2012 London Olympics Water Polo

Wibble

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Is anyone watching this? Despite England being a world power in the earliest days of the sport they haven't qualified since 1956 but they have apparently put a great deal of effort and money into the sport in the UK for this event and they even train in Manchester. That said funding was slashed in 2009 and they have concentrated on the women's team who recently lost to Australia, who are probably the favorites for Gold, 10-4 which sounds bad but a few years ago they would have been thrashed by 20 or 30 goals. With home advantage who knows how well they can do.

I'm watching because my son is a water polo player and wants to represent Australia at the Olympics when he is a bit older so we will be recording and/or watching every game. No doubt I'll be alone on here.

Looking at the draw Britain will do well to get past the group stages, especially the men's team who are in a group with Hungary, Montenegro, Romania, USA and Serbia and need to finish in the top 4 to qualify for the knock-out stage.
 
Wow, I never expected this thread to be started by a guy from Britain :D

You are not the only one watching this, Water Polo is a popular and respected sport in the Balkans. You have to be a physical beast to be able to compete at this level.

I don't know anything about Britains women's team, but them men's will probably get trashed by a lot of goals against all the teams in their group. Serbia, Hungary and Montenegro are all contenders for the Gold Medal and USA and Romania are respected teams. The gulf in class is just too big.
 
I live in Australia now and my son is a water polo player. Lots of the coaches here are from the Balkans.

And it really is a tough sport. My son just did a week long residential training camp with the NSW U14 squad and half the kids were vomiting on a daily basis so hard was the training.

He is quite new to the sport (just over a year) but his speed, size and fitness have put him on the edge of State selection already.
 
The Aussie women will be in with a chance of gold but the men will no doubt come 5th as usual. Not bad I suppose given that we don't have a professional league as such, we have a National League but it is semi-pro at best, and we tend to lose our best players to Europe if they qualify for a EU passport and most players retire after playing 1 Olympics due to financial pressures. Shame because we could be up there with the very best.
 
The generation coming through the U14s this season are a very strong cohort so our Olympic team could be sensational at the 2020 Olympics (he says with a bit of wild optimism).
 
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I think it's great that your son has picked up this sport. The hard training that's required to be fit enough, epsecially later when he's grown up, will install discipline and routine and that will hopefully guide him and keep him fit and healthy for the rest of his life.

Shame about the conditions in Australia with not having a professional league. The best players in the Balkans can make a very good living. In Serbia, we have good facilities and training opportunities for the kids when it comes to water-polo, but not individual swimming. Team sports was the focus and priority of the Yugoslav system and that's why we've always been great at water-polo but not had that many great individual swimmers.

You won't be the only one following this thread Wibble ;). Along with the volleyball, handball and tennis this is one of our best shots for medals at the olympics.
 
I'd take some of that training and a professional league. He has the potential to be brilliant but needs to work on his legs and core strength. He is only 13 and 73kg and 183km tall so he has a bit to get out of the water. That said he is only just getting his adult musculature so with even more hard work he could do very well. His swimming is very strong so that isn't a worry.
 
Echo what ILBB15 said. Serbia along with Hungary are the dogs bollocks at Water Polo.

If we get to to the knockouts I'm gonna try and swindle a ticket from somewhere.

I've always said that Water Polo is one of, if not the most physically demanding sports.
 
It is top 10 by any standard you can list. I'd say that it is top 5 easily.

My son does swim squads as well as waterpolo training and when faster swimmers than him over 50 or 100m (he is quick but his mates are in the top 10 Nationally for their age) try waterpolo they end up vomiting when they play at any sort of level.
 
Hungary is not a contender right now, and I don't say this because we got spanked by the Serbs, there's no real talent behind the now aging/retired golden generation. I don't think we'll beat Montenegro either. I'd be very happy with a top4 finish.
 
Enjoying Hungary v Montenegro at the moment. 9-10 in 4th 5 mins to go.
 
GB being sunk without trace by Serbia at the moment
 
GB were fecking shit the other day against Romania. The keeper was absolutely dire, genuinely think I could do a better job. He hardly made a save all game but just stood there and flapped around.
 
