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Twenty Eighteen New Zealand Annual Report CONTENTS

01 NZ Association 02 Chairperson’s Report 03 Executive Director’s Report 05 NZ Secondary Schools 10 National League Championships 12 Regional Reports 22 World Championships 36 Awards 37 NZCPA Medal 38 Membership 39 Our Supporters

Annual Report for the twelve months ended 31 December 2018

This Annual Report is to be presented at the Annual General Meeting of the New Zealand Canoe Polo Association Incorporated to be held Saturday 18th May at Naenae Pool, Naenae, Wellington

Photography: Colleen Sheldon – New Zealand Pix Annual Report designed and collated by Kat Graham NEW ZEALAND CANOE POLO

The New Zealand Canoe Polo Association is an incorporated society first registered in 1995. The Association’s mission is to‘ promote and encourage all aspects of Canoe Polo in New Zealand for the future of the and its participants’.

Executive Council Board of Directors Executive Director – James Mitchell Michael Beauchamp (President) Coaching Director – vacant Andi Fear-Ross (Chairperson) Communications Director – Kat Graham Alison Neilson Competitions Director – Jed Graham Greg Oke Funding Director – Megan Bolton Colleen Sheldon Refereeing Director – vacant Cole Hawkins Schools Director – Kelly Hepburn Squads Director – David Morritt

Website: www.nzcanoepolo.org.nz Postal Address: PO Box 10037, Palmerston North, 4441 Facebook: @nzcanoepoloassoc Auditors: Christchurch Community Accounting Instagram: @newzealandcanoepolo

01 Chairperson’s Report NZ Canoe Polo has had another busy year in 2018. Our second awards dinner was held in Palmerston North, and it was We have seen a great number of competitions as per usual – our fabulous another successful night! It is such a wonderful opportunity to come comps starting the season, then quickly into the National together to celebrate both the sporting achievements of our players and Secondary school champs (as well as the regional qualifiers that precede it), the fantastic efforts of our supporting volunteers. National League and then our NZ teams took to the stage at the World As always, I want to thank all our volunteers who contribute to promote, Championships in Canada, where we saw all our teams place in the top 5, administer and support canoe polo at all levels. Not everyone can receive with U21W winning the bronze medal. an award, and there are so many people doing so much for our clubs and I also don’t want us to forget all the fantastic polo that takes place on local regions around the country. club nights or social sessions that occur on the weekends. Canoe polo is I’d like to particularly thank all the members of the Executive and the Board being enjoyed in locations around the country by players with a multitude who work extremely hard behind the scenes. There is much thought and of skill levels. It is great to appreciate the way games are allowing whole debate that goes into the many decisions that are made on behalf of our families (across generations and genders), to enjoy being active together, membership and the responsibility is not taken lightly. Cameron Butler particularly in the outdoors at many of our countrywide venues. resigned during the 2018 year, and I’d like to acknowledge his 12 years on The Board has been very busy again, here are some of the things we have and off the Board in a number of roles, including acting Executive Director done in 2018: (several times) when the position lay unfilled. - Identifying a new accounting system, which is still in the process of We are extremely lucky to have such fantastic and dedicated volunteers transition and we hope will make our accounts process more efficient at the involved in our sport and I am grateful to all of you that give your time to end of each financial year. make canoe polo better for all our players. - Completing a governance review through Sport New Zealand. Inter-Regionals is taking place in Auckland this year (2019). We forward - Tidying/updating policies. to seeing some more hard-fought competition between our regions and I - Implementation of electronic voting for the awards. hope to see many of you there. - Working with national teams on developing understanding around our NZ culture and creation of new taonga for NZ representatives. Andi Fear-Ross - Completing Executive Director annual performance review. NZCPA Chair 02 Executive Director’s Report For 2018 we started off with our first national development camp, the focus Being an even year, we had the World Championships in Canada. New being on preparing athletes for the “Road to 2019-2022” program. We had Zealand sent four teams across and all the teams placed highly, once again in excess of 60 junior athletes taking part in this development camp with ensuring New Zealand is still considered an elite polo nation. many of our national coaches and senior players helping over the course of Congratulations to our teams with placings as follows: U21 Women- the weekend. What is good to see is many of the players in the 2019 Bronze, U21 Men- 5th, Paddle Blacks- 5th, Paddle Ferns 5th. Andi Fear-Ross Oceania team attended this training camp and received the foundations was invited by the ICF to at the World Championships. Of note also needed to make the step up. was the signing of a sponsorship agreement with CUS our clothing Our biggest undertaking each year is our national competitions. Our supplier, where we now get a rebate back to help pay for items that Competitions and Schools councils ran School Nationals (Feilding), South athletes previously had to pay for like coach and manager uniforms. Island School Championships (Oamaru) and the National League (NZ wide). We were once again well supported financially through the work of our Congratulations to the winners and all the teams who competed. funding director Megan Bolton. NZCPA gained $30,000 in external funding, 2018 saw some new members joining the Executive as well and a few firsts. with $7,000 of that directly going to supporting our national squad’s Welcome to Kat Graham who took on the Communications Director role activity. Without this funding we would need to raise our levies to cover from the previous long-standing director: Brenda Clayton. Kat has taken our operating expenses or cut back on activity. control of all our social media and website platforms; working with various NZCPA is made up of 5 regions and 14 affiliated clubs. Our clubs are doing stakeholders to ensure we have up to date information and plenty of a great job delivering regular polo to their members. Overall our interest stories. Our new Schools Director, Kelly Hepburn, ran her first membership has increased slightly, though it does seem to be through a School Nationals and Jed Graham (Competitions Director) ran his first few clubs. Unfortunately, several of our clubs are struggling with pool National League. All of the new directors were extremely successful with access and volunteer burnout leading to declining membership. It’s their portfolios and continue to bring their own particular style to their area exciting to see New Plymouth double its membership to become our 4th of responsibilities. We should not forget that behind some of the directors biggest club with close to 180 members, great work developing that are councils who support the work of their director and help ensure we school’s grade. Other notable successes are the growth of junior and consider a wide range of ideas prior to delivery of the final product. intermediate grades in Kiwi and Hawkes Bay clubs, the future is looking

