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NCCP Community Sport Water Polo course: I Love Water Polo, May 22-23

Water Polo Canada will be hosting the newly launched
"NCCP Community Sport Water Polo course: I Love Water Polo"
May 22-23 in Saint John, NB (Saint John Aquatics Centre)
Please click here for more information.

2010 National Club Championships Hosted in Halifax, NS starts Thursday April 29th

HALIFAX - The Nova Scotia Water Polo Association will host the 2010 National Club Championships for 18 and under boys from April 29th to May 2nd, 2010 at Dalplex pool in Halifax. It is the first National Club Water Polo Championships in the Atlantic Canada region in over 25 years.

This marks the re-birth of water polo in this region.

The NS Water Polo Association is led by Guy Lavoie a long time volunteer for the sport and invaluable resource to the sport. Read More...

"It was a big goal for us to land an important tournament like this," said Lavoie. "It means the world to us and we hope people will see that water polo is alive and well in Nova Scotia. Our numbers have really grown over the past five years since we revamped the organisation."

Water Polo Canada, Domestic Director, Jeffrey Lindell is extremely optimistic and excited about the current and future growth of the sport in the province. "While conducting officials' training and meeting with key stakeholders in Halifax it was quite evident that those currently involved are quite passionate for the sport, and are motivated to work hard to grow water polo at the grass roots and competitive levels," said Lindell.

Former Nova Scotia water polo player and now Water Polo Canada staff member, Heather Kaulbach will return to her homeland this weekend to work with the local Organizing Group. Ms Kaulbach's greatest accomplishment as a Nova Scotia athlete was a silver medal finish at the 1981 Canada Summer Games (Thunder Bay, Ont.) where she captained Team Nova Scotia to a silver medal finish. Water polo was removed from the Canada Games list of sports after the 1983 Winter Games and is currently lobbying for acceptance back into the Games, which would be a huge boost for developing water polo communities such as Atlantic Canada.

"I am a proud Nova Scotian who calls this province home," said Kaulbach. "The Halifax Water Polo Club jump started my water polo career back in 1978 and I was fortunate enough to fulfill my water polo goal of representing Canada for eleven successful years. I hope to assist future Nova Scotia water polo players make their water polo dreams come true."

Provincial 18U Team Wins Historic SUBWAY Water Polo Championships

This past weekend Nova Scotia's provincial team defeated Dalhousie University's Water Polo Team to win the first Water Polo Provincial Championships to be held in Nova Scotia in over 25 years.

The 18U's won the "Shulga Cup", named after coach Nickolay Shulga, a former professional water polo athlete who revived the sport in Nova Scotia in recent years.

Nova Scotia's newest provincial champions now have the more daunting task of representing Nova Scotia at the National Club Championships that will be held in Halifax April 28 to May 2nd at the Dalplex pool. This is the first time in 25 years that a team from Nova Scotia will be playing at the 18 and under National Club Championships.

For additional details on the 2010 National Club Championships for 18 and under boys, please refer to www.waterpolo.ca

FREE introductory clinic(s) "I love water polo" in NB

We had to cancel the "I love Water Polo" clinic in Oromocto for February 14th, do to a pool shutdown. We have re-scheduled this clinic for March 7th 10:30am-12:00.

WPNB makes telegraph-journal with "I love water polo" in NB

telegraphjournal.com - Sport really takes off after humble beginning | JON MACNEILL - Breaking News
Katinka Postma is no stranger to turning a vision into reality.

When she started the Saint John Water Polo club out of the Canada Games Aquatic Centre in January of 2004, Postma had limited equipment and only a handful of adults interested.

"It was really from scratch. I had one water polo ball that I owned and, luckily, a player had another ball," she said.

telegraphjournal.com - Water polo movement rippling across N.B. | JON MACNEILL - Breaking News
When Katinka Postma moved to Saint John from Holland seven years ago with her husband and two teenaged sons, she began searching for a way to ease into a new country and culture.

An avid water polo player and coach, Postma sought to join a club in Saint John and was astonished to find one didn't exist.

So she formed her own.

"Water polo actually really helped me to integrate and interact with people and make new friends," Postma said. "We basically had to start a whole new life here and for me, water polo really helped."

FREE introductory clinic(s) "I love water polo" in NB

WPNB, with the support of WPC, is starting a new water polo program in Dieppe, Saint John, Oromocto and Woodstock named "I love Water polo". Its purpose is to promote the interest of, and participation in, water polo in Atlantic Canada. What is "I love Water polo?" It is a recreational water polo program for boys and girls (8-13 yrs)* that promotes fitness, sportsmanship, team work and non-stop fun and action! No previous water polo experience is required, but participants must be confident in deep water.
Register now at ilovewaterpoloNB@waterpolo.ca
For more details go to http://www.waterpolo.ca/ilwpclinics.aspx
or read this pdf

Note: All the "I Love Water Polo" clinics are for kids 8-13 except for the Saint John clinic. This clinic is for age group 13-16!

