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

Marist Win Under 14 Boys in Cliffhanger

Marist Red U14 Boys' Team

Marist Auckland captured the Panasonic Under 14 Boys’ Title tonight at West Wave in a cliffhanger final, which required a penalty shoot out to separate the two teams. Marist needed a Cooper Stewart goal to force the game into its initial extra time but with the scores still tied after the second period of extra time a penalty shoot out was needed which had the crowd enthralled with all its dramas...Finally a relieved Marist team celebrated the win after a Waitakere penalty shot went astray and the game fell Marist’s way with an 11-10 victory.

Tauranga captured the bronze medal with an 11-5 victory over North Harbour to give Tauranga its second podium finish of the night and its 3rd of this tournament.

North Harbour made easy pickings of the U14 Girls final with a 11-4 romp over Tauranga, whilst the visitors from Western Australia (Melville) clinched the bronze medal after an extra time win over Marist. Liana Dance of North Harbour took out the U14 Girls MVP whilst Marists goalkeeper Scott Roche-Dick took out the boys MVP.


Chris Hayward
NZWP

Harbour City U14 Boys’ Team

The Harbour City U14 Boys' Team, coached by Chanelle Cordalas, finished 8^th today in the Panasonic Pan Pacific Water Polo Tournament.

Chanelle, a Harbour City player herself (U20’s), is in her second year of coaching. This is her first year coaching boys and she said it was quite a transition.

Jake Elston and Head Coach Chanelle Cordalas

“Definitely a different dynamic to coaching boys. It has been a lot more time consuming and you have to explain things a few more times. It is a different game as well.”

Despite the differences between coaching boys and girls, she has enjoyed the tournament and lead up to it. The team struggled at the beginning during the Wellington league, but improved as they played more games. The difference is shown in their scores against Maranui U14 Boys. The first game they played Maranui won 13-2 and a few weeks ago the score was 16-16.

The team has 3 imports from Wharanui Club in Christchurch; Michael, Zac and Eddie. Zac only lost 2 swim offs in the entire competition and Michael is known for his smart play. These three players have been great support to the team’s key players, William and Jake (Elston). They boys fitted in amazingly well and Eddie in particular entertained the team with his sense of humour. Eddie is originally from China and has only been in New Zealand for 18 months. His teammates also commented on his amazing ability to sing ‘One Direction’ songs.

Newbie Manager Lynn Tonkin

Lynn Tonkin, NZ U15 Girls' Team Manager

Lynn Tonkin (photo right) is the newest New Zealand Water Polo Manager to come on board.

She has a background in sports management in variety of sports including; netball, hockey, cricket squash and rowing and has managed School, Club, Regional and New Zealand teams. In her youth Lynn was also a coxan (rowing) for 14 years.

Lynn became a New Zealand manager because her daughter’s school water polo coach is the NZ U15’s Girls’ Coach.

Lynn enjoys water polo because to her it is a completely different sport with completely new skills and is exciting. Lynn says she is still learning and understanding the game and has learnt a lot from Phillip Howat (NZ U15 Assistant Coach) on the bench during games about rules and strategies.

Lynn has also been to Europe and understands how big the sport of Water Polo is over there.

Lynn has loved managing the NZ U15 Girls’ Team

“They are a really neat bunch of girls and the support team behind the girls is amazing”

Results Panasonic Pan Pacific Youth Water Polo Festival Day 8 – Auckland

Under 18 Men:

Quarter Finals:

Canberra 11                             Corona Del Mar (USA) 1

NSW Blues 8                             North Harbour 5

Marist Auckland Red 9             Queensland 7

NSW Waratahs 14                    Waitakere 3

U18 Women:

Semi Finals 13- 16 Place

NZ U16 16                                Bay of Plenty 2

Southern Districts (NZ) 12       Ukiah (USA) 4

Semi Finals 9-12 Place

Mountfort Park 6                     Waikato 5

Canberra 7                               Harbour City 4

Semi Finals 5-8^th

NSW Waratahs 8                      Waitakere 3

U14 Boys:

Play off 7^th & 8^th

Canberra 7                               Harbour City 4

Play off 5^th & 6^th

Maranui (Wellington) 13         Marist Blue 7

Harbour City (Wellington) 5    Waitakere Teal 4

Canberra 10                             Waikato 5

Semi Finals

Marist Red 4                            North Harbour A 2

Waitakere Gold 9                     Tauranga A 8 (in extra time)