03 Executive Director’s Report Cont’d strong. We also hear of polo being played in other areas: Nelson, Alexandra, Greymouth, Rotorua, Whangarei, Wanganui and Dannevirke. Hopefully we can help support their growth and bring them into the fold in the future. NZCPA donated $30,000 towards the new Hawkes Bay 4 court outdoor venue. We are all excited to see this up and . Hopefully 2020 will see the venue fully operational. The Executive is looking to fill the following positions: Coaching Director, Referee Director and we are creating a new High-Performance Director role. Thank you to all our volunteers at a national level and locally in each club that help our sport grow and make Canoe Polo the best sport in the world.

Happy

James Mitchell Executive Director

04 NZ Secondary Schools NZ Secondary Schools Championships Final Results

SG Div I SG Div II JO 1st Taradale High School 1st Horowhenua College 1st Palmerston North Boys High 2nd Karamu High School A 2nd Hastings Girls High School 2nd Napier Boys High School A Girls Tournament Team 3rd Middleton Grange School 3rd Karamu High School B 3rd Karamu High School Greer Edilson, Hayley Cameron, 4th Palmerston North Girls High 4th FAHS Feilding High School 4th St Johns College Casey Hales, Tia Lewis, 5th Havelock North High School 5th Te Puke 5th Hastings Boys High School Sharnie O’Connor, Ava White and 6th Napier Girls High School 6th FAHS Feilding High School Emma Malcolm 7th St Peters College 7th Napier Boys High School B 8th Awatapu College SO Div II 8th St Peters College 1st Hastings Boys High School 9th Freyberg High School Boys Tournament Team 2nd Karamu High School B Phil Massarotto, Oliver Morritt, SO Div I rd Matthew Oke, Jayden Petersen, 3 Napier Boys High School B JG 1st FAHS Feilding High School 4th FAHS Feilding High School Toby Mills, Zane Shadbolt, Jacob st 2nd St Johns College 5th Middleton Grange School 1 Karamu High School McNeil and Joshua Vivian nd 3rd St Peters College 6th Freyberg High School 2 Sacred Heart College rd 4th Karamu High School A 7th Te Puke 3 FAHS Feilding High School th 5th Havelock North High School 4 Taradale High School 6th Palmerston North Boys High 7th Napier Boys High School 06 NZ Secondary Schools NZ Secondary School Champs 2018

