North Harbour U18 Women
shake hands with AUS Gold team. 

To read an article by 3 News on the wrapping up of the Panasonic Pan Pacific Water Polo Festival Click HERE

Final Results on the last day of the Panasonic Pan Pacific Water Polo Festival

US based, Corona Del Mar were all smiles when they captured the hotly contested Under 18 Men’s section at the Panasonic Pan Pacific Youth Water Polo Festival which ended last night in Auckland...They beat NSW Blues in the final 8-6 whilst the NSW Waratahs were 8-5 winners over Marist in the Bronze Medal match. Reed Chase was the MVP for the Coronal Del Mar side netting three fabulous goals in the final. It was just rewards for the American after their 4th venture to Auckland having captured just one bronze in their previous visits and meant that all three countries had taken the Golds at this years events in the Men’s sections with the International Combined side taking the U20 Men’s; NSW won the U16 Boys, Corona Del Mar the U18 Men and kiwi hopes were held up with a kiwi trifecta in the U14 Boys with Marist winning from Waitakere and Tauranga.

North Harbour Women pushed
Head Coach Michael Buck into the
pool at the final whistle of the game. 

North Harbour (photo right) made it their 4th gold medal in the Women’s by taking out the U18 Women’s final 9-6 over the Australian Under 16 Girls with NSW Blues capturing the bronze medal. Chelsea Geary (North Harbour) claimed the U18 Women’s MVP award.

Teams now depart after 10 days of competition in 5 venues and look prepared to return in 2014 when the next Festival begins again on July 6th to celebrate its 24th anniversary.

Marist U18 Boy’s Team Narrowly Miss out on Bronze

Marist U18 Boy's getting pumped up before their game

Matt Lewis, a member of the Marist U18 Boy's Team is one of four siblings. His sisters, Nicole, Simone and Danielle also play water polo. Matt, however, is the luckiest of them all being a much sought after position, a left-handed player.

Jonathan Ware is the Head coach of the team and is familiar with his players after also coaching the Marist U20 Men’s Team with 5 players carrying on to the U18’s bracket. He also coaches 3 of the boys at Sacred Heart College.

Jeremy Hunt, the Team Captain, has done a sterling job at leading the team. Christine Lewis (team manager and Matt’s Mum) says that

Pre game team talk lead by captain
Jeremy Hunt (in middle)

“He is an awesome captain who has led by example and the the boys really respect him”.

Jeremy has been a consistent captain for this group of boys and was the captain for their U14 and U16 age groups in the past. Jeremy’s brother, Tim, also plays water polo for Marist and was a referee at the Panasonic Pan Pacific Water Polo Festival.

15 Year Old Goalie, Denzel

This U18 group of boys has played together since they were U14 and they know each other really well and are good friends, which definitely helps them in the pool. For Denzel, their young 15-year-old goalie, it is his first year with this group, but he has fitted in really well and been a great asset to the team.

The boys have thoroughly enjoyed the Pan Pac’s experience. They know that it is a special tournament and have been looking forward to it since they first started training this year.

Even though the boys were unsuccessful in their challenge for Bronze, there has been great Marist support on the sidelines and in the stands at this Pan Pac’s tournament. There have been a large number of U18 and U20 boys and girls who have come to watch and support their club. The club has really banded together and have shown a great deal of pride and unity, which Christine believes has helped the Marist Teams immensely at the tournament. 

All International Under 18 Men’s final

Today’s final of the Panasonic Pan Pacific Youth Water Polo Festival in the Under 18 Men’s bracket will feature an all international final with USA team Corona Del Mar meeting NSW Blues after Corona Del Mar beat local hopes Marist Red in this morning’s semi final 8-6. NSW Blues held out the NSW Waratahs 6-3 in the other semi final.

Tonight ultimate match of the 2012 Panasonic Pan Pacific Water Polo Festival will see the teams face off at 7.30pm at West Wave and bring to a close the 10 day event featuring 131 teams from throughout the Pacific Basin - the largest Panasonice Pan Pacific Water Polo Festival ever.

