Australian Women’s National Waterpolo team battling local restrictions, while the rest of the world is playing World League Finals in Athens.
European Soccer Championship is in full swing. The stadiums of England, Denmark and the rest of the Europe are packed!
On 14-19th on June, Athens was the host of Fina Water Polo World League Final Series. Canada, USA, Hungary, Japan, Kazakhstan , Greece, Russia and Spain attended. Australia, who has not played an official game in almost 2 years and despite being vaccinated, did not.
However, the Australian Women team, along with the rest of the country, are battling their way through ever changing Covid rules and restrictions, those that not even the local governments can keep up with.
It was on the 19th of June, during their very rare time off from water polo duties, that they received instruction to make their way to Coolum immediately and be prepared to go to Tokyo. Bags were packed, with some teams members not even having enough time to say good bye to their families.
Unsurprisingly for 2021, things have taken a turn for worst, as the QLD Government announced wider restrictions, this time directly affecting the team’s training grounds.
Now, the team has been restricted to only one session a day which is absolutely inadequate for this stage of their Olympic preparation. They are once again forced to pack their bags in search for a new safe haven, a place where they can carry out the rest of their Olympic preparation in peace.
The Australian Waterpolo Team will surely go down in history as one of the rare teams that didn’t play an official game of water polo for almost over two years before their Olympic quest. It would be optimistic to say that not coming up against opponents has its benefits, but unfortunately the reality as we know it is completely different.
Australia’s biggest opponent USA, will manage to have approximately 30 official games under their belt, acquired months before the big show. A huge win and an enormous advantage, achieved by their team’s administration and health staff.
For a team that has made countless sacrifices to continue representing our country, we hope that adequate training options can be provided for their most important stage of preparation.
Water U Know 