Another fantastic event held at Makino Aquatic Centre in Feilding. A big Unfortunately this year saw a heavy resignation of schools regional co- thank you needs to go to the staff of the facility, Bronwyn and her very ordinators, having to replace each region other than South Island. Thank helpful team and to NZ Community Trust for their contribution in funding you Peter Anderson for your continued hard work in the South Island. toward the venue hire for NZ Secondary School Champs. We welcomed Sarah Orme – Central West, Meghann Corbett – Central It was certainly a challenge being my first year in running the event but I East, Kurt Mastny – Northern and Central South was still in need of a would like to say a huge thank you to those who made my job easier. It was coordinator but Gemma Potaka did a great job with corresponding on already so daunting having to fill the shoes of the legacy Penny had left behalf of. We certainly need to put some hard work into our regions. To behind and without the help of Michael Beauchamp, Greg Oke, Carl see some growth come of the other clubs throughout the country Massarotto, our sponsors in Polomania and JC Polo, it would have not gone from Northern and central south will need to be a focus in 2019 at as smoothly as it did. There were so many to thank for the weekend and I’m schools level. sorry I can’t name you all. I would like to thank the NZ board for the trust you put in me to run this This year saw 40 teams competing at a very strong level. And what may program and the support I was given in my first year. To the coaches, have been a first time for Sacred Heart College from Hawkes Bay to field a managers and who attended secondary school champs, and team. The Junior Open Grade was indeed a very strong grade and is exciting made it possible for our players to attend and compete and to the to see our future open players, I look forward to many more years to come of this fabulous stars coming through. Karamu Junior Girls were very clinical and strong in event. their grade, an exciting level of women’s polo at such a young age. Our senior grades were very well balanced. The first year we have seen our Kelly Hepburn senior open play to a it certainly made for a much more exciting NZCPA Schools Director and fast paced open grade. In the senior girls grade we saw so much depth and talent coming through in some very close fought games. What a great position for NZ Canoe Polo to be in. 07 SI Secondary Schools Championships 2018 Final Results Oamaru, August 2018

Senior Open Senior Girls Junior Open Senior Girls 1st Middleton Grange Girls 1st Middleton Grange 1st Dunstan HS A 1st James Hargest College 2nd Dunstan HS 2nd Dunstan HS 2nd Middleton Grange 2nd Middleton Grange 3rd Middleton Grange Boys 3rd Dunstan HS B 4th James Hargest College 4th James Hargest College 5th Bayfield HS

08 SI Secondary Schools Championships

Highlights Thanks to: • The wonderful spirit of each of the thirteen teams • Our tournament sponsors: YouthTown and Polo Mania. involved. • The Waitaki District Council for their warm welcome and • The enthusiastic and generous participation of the small for providing the pool hire at a discounted rate for four army of adults who make this tournament possible every years in a row now, five years in total. year: parents, teachers, coaches, referees, the pool staff. • The warm welcome we get every year from the staff at The 2019 tournament will be held in Oamaru again, 9th–11th the Waitaki Aquatic Centre and the Oamaru community. August. • The strong performances by the teams from Middleton Grange School of Christchurch and Dunstan High School of Peter Anderson Alexandra. South Island Schools Coordinator • The Senior Open final in which the Middleton Grange Senior Girls scored the winner with four seconds left on the clock to defeat previously unbeaten Dunstan by four goals to three.