Chris Hayward
NZWP

Results from Day 9 of the Panasonic Pan Pacific Youth Water Polo Festival in Auckland

Under 14 Division Medal Matches:

Girls Bronze Medal: Melville (Western Australia) 7 vs Marist Auckland 6 (extra time)

Final North Harbour 11 vs Tauranga 4

Boys Bronze medal: Tauranga 11 vs North Harbour 5

Final: Marist Auckland 11 vs Waitakere 10 (penalty shoot out)

Medals on Display before
the Medal Presentation

Girls MVP: Liana Dance, North Harbour Club

Boys MVP: Scott Roche-Dick, Marist Auckland Club

Under 18 Womens Semi Finals:

Australia Gold 14 vs Australia Green 12

North Harbour 9 vs NSW Blues 6

Under 18 Mens Semi Final:

Corona Del Mar (USA) 8 vs Marist Auckland 6

NSW Blues 6 NSW vs Waratahs 3


Chris Hayward
NZWP

Tauranga U14 Boys Look up to Role Model Joseph Kayes

Tauranga U14 Boys know Joseph Kayes as more than just another great water polo player.

Joseph Kayes is a legend in Tauranga Water Polo. He played for New Zealand in every age group possible, including the NZ Senior Men, and is now playing professionally in Hungary.

Joe Kayes playing for his Hungarian Club

Joe (photo right and below) has played 3 seasons in Hungary and has signed for another 2 seasons with his club team Szeged Beton.  

Ferenc Kemeny, who was in charge of the Hungarian Junior National Program for many years, spotted Joe when the Hungarian Junior National Team came to New Zealand in 2008. Seeing the outstanding talent that Joe had, Forenc promptly offered Joe a professional contract. Denes Kemeny (Ferenc’s son) is the Hungarian Men’s National Team Coach and under his guidance, the Hungarian Men have won the last 3 Olympics Gold Titles.

Joe lives in Szeged, which is 160km south of the Capital, Budapest. His Club pays for the house that he and another player share, they get to choose their own house/apartment. Sounds like his club try to keep Joe happy so he will keep playing for them! Joe played one season in Australia before heading across the world to Hungary.

Joe Kayes

Joe has loved playing overseas. 


“The experience is awesome and it’s a very nice lifestyle, especially now because I'm playing in Malta in the summer league for 3 months so the work is definitely worth it.”

Joe is looking at Nationalizing and trialing for the Hungarian National Team in the lead up to the 2016 Olympics. Even though Joe is a bit of a super star in Hungary, where water polo is one of the National Sports, he hasn’t forgotten his roots. Joe likes to give back to his local community when he is back in town.

Tauranga U14 Boys Halftime Team Talk

“I always come back and coach and love sharing my experience and skills. I can bring back new drills and outlooks on the game, especially with the younger Tauranga teams. I know what it was like growing up and playing in Tauranga with other clubs having so many more older experienced players."

"Basically professional water polo is my full-time job now and I see it both as living the dream and playing sport but also the money is a big aspect, along with part time study towards a degree in Agri-Commerce.”

After watching the impressive skills of the Tauranga U14 Boys Team last night, there may be another professional Water Polo Player amongst them. Joe has definitely inspired many players throughout Tauranga and New Zealand and looks to continue to do so in the future. 

In the bronze medal match of the U14 Panasonic Pan Pacific Final last night Tauranga beat North Harboud A 11-5. One of the team’s standout players is Cayne Dew, who is also a member of the NZ U15 Boys’ Team. Head Coach and former player, Jordan Gregory led the Tauranga Team to victory.

Under 18’s Take Centre Stage at Panasonic Pan Pacific Water Polo Festival 2012

The Under 18s will take centre stage on today, the final day of the Panasonic Pan Pacific Youth Water Polo Festival.

North Harbour will take on Australia Gold in attempting to retain their Under 18 Womens final, whilst Australia Green meet NSW Blues in the bronze medal match. North Harbour will be attempting their 3rd gold medal of the festival after already pocketing the Under 14 and 20 Women’s titles.

The Under 18 Men’s semi finals will see more tightly contested matches after 3 of todays quarter finals went down to the wire. Corona Del Mar from California will meet Marist Red in one semi final after Corona Del Mar inflicted an 11-7 win over Canberra in todays Quarter finals with Marist clinching a 9-7 win over Queensland in the other quarter final.

NSW will be in the final automatically with NSW Blues taking on NSW Waratahs in this morning’s semi final after the Blues beat North Harbour 8-5 in todays quarters with NSW Waratahs inflicting hopes of Waitakere making another final by winning their quarter final comfortably.

Chris Hayward

NZWP