Club History

CLUB HISTORY

The Hibiscus coast water polo club was founded by Sarah Southcombe in 2012. Officially "Hibiscus Coast Waterpolo Club" is an incorporated society #256300. Sarah conceived and established the Sunday League which created the groundswell of participation that enabled the club to generate sufficent members to start its club activities.

In 2013 we made a tentative start by entering some teams in various competitions.

In 2014 we entered U12 and U14 teams in various Auckland leagues, Auckland and National competitions. We were very successful for a new club with our U14 girls winning the National Division 2 championship and the U14 boys coming second

2015

In 2015 we had our first U16 boys and girls teams who took part in the Auckland league and the U16 Nationals. The boys finished second in the league division B and at nationals they made the championship round. The girls also fared well, showing they could compete at national level.

Our U14 boys and girls had another successful year with a gold medal in Rotorua and silvers at the division B (boys) and division A (girls) nationals. For the first time we had two teams in one category (14 girls) and our development team performed well in Tauranga.

Our U12s participated in the Olympic hopefuls and some local competitions and performed well. We had three U12 mixed teams in 2015.

One day, we hope to have a local deep-water swimming pool. The lack of adequate local training and competition venues is a severe limitation to the development of our players especially as they get older.

2016

The club continues to go from strength to strength.

While the Sunday league and some of the younger teams are still based at the Leisure Centre in Stanmore Bay, many of the senior teams now also training at the National Aquatic Centre in Mairangi Bay.

The popularity of the club is evident as we field an U18 Girls Team, 3 under-16 teams, 4 under-14 teams and 3 under-12 teams. The top team in each grade also competed very successfully at the PanPac tournament hosted in Auckland. Several of the teams achieved placing, Silver and Bronze medals,  in the Olympic hopefuls, Auckland and National level competitions, as well as playing with distinction in the International PanPac Tournament.

Seventeen of the clubs players are invited to participate in the RTC or Regional Training Camps for New Zealand Water Polo. Morgan McDowall is selected for and playing in the New Zealand team in the World Youth Champs held in Auckland. She is the youngest member of the team at only 14, a team that includes players on professional water polo contracts in Europe.

2017

It was a Great Year for the Club, with the numbers continuing to steadily grow.....from 11 Teams in 2016, we had 15 Teams in 2017.

This year we managed to field 4 x U12, 4 x U14's, 4 x U16's & 3 x U18 Teams for the Season.  We also managed to achieve medal placings at Auckland and National Level Tournaments, from across 3 Different Age Group Divisions.....U14/U16 & U18's.

Given the growth in numbers within the Club, Pool Space at the National Aquatic Centre is an ongoing campaign, but we are grateful to the Glenfield Leisure Centre, for us being able to utilise some of their space, to help accommodate all of our members.

We are very proud of ALL of our members, but notably for the select few whom are selected for New Zealand Representation, in various Age Groups, for various International Tournaments 

- Korban Kirk in Montenegro 

- Maxine Stout, Samantha Bright & Claudia Morgan in Sydney, Australia. 

- Morgan McDowall, at 15 years of age is also selected for the NZ Junior Woman (U20) whom travel and compete in Greece, as well as being named as a Non Travelling Reserve for the NZ Senior Womans Team.