Work-on for the Future How to get more schools and teams involved in this tournament. 09 National League Championships National League Championships Our premier national event offers three divisions of inter-club competition in a multi-tournament series to find New Zealand’s top club teams. This competition takes place between March and June. National League 2018 boasted its largest ever turnout with 58 teams competing over 5 grades. 8 tournaments were held across the 5 grades in Auckland, Christchurch, Palmerston North and Wellington.

Open A Women A Open B Women B Open C 1st Vikings Black 1st Valkyries Black 1st Hurricanes B1 1st Hurrikets B1 1st Vikings Chrome 2nd Expose 2nd Dumbledore's Army 2nd Hurricanes B2 2nd Hurrikets B2 2nd Hurricanes C1 3rd Hurricanes 3rd Sirens 3rd Guv'ners 3rd Valkyries Ravens 3rd Vikings Cobalt th 4th Vikings Valhalla 4th Generation Y 4 Vikings Rust 4th Hurrikets B3 4th Rapscallions th 5th Justice 5th M&M's 5 Vikings Silver 5th Hurrikets B4 5th Tron th th th 6 Hornets 6th Nemesis 6 Junior Paddle Ferns 6 Guardians 6th Dad's Army th th 7th Paddle Ferns th 7 Men 7 Hurrikets 7 Waiohine 7th Hurricanes C2 th th 8th Slackers th 8 Tu Kai Taua 8 Valkyries X 8 Valkyries Phoenix 8th Naki Youngin's th th th 9 Hurricanes B3 th 9 Demons 9 Dragonflies 9 Avengers 9th Vikings th 10th Vikings Gold th 10 Vikings Steel 10 Angels 10th Vikings Red 11th Vikings Bronze 11th Wai Men 12th Hurricanes 2.0 12th Sentinals 13th Bailiffs 13th Southern Giants th 14th Knights 14 Vikings Iron 15th Paladins 11 Regional Reports

