Canberra
Academy U16 Girls’ Team
The ACT is small, with the state only containing
350,000 people. However, even with the small population, there are many keen
water polo players. The Canberra Academy has 8 teams in the Panasonic Pan
Pacific Water Polo Tournament; 4 girls’ and 4 boys’ teams.
Matt Turnbull runs the Canberra (ACT) Water
Polo Academy. He played in the USA, and has used his connections to gain the
two American coaches that are leading the Canberra Academy U16 Girls’ team.
Head Coach Shane Mahoney (photo right), originally from
the USA, played with Matt at Stockton University. Shane has only been in
Canberra for 3 ½ months coaching the girls’ team.
A lot of the girls in the Canberra team are
under 15, and the majority of them are from Canberra and surrounding areas with
one exception being an American import.
The Canberra Water Polo Academy is building
an exchange culture between the USA and Australia. The ACT Academy have 4 American
girls attending local high schools in Canberra and playing for club teams and
there will be three Canberra girls going on exchanges to American High schools later
this year.
Assistant coach, Joey Rossi (photo right), is from
California and is a strength and conditioning coach at the University of
Pacific. He trains all the aquatic sports teams there and works alongside former NZ Women’s Team Captain, Megan
Thompson, who is the Head Water polo Coach at the same University. Joey is at
the ACT because he played water polo in Australia for Canberra Water Polo in
the Australian League.
Quote from Joey on his experience so far in
Auckland: “Beautiful town, great people and a fun environment.”