U14 Girls:

Play off 7^th & 8^th

Harbour City 6                         Waitakere 5

Play off 5^th & 6^th

Marist Blue 8                           Mountfort Park 6

Waitakere Gold 5                     ACT WP (Australia) 2

Harbour City (Wellington) 6    Waikato 3

Semi Finals

North Harbour A 7                   Melville (Perth) 3

Tauranga A 7                           Marist Red 4

Chris Hayward

NZWP

Ukiah and Placentia Teams

The Ukiah U18 Women’s Team and the Placentia U18 Boy's Teams have come over from California to learn from playing a lot of games in a short time and have enjoyed the tough competition that the Pan Pacific Water Polo Tournament has provided.

Coaches Rick Cleland and Sarah Davila

Coach Sarah Davila is coaching both the Ukiah Women and the Placentia Boy’s (El Dorado) Teams along with Rick Cleland (photo right).

A Water Polo Player herself, Sarah attended the University of Michigan and played in the Collegiate league in the USA. She started coaching straight after graduating in 2009.

Sarah says her teams are very young, but are learning a lot. One girl in particular from the Ukiah Team who has improved over the tournament is Maggie Selzer, a young and upcoming player who has proven her water polo abilities whilst being in New Zealand.

Prior to the start of the tournament the teams went for a small holiday in the South Island, starting in the Deep South, Invercargill. In Invercargill, the players were billeted out into local families and they thoroughly enjoyed that experience and the Southern hospitality. Following Invercargill they headed to Te Anau and Queenstown and had planned on heading to Milford Sound, but the roads were closed due to snow!

Former Water Polo Player, Water Polo Mum, Manager, Referee, Organizer and Volunteer, Deb Bowry, Certainly Has a Love For the Game

Deb Bowry

Deb Bowry (photo right) is the current Manager of the NZ U15 Boys’ team, who competed in the Panasonic Pan Pacific Water Polo Tournament in the U16 bracket. Deb has managed over 20 club teams, 2 New Zealand teams and has a strong connection with the QEII Club in Christchurch and is a keen referee.

Deb works as the Development Officer for Water Polo in Canterbury. Her current role is in sports recovery, keeping the sport going after the effects of the earthquakes. With only one deep-water pool left at Jellie Park, Water Polo in Canterbury has gone from having 45 hours of pool time allocated to them to 10 hours. This is mainly because of the demise of the QEII aquatic complex.

Deb made her first New Zealand Team in 1979 for the NZ U15 Girls’ Team. She then went on to play for the New Zealand Senior Women’s Team from 1982-1986 when her shoulder injury prevented her from continuing.

She became involved again when her daughter Casie started playing at 10 years of age in 2000. After making many age group teams, Casie now plays for the NZ Senior Women’s Team and has attended the 2010 FINA World Cup (Christchurch) and the 2011 FINA World Championships (Shanghai, China).

Deb was the pool controller and convener for the FINA Women’s World Cup Tournament in Christchurch in 2010 and did such a sterling job that she received an award for her work. Deb received the Award from the Christchurch Council of -

"2010 Sport Canterbury Outstanding Overall Sports Administrator of the Year"

Deb has volunteered countless hours to water polo and no doubt will continue to do so in the future.

Waikato Women Looking Stronger Than Ever

Yesterday the Waikato U18 Women’s Team went head to head with the NZ U16 Girls’ Team. Some thought this would be an easy game for the NZ girls,  but Waikato played well and managed an impressive 8-6 win after being down for most of the game, but dominating the fourth quarter.

Due to pool constraints, the team only trains 55 minutes per week. Their first game as a team was the first game of the tournament only a few days ago.

Sam Lockett-Turton

The team is playing well and they are a strong and aggressive team. There are also quite a number of stand out players. Head Coach, Doug Campbell gave player of the game to Sam Lockett-Turton (photo left) who scored 4 out of the 8 goals against the NZ U16 Team.

Goalie Courtney Miller is in NZ Junior Women’s squad. If she is successful in her selection, she will be attending the FINA Junior World Championships to be held in Australia in December.

Waikato has also had more recent success with players being rewarded with NZ Trials and being placed in NZ Development Teams. 2 players were in the NZ Development Team that travelled to Hawaii in 2011 and 4 girls received New Zealand School Girls' Trials. Emma Ballard is in the NZ U16 Team and Holly Jonson and Brogan Houghton are in the NZ U15 Team. An up and coming player to watch for from Hamilton is Emmerson Houghton (Brogan’s younger sister).