12 Northern State of Northern Canoe Polo 2018 Atahua, Art Deco, and South Island Champs After a number of years with a slowly declining player base Auckland sent teams to all of the summer comps in A, B, and C Auckland and the Northern region are starting to see some grades which makes for a good lead into National League. growth. Players who had moved onto other things are returning, National League Summary and players from other regions are joining us when they move to The 2018 National League was an excellent year for Northern Auckland for work and study. players. Wero White Water park is also increasing an interest in , and we are taking the opportunity to lure kayakers to social polo National League B/C Round 2 was held at Quarry Lake with 34 sessions. teams competing in Open B, Open C, and Women’s B grades. This Schools development has been poor, but we are organising access was cancelled mid day on Saturday due to strong winds and rain to the AUT Millennium pool which will be a great facility to that made it unsafe to continue to play. Despite the weather the encourage schools to get involved. courts and pontoons held up well including the temporary 3rd The new Hamilton Canoe Polo club has been doing well; court. While some teams had already pulled out, a small number improving their player base and skills, and forming a good were keen to continue playing. It was a difficult decision for the relationship with Auckland players. organising crew but thankfully well supported and understood. This was the first ever National League competition cancelled and Summer comps has led to NZCPA developing guidelines for how cancellations Quarry Champs should be handled. The Northern canoe polo year kick-started early in 2018 with the annual Quarry Champs at the Quarry Lake, Takapuna. This The National League A grade finals were also held at Quarry Lake competition remains popular and there were 24 teams from a few weeks later with much better weather and a great weekend across New Zealand playing on 3 courts in A, B and C categories. had by all. 13 Northern cont’d Open C grade The rough weather at the Auckland comp suited our heavy, The Rapscallions started the year with some new and experienced players. We were going well and were undefeated inexperienced players. Results were mixed in the first two comps when the tournament was cancelled. but we improved over the series and placed 3rd in the Wellington finals. This set us up to play for 5th in the Grand Finals which we A poor result in the first comp and no result in the second made won in a great game.. making the top 4 at Finals impossible. We were 6th at the Final comp, and played for 7th in our grand final match against the NZ Womens B grade Women. As had been the case in earlier games, we could not Avengers had a fairly young team in 2018 with a few players beat their fantastic goalie and finished 8th. joining us as they come to Auckland to study. Wins were few and far between, but there were a lot of draws and close losses, and Women’s A many golden goal tie breaks. We finished in last place, but have For the first time in a long time, Auckland managed to field a young players who are improving quickly, and more joining the women’s A grade team: Dragonflies. Training weekends were squad. held to give the new team time to train together, allowing them Open B grade to have competitive games within the bottom half of the Slackers had a great lead into NL attending all 4 of the major women’s pool. Unfortunately, a few unlucky losses in the final summer comps, with top 4 placings in 3 of them. national league weekend placed Dragonflies last in the A-grade women’s pool. We were doing well at the first tournament with some good results, but we had a 3 way tie on points, and ended up 3rd in the However, the result does not reflect the team’s improvement pool on goal difference. An early morning crossover against a over the course of the season, or the excellent attitude of its younger, fitter team sent us to the 7th 8th final which we won players—all of whom hoped to see the team continue into 2019. easily. 14 Northern cont’d Open A grade Facility Development Hornets were a stronger team than in recent years, with some Auckland Canoe Polo have had a couple of successful trial stronger players coming back to the team, and some strong sessions at the AUT Millennium pool, and have secured a booking players coming into the squad from other regions. for Terms 2 and 3 in 2019. This will give us a great venue for competitive polo over winter, and provide a good environment In the opening tournament in Christchurch we came away with for encouraging Youth and Womens polo. 5th place, off a tournament with wins and draws, and no losses at all. Auckland Canoe Polo are always looking to improve our facilities We placed 6th in the Grand Finals. and have been working with the council to find solutions to the Quarry Lake weed problem, and also to get permanent pontoons. Canoe Polo in China Auckland had several players travel to China in 2018 to There are many factors around controlling the weed, including compete in international and national level tournaments. protecting the state of the neighboring Lake Pupuke. The council is currently trialing mechanical harvesting to remove the weed Alex Lowen was selected to compete in the Canoe Polo Super without introducing pests, chemicals, or extra organic material. League (CPSL) in China. This is an invitational tournament where teams made up of the best players from around the Canoe Polo is constantly improving in Hamilton. While pool world. availability has been a problem at times, the skills base is getting better with good results in National League and the Summer Auckland also had competitors in the 2018 Ningbo China Comps. invitational. Aaron Vazey, Andrew Candy, David Oosterdijk, Marshal Notbitt played with players from other regions. Stacey Verner 15 Central 2018 was relatively quiet for Central with the Development Camp It was with great sadness that we learned of the death of Ken and In House competition the only events on the calendar. Mason in late December 2018. Ken was a Horowhenua stalwart, You are probably all aware of the duties that your Central and a very valuable member of Central Canoe polo. Ken was an committee undertake on your behalf. This includes organising the 2 unassuming person(with a great sense of humour) who was annual events together, with Inter Regionals in alternate years. The happy to help out on any occasion. He will be sadly missed. Central committee has undertaken these tasks for a number of years and we are looking for fresh personnel to continue the good The NZ Secondary Schools Championships were held for a sixth work. consecutive year at Feilding’s Makino Aquatic Centre. Congratulations to all those who represented their colleges with Central held its development camp in July and the in-house such pride and commitment. competition in September at the Naenae Olympic pool. The in- house competition was well attended and the players were The success of Central canoe polo is achieved, and continues to fortunate to have current and ex NZ players provide top class be strengthened by, the huge amount of work undertaken by coaching and mentoring. This competition and coaching is volunteers. A huge thank you to the parents, supporters, invaluable for the development of these young players. drivers, cooks, general all-round helpers for their massive input. Again, through our Funding Officer, Megan Bolton, we would like to These people can all take credit for the strength and growth of thank the One Foundation, Pub Charity, Pelorus Trust and the Central. Mainland Foundation for their generous funding support throughout the year. 2018 saw the Canoe Polo World Championships held in Welland, Canada. NZ’s 4 teams acquitted themselves well, with 3 fifth places and a third place to the Under 21 Women. 16 Central Cont’d There was a good representation of Central players within these teams. These results are all commendable. However the Senior Women were defending their World title, and given the number of players applying for the women’s team, we need to ask whether we are doing enough to retain our women players beyond their school and Under 21 years. A second question is whether selecting the Women’s teams in the current format is detrimental to the available depth for the Senior women’s team? We look forward to a successful and enjoyable 2019.

