College trio to compete in water polo heartland

Mount Maunganui College's New Zealand water polo reps, Malia Josephson (left) Alicia Winstanely and Georgia Reardon-Nikara. Photo / John Borren

Georgia Reardon-Nikara, Alicia Winstanely and Malia Josephson do not get a cent in funding from Sport NZ but that will not stop them representing their country.

The three 16-year-old Mount Maunganui College students have been selected in the NZ Youth team to compete at an elite tournament in the game's stronghold of Hungary and Germany in May.

Funding the trip has been, and remains, a struggle. The students who play in Tauranga and Auckland's competitive open women's league are under no illusions as to just how tough the standard of play in the pool will be. But they are looking forward to the challenge of testing themselves against the best.

"I am looking forward to the experience of competing against different countries and improving on my skills and just getting better," said Winstanely. "I am expecting it will be really hard, as they will probably have really big players."

Reardon-Nikara agrees the step-up in standard and competitive edge will be huge.

"I just feel that their build is going to be completely different to ours. It has been tough for us because it is all self-funded and that has been hard. But our parents have been great and the three of us have done a lot together."

The three young water polo stars would love to emulate Mount Maunganui College's most renowned players, Joe Kayes and Rebecca Parkes.

Attracting the attention of the game's foremost scouts for colleges in Europe is a major goal for them in May.

"We'd like to move overseas and get scholarships so it is a chance to play well in front of the scouts. That will be quite nerve wracking I guess," said Josephson. Jenni-Lee Reardon, a prominent water polo coach at Mount Maunganui College, says the school has been right behind the girls every step of the journey.

"These three girls also travelled to Hawaii with the New Zealand youth team last year and the school has supported their development, helping them with study requirements and tried to assist them with balancing sport and academia.

"That has reduced the stress on the girls. It is the dream of travelling balanced with the reality of continuing to learn and looking outside of water polo for the future. The school has continued to nurture them so they can have a bit of both worlds and succeed in both."

-An 18+ Motown-themed fundraising disco will be held for the girls on May 9 at Arataki Community Centre. Details rayr@xtra.co.nz