YES!!! Serbia beat Australia 11-8 after being down 5-8 in the 3rd quarter. A major upset was on the way but the guys managed to get their act together and played some spectacular defence in the 2nd half.

Montenegro are also through to the semis.
 
It was a great match actually. The defence in the 3rd period was brilliant.

The Water Polo guys fight for the flag more than any of our athletes I would say.
 
ILBB15 said:
YES!!! Serbia beat Australia 11-8 after being down 5-8 in the 3rd quarter. A major upset was on the way but the guys managed to get their act together and played some spectacular defence in the 2nd half.

Montenegro are also through to the semis.
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Still a very good result for Australia really. After how they played early in the tournament I expected Serbia to rip them a new one. The Aussies have a huge amount of raw talent but until they have a professional League, a governing body that pays international players and government funding to develop and nurture talent we will be stuck in the lower half of the top 8-10 teams in the world.

BTW 3 of the Aussie play for my son's club and he sometimes trains with them.

On an up note the Aussie women won Bronze.
 
Theon said:
GB were fecking shit the other day against Romania. The keeper was absolutely dire, genuinely think I could do a better job. He hardly made a save all game but just stood there and flapped around.
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Goalie is a very difficult position and it is easy to look shit in a team with poor a defence. Team GB didn't disgrace themselves given how far they were behind only a few years ago. They may not be in the top ten in the world yet but if they keep their program going you never know. The lack of depth in swimming and the lack of suitable pools will be the biggest barrier to GB improvement.

The UK should get a decent pro league going and get all the poor but good Aussie players who are entitled to a UK passport to play and then poach them as if they were South African cricketers.
 
Aussies beat the US in the 7/8 play off. Not bad for amateurs I suppose.

Surprised that Sebia didn't make it to the final but it looked like either Serbia or Croatia were going to win the whole thing from early on.
 
The Aussie women were delighted with a bronze but I'm sure they must think about what might have been.
 
Hungary's golden generation is finished, it was a great ride. To be honest I think they played some of the best polo in this tournament as well, too bad it was only happening in two games (against USA and Spain in the 5th place playoff game). We desperately need some fresh blood.
 
Hungry and Greece seem to have the opposite problem to Australia i.e. they keep some of their players beyond their sell by date. We tend to lose our players young because they have to earn a living at a real job since we don't have a professional league.

A few of our players play overseas but the lack of English speaking countries with a pro league is a disincentive.
 
Wibble said:
Hungry and Greece seem to have the opposite problem to Australia i.e. they keep some of their players beyond their self by date. We tend to lose our players young because they have to earn a living at a real job since we don't have a professional league.

A few of our players play overseas but the lack of English speaking countries with a pro league is a disincentive.
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I've met an Australian guy playing here a few years ago, don't remember which club he played with then or even the name, but he could drink:)
 
cinc said:
I've met an Australian guy playing here a few years ago, don't remember which club he played with then or even the name, but he could drink:)
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Aussie are rubbish at languages and I believe that yours isn't the easiest to learn so I doubt that there will be a massive influx. Shame because a combination of Aussie swimming and athleticism and Hungarian training could be awesome.
 
To be honest, it wouldn't really help us, giving away places at clubs, but you have a few good Hungarian coaches if I remember right. And if you don't, you should. We have loads of good coaches, but not enough kids trying to learn the game.
 
cinc said:
To be honest, it wouldn't really help us, giving away places at clubs, but you have a few good Hungarian coaches if I remember right. And if you don't, you should. We have loads of good coaches, but not enough kids trying to learn the game.
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Who said anything about helping you? ;)
 
We have quite a few coaches from Serbia/Croatia/Hungary. Our youth director is Iranian but he was trained by coaches from the Balkans and mirrors their delicate style.
 
So Cinc, what has the outcome of the disappointing water polo performance at the Olympics.

Here in Australia there have been lots of statements about aiming for a top 4 finish next time but no extra funding from anywhere.
 
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