Peter Bolton Central Canoe Polo President.

17 Eastern When it is not an Inter-Regionals year it appears we don’t do We also held our first development camp in late October attended much but looks can be deceiving. We still met on a monthly basis by 48 enthusiastic canoe polo players with a wide range of skills. to plan ahead and during these meetings came up with the Thanks to all those who gave up their time to help out over the development of our own coaching resource - a booklet for new weekend, Jed and Mitch Graham, Liam Barensden, Sarah Ralton, coaches. Meghann Corbett, Carl Duncan, Reagan Walker, Toby Mills, Greer Edilson, Kelly Hepburn, Meryn Hinton and the speciality coaches, Mark Mills and Karen Walker have done the bulk of the work with Melanie and Josh Gettins ( NZ) and Richard Rutherford everyone else pitching in with their two cents worth. Whilst (Athletics HB). there have been many other coaching resources already developed we found that a more concise/basic booklet was Thanks to the committee of Meryn Hinton, Mark Mills, Barry required for our novice coaches to follow. This is still an ongoing Warren and Karen Walker for their willingness to attend meetings project with stage two nearing completion. and for their input over the last year.

Meghann Corbett (CPHB) and myself attended a coach developer Lastly to the players within our region, a big thank you to you all course led by Sport HB and we found this both interesting and and a special congratulations to those from our region who informative. It certainly gave me a new insight into the art of represented NZ at this year’s World Champs in Canada – Mitch coaching. Opportunities to go further with this are open to us or Graham, Greer Edilson, Madi Gaiger–Grover, Hayley Cameron, Jake anyone else who may wish to attend one of these courses. Many Talbot, Liam and AJ Bowden, Sian Fendall, Ethan Flanders and Liam thanks to Tim Motu from Sport HB for facilitating this. Ward.

Trevor Hinton Chairman 18 Mainland MCPA are incredibly grateful to all the administrators, coaches, Andi has also been busy running referee theory sessions, players, referees, volunteers and supporters throughout our written tests and practical assessments. These sessions have region. The countless hours of work that are given, the taken the fear and trembling out of being a referee and enthusiasm with which the tasks are tackled is very much encouraging players and non-players to take up the challenge of evident in the enjoyment that the players and supporters get blowing the whistle. when games are in full flight on the water. Without this support Lake Roto Kohatu was the first venue for the 2018 National the region cannot function – Thankyou. League competitions, and MCPA is always pleased to welcome The 2018 year commenced with Club league with an increase in our North Island and Deep South guests. To see the lake busy the number of teams entering across the grades which was makes for a great atmosphere, good weather also helps. pleasing to see. This was followed by the commencement of 2018 being a worlds competition year and having members School League, and again the strength and growth in this area is from your region represent New Zealand on the world stage is evident once again due to the time, energy and efforts of Peter something to be proud of. MCPA had representation in the Anderson. The growth in this area is where the majority of new Women’s U21, and Men’s teams, as well as two members MCPA membership comes from. coaching and another refereeing. Well done to all the teams Peter’s efforts have also been backed up by Josh Ponniah who and coaches and referees you worked hard to get there. has been instrumental in running beginner sessions which The onset of warmer weather saw the start of the local Spring covered the fundamentals of the sport as well as organising a League, which is competitive across four grades, Schools, B, A venue to hold rolling sessions open to all players. These sessions and Premier across two evenings/afternoons. Rounding off the were well received and have in turn given players a greater year and playing host again to the South Island Champs confidence in their on the water as well as being able to Competition which is becoming a popular event on the understand referees calls a little better. calendar. 19 Mainland cont’d One of our biggest challenges in the region is our growth and being limited to only two pitches. Finding enough time for teams to train and for competitions to run has raised some logistical challenges and this has the committee looking for options. A further challenge is also that the surrounding lakes and reserve have now been opened up to the public which has put some constraints on our options for expansion. The committee are communicating with the Christchurch City Council along with other user groups to see a way forward, but progress is slow. MCPA Committee: Andi, Mike, David, Peter, Aaron, Sean, Josh, and Alan.

