2011-12 Annual Report - Australian Water Polo Inc

WATER POLO AUSTRALIA 2011/12 ANNUAL REPORT
Born ‘94 Youth Men’s
Report
20
European Tour
In July 2011, the B94
Team toured Europe.
The dates of the tour
were from July 15 to
August 9 2011.
Serbia
Our first stop was in Serbia, where the team
had a training camp against their squad of
30 players.
This included five hours in the water a day,
with the Serbians playing a very physical
game, constantly grabbing our players which
took many of our boys by surprise. As our
boys responded in a physical manner the
grabbing from the Serbians was eased.
However, some of our players went in their
shells & did not come out again, tending to
shy away from confrontations.
Each morning session consisted of 1 hour
training by ourselves and an hour and a half
of extra man practice in 2 groups against the
Serbian squad. At night we played a 2 hour
training game.
Injuries became a problem with some players
due to lack of preparation prior to tour, where
they did not handle the increase in workloads.
Hungary
Our next stop was Hungary where we
travelled by bus from Serbia for a 6 day
training camp with Hungary. The Hungarians
also had a squad of 30 players so the
request to play 2 games a day, every day,
which on a long tour, we found it difficult to
meet their expectations.
Slovakia
Another bus trip saw us at our next destination,
Novaky, Slovakia, for a 4 Nation Tournament.
We beat Slovakia in the first game 10–7, where
we started slowly but finished strong with 5-1
in the last half. We had a disappointing loss to
Serbia in the next game losing 9–3, with poor
reaction time allowing their counter attack
to be a dominant part of their game. The last
game against Hungary was also disappointing
where we lost 14-8. We only scored an
abysmal 2 from 13 extra man, with Hungary
scoring 3 from 3. The extra man conversion
was the difference between the 2 teams.
Croatia
Our next stop was in Rijeka, Croatia, where
we had our last training camp, which once
again saw us play 2 training matches a day
against their squad of 30. Croatia ended up
winning the European Championships so as
you can imagine fielded a very strong team.
Australia played a semi official match against
this team and lost 9-6. This was played in
the Adriatic Sea in a pool not dissimilar to
Gunnamatta Bay. A crowd of 250 watched
this match, with fireworks set off for half time
celebrations. Our second half was the best
water polo we had played on tour and certainly
showed promise for the boys, and a good way
to finish a tough 3 and a half weeks in Europe.
Unfortunately the born 1994 team did
not tour Europe in 2012 due to limited
tournaments in Europe during the Olympic
Year, combined with most of the players
completing their final year of school and the
European tournaments timing coinciding with
the players mid-term exams.
Adelaide Training Camp
The next best option was to arrange 4 training
camps for 2012 in Australia during the school
holidays to keep the costs down & also to
make sure that the education of the players
in preparation for their final year of school
was not interrupted. The first training camp
was in Adelaide directly after the National
u20 Championships. All bar 4 of the boys
competed in this tournament so a squad of
27 players attended this camp. A few players
struggled with the physicality of the game,
and I was mindful of this aspect of the game,
as this was an issue with the Australian
team that toured to Europe in 2011. The
training camp was over 5 days, where we
concentrated on skills sessions in the morning
and games against each other at night.
I have been fortunate with Paul Oberman
offering his services to assist me with the born
1994 at the Youth World Championships and
Paul was instrumental in helping make this
camp in Adelaide a success. Thanks also go to
Eddie Dennis whose expertise in goal keeping
gave valuable information for these players.
I am blessed to have some very talented
centre forwards in this age group, but it is
another crucial position that Australian teams
must concentrate on developing. The above
areas were crucial with my selection criteria.
Sydney Training Camp
The second training camp was in April in
Sydney directly after the U18’s tournament in
Canberra. Initially I planned to have 18 players
at this camp but the performance of some
individuals in Canberra at the U18’s meant that I
needed to include 4 more players to attend the
training camp in Sydney. All athletes stayed in
dorms at St Joseph’s College. Once more the
format was similar to the January training camp
with skills sessions in the morning and games
between ourselves at night.
I was extremely happy with the performance of
the born 1994 squad and was happy with the
progression of the team. After the April training
camp I believed we were on track to achieve
a respectable result at the Youth World
Championships. However, the physicality of some
players was not up to the standard I had set, to
be able to compete with the top European sides.
Based on this and the fact that some players
out performed others in their set position, I
had to cut some of the players to reduce the
numbers to 15 for the next training camp.
The current squad has changed
considerable from the 2011 tour and now
includes the following players:-
Goal Keepers
Anthony Hrysanthos
Sam Cocokios
Field Players
Gordon Marshall (CF) Vice Captain
Lachlan Edwards (CF)
Justin Trabinger (CB)
Matthew Skinner (CB)
Reed Cotterill (Utility)
Matthew Perrot (LH) Captain
Luke Pavillard (LH)l
William McKay (LHD)
Davis Verboon (LHD)
Callum Smith (R/LHD)
Blake Buckley (RHD)
Ciaran Wolohan (RHD)
Staff
Coach
Chris Wybrow
Assistant Coach Paul Oberman
Manager
Michael Smith
Youth World Championship
Preparation
Another two training camps will be planned
in Sydney for the July and September school
holidays, in preparation leading up to the
Youth World Championships in Perth from
December 1-9, 2012.
A big concern to me is the timing of the
Youth World Championships, with most of the
boys finishing their last year of school and
their exams only being completed a couple
of days prior to departing for Perth.
I must send a huge thank you to Michael
Smith, the manager of the team, who is
extremely organised and has done a huge
amount of work behind the scenes.
Chris Wybrow
Head Coach B94 Boys