WPNB host first Annual Intermediate Tournament

WPNB will be hosting their 1^st Annual Intermediate Tournament to be held the weekend of January 9^th-10^th, 2010 at the Dieppe Aquatic & Sports Centre in Dieppe, NB. This Centre (near Moncton ) is a brand new pool that opened this past September 2009. The aquatic director is eager to get water polo going in the facility. The plan is to start a club in that facility by the end of January 2010. This tournament will provide some great promotional advertising for that club.

The goal of this tournament is to provide an opportunity for newer and less experienced players to participate in a tournament setting organized for their level of play. It will be a Co-ed (no minimum requirement) tournament. Played in a round robin format. The 4-teams that play are from Saint John, Truro and Halifax. Games played Saturday 9am.-12 noon, 4-7pm. Sunday 9am.-12 noon.

New Program for kids 16 years and under:

We are glad to announce that we can offer a water polo program for kids 13 -16 years of age starting January 5th 2010. You can sign up for this program at the front desk of the Canada Games Aquatic Centre in Saint John. No water polo experience is necessary, but players should be comfortable in deep water. Our program is an introductory, recreational water polo program for boys and girls. See more details on our program page.

First Water Polo Tournament for kids 12U:

For the first time ever in New Brunswick the Saint John Water Polo kids made a road trip to Halifax, NS. November 28th. and played a mini water polo tournament. It was great fun and they learned a lot.

Referees and Minor Officials trained:

In the weekend of November 27-29th 5 minor officials and 3 referees were trained in Halifax, during an event organized by PWPA, the Provincial Water Polo Association for Nova Scotia.

Master Learning Facilitator trained:

New Brunswick now has a certified Master Learning Facilitator (MLF) for Community Sport-Initiation. CSI is a new coaching program for water polo. Community Sport is generally for young athletes (under 12) or for older recreational water polo players. Coaches for Community Sport introduce basic skills necessary to play water polo and promote life-long participation in the sport. The MLF can deliver coaching workshops as well as train other Learning Facilitators. For more information: http://www.waterpolo.ca/nccpoverview.aspx

Four new coaches trained:

The weekend of September 25^th-27^th there was a "Practice Coach" clinic in Nova Scotia organized by PWPA. This program developed by Water Polo Canada is an education program geared towards coaches who tend to work with young athletes. The coach of Saint John accompanied four of her players to Halifax this weekend where they completed the first phase of becoming certified coaches. They are now one step closer to their goal of developing and growing the sport of water polo in New Brunswick.

WPNB hosts their 5^th Annual Tournament:

This fall, WPNB will be hosting their 5^th annual tournament to be held the weekend of November 13^th-15^th, at the Canada Games Aquatic Centre in Saint John.

Other information:
  -  Registration fee $15 per player (to cover costs and referee honoraria)
  -  Co-ed (no minimum requirement)
  -  Round Robin Format
  -  Planned for a 6-team tournament
  -  Games start Friday at 8 PM. Last game is Sunday at noon

Water Polo Saint John starts their 6^th season:

On September 22^nd Saint John Water Polo will be back in the pool to start off their 6^th season. Anybody who's interested is invited to come try it out, for more details see the programs page.

A message from President JC Besner:

"WPNB is extremely excited to be officially recognized as a Provincial Sport Organization (PSO) for Water Polo Canada. Our mission is to promote, develop and grow the sport of water polo in New Brunswick in order to increase the popularity of the sport and support the objectives of Water Polo Canada. New Brunswick does not have a strong water polo presence yet, but we have a number of dedicated volunteers and players who love this sport and who want to see water polo flourish in New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada. We also understand that we will be playing a key role in helping to get water polo back into the Canada Games by 2015. Achieving this goal is going to drive many of our key initiatives from this point forward. There's a lot of work to do in the background to get there, but we're optimistic. After all, we have a fantastic product to promote! We look forward to working with WPC and the other PSOs to make our goals a reality".

A message from Waterpolo Canada (WPC):

Water Polo Canada would like to formally announce and introduce its newest member, and PSO, Water Polo New Brunswick (WPNB). The establishment of WPNB has been a long and grueling process, and could not have been accomplished without the passion and dedication to the sport of water polo from a number of volunteers. Katinka Postma is the head coach of the Saint John Water Polo Club, and is also the head coach of the Provincial program. WPNB held its first ever Annual General Meeting November 1st, 2008.

"Having WPNB established as an official Provincial member of Water Polo Canada is really exciting news for the organization as well as the Canadian water polo community. We have not been in the Canada Games since 1981", states WPC Executive Director Ahmed El-Awadi, "and now with the development of WPNB and Nova Scotia, we are one step closer to getting water polo back into the Games. Participation in the Canada Games has become an important mandate at the National office, and we look forward to working with New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in their development of grassroots water polo. Congratulations JC, Katinka, Steve, and all other volunteers for your hard work and dedication to this endeavor".

Dalhousie Invitational 2009

Previous Dalhousie Invitationals

Saint John Water Polo Collection