Doug Campbell (photo right) reflects on his highlight of the tournament below:

“The highlight of the tournament so far was being ahead of North Harbour A U18’s at half time.”

Doug Campbell is also an A Grade Referee and has been involved in Waikato Water Polo and New Zealand Water Polo for decades.

It’s the turn of the Under 14’s

- The rising stars- to shine when the semi finals take place Monday morning at West Wave in the Panasonic Pan Pacific Youth Festival.

The Under 14 Girls will see North Harbour, the defending champions, take on the visitors from Perth in Melville (regular title contenders in the Australian Championships in one semi final), whilst Tauranga A meet Marist Red in the other. In the boys semi finals Marist Red take on North Harbour A for a place in the afternoon’s final whilst Waitakere Gold match up with Tauranga in the other semi final.

Chris Hayward

NZWP

Results from Day 7 of The Panasonic Pan Pacific Youth Water Polo Festival Auckland

Featuring 2500 Competitors Daily Until July 10th

Under 18 Men

North Harbour 19 vs Corona Del Mar B (California) 2

Marist Auckland Blue 35 vs El Dorado (USA) 2

NSW Blues 9 vs Corona Del Mar (USA) 5

Hutt 8 vs Waikato 5

Tauranga 22 vs Corona Del Mar D 2

Queensland 16 vs Servite (California) 9

Marist Auckland Red 15 vs Corona Del Mar C 5

NSW Blues 16 vs City Country (Australia) 4

North Harbour 7 vs Canberra 7

Under 18 Women

Marist Auckland 15 vs Ukiah (Northern California) 7

NSW Blues 8 vs Canberra 5

Queensland 7 vs NZ Under 16 3

NSW Waratahs 10 vs Harbour City (Wellington) 5

Under 14 Girls

Marist Red 18 vs Tauranga B 4

Melville (Perth) 10 vs Mountfort Park 7

Harbour City 8 vs North Harbour B 5

North Harbour A 16 vs Waikato 3

Waitakere Gold 6 vs Tauranga B 4

Marist Blue 24 vs Waitakere Teal 1

Tauranga 12 vs ACT (Australia) 1

Under 14 Boys

Waitakere Gold 16 vs Otago 2

Marist Red 11 vs North Harbour B 1

Tauranga 15 vs Canberra 8

Marist Blue 5 vs Waikato 4

North Harbour A 8 vs Maranui (Wellington) 2

Hutt 6 vs Waitakere Teal 6

Waitakere Gold 11 vs Harbour City (Wellington) 1

Tauranga 19 vs North Harbour B 4

Canberra 8 vs Otago 1

Chris Hayward

NZWP

Results from Day 6 of the Panasonic Pan Pacific Youth Water Polo Festival Auckland

Featuring 2500 competitors daily until July 10th

Under 18 Men

Hutt 9 vs City Country Barbarians (Australia) 7

NSW Blues 18 vs Waikato 4

Queensland 9 vs NSW Waratahs 6

Tauranga 14 vs Servite (California) 13

Marist Red (Auckland) vs 19 El Dorado (California) 2

Under 18 Women

NSW Blues 18 vs Waitakere 2

Canberra 14 vs Bay of Plenty 3

Australia Green 7 vs Marist Auckland 4

Under 14 Boys

Marist Red (Auckland) 13 vs Harbour City Hawks (Wellington) 2

Tauranga 8 vs Waitakere Gold 4

North Harbour A 12 vs Hutt 0

Maranui (Wellington) 8 vs Marist Blue 4

Waitakere Teal 6 vs Waikato 5

Under 14 Girls

Mountfort Park 10 vs Tauranga B 3

Waitakere Gold 5 vs North Harbour B 4

Marist Red (Auckland) 5 vs Harbour City (Wellington) 1

Tauranga A 12 vs Marist Blue 3

Waikato 24 vs Waitakere Teal

North Harbour A 16 vs ACT (Australia) 2

Chris Hayward

NZWP

Otago and Southland Teams Combine to become Southern Districts

Otago had only 7 players who were able to attend the U18 Panasonic Pan Pacific Water Polo Tournament, which meant they needed to boost numbers somehow to be able to field a team.

Charlotte O'Leary

Alice Richardson (the Southern Districts main center forward), originally from Southland is attending University in Otago and wanted to play. Alice brought two other players from Southland along with her to complete the team.

