstanding performance all round.
The team only played one match on the Sunday, defeating Gungahlin in the 3rd place playoff 7-2. Congrats to all involved.

The men’s team included: James Ashurst, Daniel Barnes, myself (Jimmy), Tom Adams, Andy Dodds, Dave Barrett, Zoltan Krizsan, Will Jamieson, and John Jamieson. With the first game against the team I played with during the winter (Sydney Northern Rays Water Polo Club), I knew we were in a bit of trouble (they’re all fit, young and fast). The game was match like watching an unstoppable steam train, or perhaps a Japanese bullet train travelling from Nagoya to Tokyo. The rays just could not be stopped and ended up winning 14-0. The boys were down, but the match reminded me of the first match of the U22’s state champs earlier this year. We played against Cronulla and lost 18-0, but we actually played well in every game after that. I reminded the team of this precedent, and it turns out I was right… we did have a strong rest of the tournament. We played in two tight matches against ANU (12-15 loss) and Melbourne Uni (6-7 loss), and we also went down to the eventual tournament winners (ACT U18’s) 3-8. Our two wins came against Canberra Grammar School (one in the pool matches and one in the playoffs), finishing the tournament in 5th place.
With our main man Jack Cockington not playing in the tournament, we had to search for a replacement centre forward, and boy did we find one. Tom Adams played outstanding, scoring a total of 19 goals throughout the tournament. Another fantastic performance came from back to back players’ player Dan Barnes, who made constant breaks and who in my opinion tied with Tom as being our best player. Another name worth mentioning is Andy Dodds, who made his Illawarra debut after only starting the sport this year. He improved drastically throughout the tournament, and I can’t wait to see what he does in Perth next week at UniSport Nationals.