Tauranga Water Polo's Malia Josephson, Dylan Cronje, and Carly Wessels, preparing for their first home game of the season this weekend. Photo / Andrew Warner
Tauranga Water Polo's Malia Josephson, Dylan Cronje, and Carly Wessels, preparing for their first home game of the season this weekend. Photo / Andrew Warner
When Tauranga Water Polo's women's team first faced off against Marist and North Harbour this league season they were unable to claim a win.
A couple of weeks later, they're hungry to turn that around and are confident of victory.
The Body in Motion Tauranga men's and women's water poloteams are preparing for their week four clashes of the 2019 Honda National Water Polo League competition, which will be their first home games of the season.
The women will play Marist Water Polo on Saturday - two weeks after they drew with them in round two, before facing off against North Harbour, who they lost to in week one of the competition, this Sunday.
The women's team's South African import Carly Wessels is looking forward to playing at home this weekend and is confident they have what it takes to take the victory.
"It was a good game but I definitely feel like we will win on Saturday," Wessels said of their first match against Marist.
Wessels, who has been in Tauranga for just over a month, says she and her teammates are keen to redeem themselves since the first time they played both squads and are hungry for wins on their home turf.
"We are hoping to have a lot of support," she says.
Joining the squad this weekend is Malia Josephson, a Tauranga player who lives in New York. She arrived back in Tauranga on Wednesday and went straight into practice for this weekend's matches.
She is looking forward to being back in action with the club she was last part of when she was about 12 and hopes to get a win over both clubs.
The men's teams will play Waitakere on Saturday and North Harbour on Sunday. The local team had narrow losses to both teams in weeks one and two, going down to North 11-9, and 13-10 to Waitakere.
Tauranga Water Polo Club head coach Lionel Randall says the men are looking forward to making Tauranga proud at their home game.
"We want to try and put that right," Randall says.
He says it will be a good test for both local teams but everyone has been working hard in preparation.
Tauranga Water Polo's Malia Josephson, Dylan Cronje, Carly Wessels are looking forward to their first home games of the 2019 National Water Polo league competition this weekend. Photo / Andrew Warner
This weekend's draw: Men: Tauranga Water Polo vs Waitakere: 4pm, Saturday. Tauranga Water Polo vs North Harbour: 2pm, Sunday. Women: Tauranga Water Polo vs Marist Water Polo: 2.30pm, Saturday. Tauranga Water Polo vs North Harbour: 12.30pm, Sunday.
Body in Motion Tauranga women's water polo team: Jessica Ingram, Kahleia Josephson, Malia Josephson, Channel West, Lucy Mano, Amanda Lemon, Carly Wessels, Shinae Carrington, Simone Couvee, Maddi Culpan, Elle Smith, Kate Enoka, Rene Burgraff, Nicole McLaren, Parker Thomas.
Body in Motion Tauranga Men's Water Polo team: Bae Fountain, Fernando Cianciarullo, Richard Williams, Daniel Kayes, Cameron Hayes, Wilson Longhurst, Ryan Hayes, Loui Schuler, Dylan Cronje, Reuben Ronalds, Richard Sneddon, Nicholas Patterson, Kane Smith, Brandon Gillespie, Gabriel Orchard, Theo Bos.
Tauranga's National Water Polo League top scorers (As of May 12): Shinae Carrington: Ranked third with 19 goals (Women's). Kate Enoka: Ranked fourth-equal with 16 points (Women's). Cameron Hayes: Ranked fifth with 10 points (Men's).
