Men’s and Women’s Water Polo – a discussion paper 2015.
By Paul Kayes.
Preamble
We all know we struggle to retain players once they leave school. This is for a variety of reasons that are common to many sports in New
Zealand (university, apprenticeships and careers, cost, intensity during school years – ‘over it’, Mum and Dad stop paying, can’t train as hard,
social reasons).
However, there are a significant number of potential water polo players not playing for either clubs or NZ teams. We need them playing if we
are to re-create strong adult water polo competitions and if we want to have competition from the best players, for places in NZ teams.
A strong national club competition is the goal of many sports in NZ. Many sports try, yet not many succeed. A national league is seen by all
sports as an important high performance step in their game.
Current situation
 The number of Senior Men’s and Women’s teams playing is largely unchanged from 30, 40 even 50 years ago.
 The number of school teams has risen markedly.
 NZ water polo at senior club level is propped up by clubs using school aged players. Some senior teams are almost entirely comprised
of school aged players.
 Club entries into age group national championships over the last 10 years or so, especially beyond the U16 age group, do not support
any argument that improvement in the senior (adult) water polo is likely without significant change.
2014 – 5 men’s team of which 1 was basically social; 6 women’s teams of which 3 teams were mostly (in once case entirely) schoolgirls
2015 – 6 men’s teams (plus possibly Canterbury and Wellington Raptors playing in Wellington tournament); 6 Women’s teams with the
majority of players being schoolgirls. There is a possible team from Canterbury playing in the Wellington tournament. In senior women’s club
water polo it is close to becoming some sort of repeat of club U19 or schoolgirl competitions.
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What could we do about it?
I believe we need to have a viable step between school aged water polo and a national senior men’s and women’s competition. Schools
currently provide the bulk of players in NZ water polo. Quite a few schools have more players than many of our clubs. The solution may be
slightly different in each region but I suggest we need to develop and grow local water polo until a region (club) has a significant number of
people playing local adult water polo.
Perhaps the more recently discussed ‘alumni’ or ‘old boys/ old girls’ concepts can be trialed in each region? By definition this doesn’t include
school aged players as they are ‘old boy/ old girl’ teams.
If these were played in term 4 then they would provide a springboard from which clubs could develop national league teams at the start of the
following year. This would provide the most cost effective water polo possible – local water polo and no club subs. Every year as kids leave
school they become new ‘old boys/ old girls’. An old boy/old girl could play till she or he was 40 or even 50 years old! Have an ‘invites team’ for
new people to town. Play all the games same day/ same venue, happy hour to follow. We all know there is a burn out issue with the over-use
of younger players, playing up.
NZ Teams
Currently these are being selected from a base of about 30-40 men or women playing senior club water polo. And a good number of those 30 40 players have made themselves unavailable for NZ teams. In 2015 there aren’t enough men available to make up a NZ men’s team.
The National Men’s and Women’s teams are too frequently ‘those who are available and can afford it’. This is not a reasonable basis from
which to play the likes of Croatia, Serbia, Italy, USA, Australia or Hungary in international water polo. We also have very few players based
overseas. And a number of those have either withdrawn from NZ water polo or are seeking citizenship to enable them to play for another
country.
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Are there solutions?
There is no magical fix unless some benefactor(s) put major dollars into the game. Yes money is a significant factor. Playing numbers is
another. So is competition for places. And yes many players and parents have opinions about the quality of coaches, the lack of media, and so
on.
We have been endlessly repeating the same cycle – do we want to continue doing that? Do we want to have national men’s and women’s
teams? Not all sports in New Zealand bother with annual, adult representative teams. Should we continue to extract big dollars from families
for NZ U15 and U16 programmes? Many sports don’t run national teams till U17 or even older. Would not having national teams at this age
help retain more people in the game after school?
The role of clubs (centres, associations – call them what you will) MUST change
Currently some clubs act only as clubs. Others act as regional bodies running and coordinating all the water polo in their region.
For the good of water polo, what do we need to clubs to do? Clubs must  Create and offer meaningful adult / post school water polo. The old boy / old girl or alumni concept is one option. In doing so provide
increased options for post school players. And thereby increase participation and hopefully springboard more players into more serious
adult water polo. A goal might be by 2018 to have 6 - 8 men’s ‘old boys teams and 6-8 women’s ‘old girls’ teams playing under the
auspices of EVERY club in New Zealand. If that occurred we might have a player base that could properly support a national league.
 Act as associations or centres and run water polo in their region. This is probably most pertinent in Auckland, Wellington, and maybe
Christchurch as the other clubs already act as associations.
 Be viable. Try the Club Health Checklist – what is your clubs score?
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National teams - what does happen internationally?
Professional water polo is poorly paid compared to most other sports – for example rugby, soccer, cricket, basketball, hand ball…
However, all the top ranked water polo nations are able to provide much more support for players than we are presently able to provide. The
following table is just a brief summary I made up based on what I understand, to give you something to think about. The reason I made it up –
maybe we can tick off some those items and make it easier for our better players to stay in the game? Perhaps if there are say 8 men’s ‘old
boys teams and 8 women’s ‘old girls’ teams playing under the auspices of EVERY club in New Zealand, we would have one income stream that
could better support national level players.
Thank you.
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Water Polo Cost comparisons -
Cost goal
Estimate per
annum per
player
Currently
occurring in NZ?
Achievable?
For players to have no
cost to play for club (subs,
motels, travel, etc.)
Player payments by clubs
$1000
Varies between clubs
Yes – needs clubs to
be more financial
Open ended
No – unknown, but
unlikely
$100 per camp?
No
Can exceed $20,000 for 45 month season for top
players

Fully professional
For players to have no
cost to attend NZ training
camps
For players to have no
cost to swim/ gym in local
area
Medical, physio and
massage provided
For players to have no
cost for travel to
tournaments
To be able to fly back
overseas based players
for training camps
To be able to provide
player payments
Yes – if a club and/ or
its supporters decide
to
Yes - NZWP
$1440 ($120/month)
No
Needs NZWP funding
to athletes
$1000
No
Fully professional –
extra fitness instructors
etc

$6000?
No – although
occasionally a player is
supported privately
No
Not in foreseeable
future
Not in foreseeable
future
Institute of sport
programmes provide free
wide ranging support

$4000? (x say 5
men’s and 5
women’s players)
Open ended
No
Not in foreseeable
future
Not in foreseeable
future
Australia
equivalent

Europe






Up to ~ $25k per annum
for men and ~$35k per
annum for women
Lifetime per annum for
Olympic medalists in
some countries
Note: this is based on players aged over 19 therefore not playing school or age group water polo
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