Wagga junior players selected for water polo National State Championships

Campbell Bryce, Jack Piggott, Cooper Gray, Bea Wilson, Chloe Lotz, Lucy Hall, and Emma Mundey have been selected in the ACT water polo teams to compete at nationals later this month.

After completing a long trail program, the athletes will represent the territory, competing against the best players from across the country.

Selected across three divisions, the players all agreed New South Wales and Queensland will be the teams to beat when they attend the competition later this month.

Hall said it's been a big time commitment for the players to attend trials and training with the team over the past two school terms to get selected in the sides.

"We went to a weekly training in Canberra, it was a regular water polo training with drills and such," Hall said.

"That went for the whole of last term, about 10 weeks, and we started again this term for another 10 weeks."

Travelling to Canberra every Friday, the teenagers have been juggling school with the significant time commitment required of their sport.

MORE LOCAL SPORT NEWS

"It's a bit hard but we all like water polo, we all choose to do it," Lotz said.

"When I'm in the car I do school work to keep up with things, sometimes I let my teachers know that I'm away and sometimes they're willing to give me extensions, but usually you just have to find the time."

After training alongside the best players in the region, Wilson said to be selected in the side feels like a just acknowledgement for their hard work.

"It looks like all our hard work is paying off, all the hours driving and all the money spent on accommodation, all paying off while doing something that you're really passionate about," Wilson said.

Coming into the sport from swimming, she enjoys being able to play a team sport while in the water.

"A lot of us did swimming first, swimming is fun but then you find water polo, and you get to meet new friends and play with them, most water polo players need to keep up their swimming to keep up their fitness for the game," she said.

The three local boys have all been selected in the same age group side, with Piggott excited to be on another team with Bryce and Gray.

"We've all been playing in the Wagga representative team together for a while," Piggott said.

"It's good to know that we've got other people that we're familiar with instead of being chucked in with random people."

Gray said after spending so many weeks travelling to Canberra to train, he's confident in his fellow teammates.

"It helps [to know your teammates], it helps you out a bit, you know what your teammates are like, we know all the other boys well and are pretty familiar with everyone now," Gray said.

It's not just their own teammates that they know well though, but some of their opponents too.

"I think all of us have played on teams with a few of the NSW players too, so we do know a lot of them, it's a good thing, we know what some people are going to do," he said.

Bryce agreed there are benefits in knowing their opposition.

"We know their playing structure, which helps us," Bryce said.

After their side came third last year, Bryce is optimistic ACT will do well once again.

"Last year they came third, so I'm hoping for a very good start," he said.

"We play everyone in the first three days then into the top five and bottom five pools, and hopefully we'll be in top five to compete for a medal.

"There'll be a lot of new faces, from New Zealand, South Australia, but from my knowledge Queensland will be pretty tough to beat too."

The group all agreed that having the chance to represent ACT will be an honour, and they can't wait to play in one of the biggest competitions they've experienced so far.

The ACT girls under 15s (Lotz, Wilson) and 17s (Hall, Mundey) teams will compete in Canberra from September 24 to 29, while the ACT boys under 17s (Bryce, Gray, Piggott) will compete in Syndey across the same dates,

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: