17c起草社区

Sydney Stingers Water Polo team is showing no sign of slowing down as they power through their Summer season ahead of the International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics Championship in Melbourne in February.

鈥淲e are proud that our M5 team are heading into the Christmas break equal top of the ladder,鈥� Stingers President Stephen Timbrell told 17c起草社区.

鈥淭he Summer season carries into next year which is really good preparation for Melbourne. Unfortunately, we鈥檝e had a few of our games pulled because of the smoke and air quality – anything outdoors has been cancelled. But we are still confident we will keep on top of our training and weekly games before the championships.鈥�

The Stingers are entering three teams at Melbourne 2020 and are excited to take on the international teams on home turf.

鈥淭here are a couple of strong European and American teams, with West Hollywood who is always the one to beat,鈥� Timbrell said. 鈥淵ou never know who might knock them from the top, but they took out the last few comps and are a bit above everyone else.鈥�

鈥淪till from a competitive position, we have a pretty good chance to get into the finals and will be taking at least two competitive teams with us, and I believe one will be right up there.鈥�

The Stingers have always received plenty of support for international comps, with fundraising allowing as any team members who want to to attend. With the Championships held in Australia, they have more people wanting to compete than ever before.

鈥淲e always balance up giving people the opportunity to play as well as representing well in competitions. The Stingers are all about inclusion and developing players as well as giving everyone a go. We have to balance getting as many people as we can in a competitive team, so we will stop the international teams from taking the medals out of the country,鈥� Timbrell laughed.

鈥淲e鈥檝e had games in other divisions cancelled over the last couple of weeks, and we are waiting to hear what happens before each game. So, we are looking at getting additional swim time indoors and additional training to make up the loss of pool time.鈥�

鈥淎ny game time we can get is a benefit to build the team and working together.鈥