Canoe polo: Bay's young paddling stars go for gold

Jordan Hinton, Sophie Hinton and Ella Richardson.

At the age of 7, Sophie Winton got the word from her older sister Olivia ... her desperate hunt for a canoe polo goalie was unanswered.

"I was told to sit in a boat at the end of the pool, hold my paddle up and stop the ball. Yes, I was the goalie and that was my introduction to the sport," she recalled this week.

Thirteen years later, Winton, a second year nursing student at EIT, is one of three Hawke's Bay players named in New Zealand under-21 teams to play at the September 22-28 world championships in France. Jordan Hinton and Ella Richardson are the others.

Unlike those early days as a goalie, Winton now plays a charger role. Although she has represented New Zealand in the past, France will be her and the rest of the Bay trio's first taste of world championship play.

A Karamu High School product, Winton first played for the New Zealand under-21 team in 2010, and two years later captained the team to a last placing at the Oceania championships. That year she was one of two players to miss final selection in the team for the world championships in Poland.

"When I missed out on that team, it made me more determined to train harder and improve so I could reach my goals," Winton explained.

With Hawke's Bay not fielding a team in the national women's league this year, Winton played for the Palmerston North Valkyries A team, which finished second to Gen-Y of Otaki. During her secondary school days, Winton was a member of a national title-winning senior girls side.

Like so many Karamu players, she has a lot to thank multiple national title-winning coach Kevin Beaumont for.

"Kevin inspired me, pushed me a lot to train and placed a big emphasis on the basics."

For 18-year-old Havelock North High School product Richardson, being selected for France is a "dream come true".

"I've been wanting to go to Paris since I was a kid. I've got photos of the Eiffel Tower all around my room."

She is in her ninth year in the sport and has no trouble alternating between the goalie and guard positions. While there will be 600 players from around the globe in France, just four teams will contest the under-21 women's grade.

"New Zealand finished third when Bay players Jordan Pearse and Kate Horrocks played for them two years ago. We'll aim for gold this time," Richardson said.

She won national titles in cricket and canoe polo during her secondary school days but has put cricket aside in an attempt to be in the best possible shape for France. Richardson played for the Valkyries development team, which finished fourth in the national league.

"Playing against the country's top women's players has been an ideal form of build-up for France," Richardson said.

The New Zealand under-21 team's coach, Nick Burnett of Christchurch, is a former New Zealand under-21 and men's open goalie, and Richardson said she has learnt plenty off him.

Hinton, 20, is in his ninth year in the sport. He captained the New Zealand under-21 team which won gold at last year's Oceania championships.

Six members of that side are in the eight for France.

With 13 teams in their grade at the worlds, they will have a tougher job than the under-21 women of achieving a medal, but Hinton said that is their main goal after the Kiwi under-21 men finished fourth two years ago.

A second year pharmacy degree student, Hinton will vice-captain the Kiwis.

The guard, who was a national title winner during his Havelock North High School days, recently gave up soccer and has put his tennis commitments on the back burner as world championship preparation has dominated his spare time.

"I paddle five or six times a week, go to the gym every day and run four or five times a week."

That level of commitment paid off for Hinton at the team's recent training camp, when he took six seconds off his previous six lap paddling time.

He played for the Hawke's Bay A grade men's team which finished seventh in the national league.

Five former Hawke's Bay players will also be in New Zealand teams in France. The Palmerston North-based Max Whitaker-Mills will play in the same team as Hinton, the Palmy-based Sian Fendall is in the under-21 women's team, and the South Island-based Jed Graham is the vice-captain of the open men's team, which also includes Palmy-based former Bay players Matt Keong and Conor Sellwood.