The Head Coach, 20-year-old Charlotte O’Leary (photo left), attended Columba College in Dunedin. Columba used to participate in a co-ed high school competition. In recent years the rules have changed and there are now only single gender competitions at high school level.

Tim Chambers

Due to Otago not being a Water Polo Hub in New Zealand it is more difficult for players to receive experienced coaching. Tim Chambers (photo right), the Current NZ U16 Head Coach has been attending the University of Otago for the past 3 years and has contributed greatly to the quality of coaching the club teams have received, particularly within the boy’s program, according to Charlotte.

Good luck to the U18 Southern Districts Team.

Panasonic Pan Pacific Water Polo Tournament U14 and U18 Brackets Begin

Friday 6^th of July saw the beginning of the U14 and U18 sections of the Panasonic Pan Pacific Water Polo Tournament.

There already looks to be some tough competition in the U18 section with the Australian Gold Team winning versus the NZ U16 team last night 10-6 at West Wave Aquatic Centre. There was also a draw yesterday (8-8) between Marist U18 and Mountfort Park U18 Women.

In the U14 Boys’ section Waitakere Gold and Marist Red drew 5-5. The U18 Men’s competition has yet to have close games.

The tournament will come to an end on Tuesday July 10^th.

Immediately following the completion of the tournament, an U16 Girls’ and Boys’ Trans Tasman Test Series (3 games) begins. 

Paterson, Paterson, Paterson, Duggan

Annabelle, Connor and Liam Paterson all received individual awards for Most Valuable Player and Most Outstanding Player at the conclusion of the NZ U15 Trans Tasman Test Series yesterday.

Selena Duggan, a member of Harbour City Club, Wellington, not only stands out because she was the only award winner without the Paterson surname, but also because she was awarded the Most Valuable Player award for her outstanding goalie skills, the other three are field players.

Connor and Liam Paterson are twin brothers, but Annabelle is unrelated, apart from the fact that all three swim for the same swim club (Parnell Swim Club) and joke about being siblings.

These are Annabelle and Connor’s second awards for their respective NZ U15’s Teams; they also both received the Most Outstanding Player Awards for the Test Matches played last week versus Queensland.

Connor is the Captain of the U15 Boys’ Team and also played for the Marist U16 Boys’ Team in the Panasonic Pan Pacific Water Polo Tournament.

U15 Girls Co-Captains Sarah Doyle & Grace Egglington,
Selena Duggan (MVP Award), Annabelle Paterson (MOP Award)

For any player to receive an award for their outstanding performance is an incredible honour, let alone for Annabelle (pictured left), who is the youngest in the girls’ team at only 13 years of age! Annabelle attends Diocesan School for Girls in Auckland and is a member of Marist Water Polo Club. Annabelle is now playing in the U14 section of the Panasonic Pan Pacific Water Polo Tournament.

Good luck Annabelle! 

NZ U15 Teams Take Shields

The New Zealand Girls' U15 Team and the Boys' U15 Team both came out on top at the conclusion of the NZ U15 Trans Tasman Test series versus New South Wales Combined High Schools (NSW CHS).

NZ and NSW CHS U15 Teams
at the completion of Test Series

The NZ U15 Boys' had a disappointing loss in the second of the three tests on Thursday evening. However, on Friday they were back to dominating the Australians in the pool and won comfortably.

The NZ U15 Girls' won all three tests convincingly (14-7, 13-2 & 11-5).

Coaches, Alex McKenzie (Boys) and Emily Cox (Girls) were both very happy with the results.

NZ U15 Girls' Team

Due to the dominating success of the NZ U15 Girls' Team, they are being considered to play in a series in September 2012 versus a higher Australian age group.

NZ Under 15 Teams Dominate

Both the New Zealand Under 15 teams prove too strong for the NSW CHS teams in today’s first match of the 25th Jubilee of the Trans Tasman Shield games at West Wave, Henderson.

The NZ girls easily accounted for NSW CHS 14-7 after taking a commanding lead in the first quarter. The NZ girls continued to prove themselves too strong as they continued to expand their lead throughout the game.

The NZ boys also had a convincing win after leading 6-1 at the end of the opening quarter. NSW closed the gap to within 2 goals during the final quarter but NZ fought back strongly to prove the more dominant team.

Match 2 of the series is tonight at 6.30pm (Girls) and 7.45pm (boys).

The series wraps up tomorrow at the Diocesan Pool at 9.30am (Girls) and 10.45am (Boys)