Mike Carter MCPA Secretary

20 Southern The Southern region continues to focus heavily on the development of Canoe Polo in the lower South Island. In Dunedin, the Otago Canoe and club are currently in discussions with the Dunedin City Council to identify an appropriate location for an outdoor pitch. The Invercargill based Southland Canoe Club has secured a location for an outdoor pitch and is currently in the process of funding applications to pay for the construction. Once both of these have been established summer training camps and competitions will soon be held in the Southern Region.

In addition to the focus of establishing outdoor pitches, the development of our youth players continues. We have seen increases in our junior members and we are excited to run development camps for these members. With Inter-regionals being held later this year there is a push to get these members ready for this. It is also exciting to see several of our members in the National squads for this years Oceania’s competition. We look forward to seeing a number of our members trialling for the U18 and U21 teams in the future.

Tom Wiggins 21 World Championships Canada 2018

22 23 World Championships – Paddle Blacks

24 World Championships – Paddle Blacks

I am very pleased with the performance of all my players and 5th based ourselves for the next 8 Days. We had good facilities for in the world was a great result and well deserved. training and got straight to work hitting the gym and polo court. 2018 was a great year for the Paddle Blacks I could not have of The pre-tournament didn’t go to plan and the team didn’t develop asked for a better tour as a new coach to the team, it took me a as I had anticipated but never the less we went through the while to find my feet and build the relationships needed to get tournament un-beaten and the bonus was playing the U21 Paddle the best out of each player. With the help of my technical advisor Black team in the final. Over the next 4 days the team trained very Carl Duncan I was able to give each player individual feedback on hard, new drills for the water sessions were developed reflecting their performance and challenge them on their skill set to the lessons learnt from the pre-tournament. improve their game. I did a lot of work with the players breaking down the game so we could create a more collective Crunch Time understanding of our playing style. We learnt a lot from this Worlds Venue Welland, moral was high, my players were fit and approach and will be common practice moving forward into the really strong. This is where the last 9 months of training was going future. to be put to the test. The World Championships started well for us, This tour was restricted in where we could travel to train as the with a 12-0 victory over Namibia and a 5-5 draw with Denmark, World Championships were being held outside of Europe so we these results put us through to the top 12 for the second round. started our tour by heading to Australia where we had a mini In the second round we had a pool of 6 and only the top two from tournament with a few club teams and the Australian Men’s each pool would advance to the semi finals. Our first game was National team. The tournament was a great success, we won all against France after leading for the whole game France got our games and learnt a lot about our playing style. awarded a GPS with 20secs to go which drew the match up at 3-3. Arriving in , Canada we made our way to Salaberry De This was heart wrenching for the team as we know what could Valleyfield for the pre-worlds tournament, which is where we have been but we had to re-focus for day 3. 25 Day 3 - first up was the Netherlands, both teams scored quickly It is exciting to think how much we can improve in the next two but the Netherlands were able to go into the second half up 2-1. years, we have a lot of development to do but I look forward to After herding a raft of ducks off the pitch the second half got the challenge. underway. We weren’t able to bring back the fight and ultimately lost 5-2 this was disappointing loss and we knew we could play A huge thank you to everyone that helped the NZ Paddle Blacks better. on this campaign especially my selectors Eric Gurden and Steve Our second game of the day was against Spain this game was an Hunt (who also left me with a great core of players to work all out battle with lots of turn overs and amazing shots from both with), Carl Duncan my technical advisor, Meryn Hinton for all teams. 3-3 at half time the second half was intense, we managed the work you did helping to plan the tour, David Morritt for all to get two up ending the game with a 5-3 victory we were the effort you put into the team behind the scenes, and all the ecstatic. Paddle Black supporters.

Day 4 – Australia was up first, the team played awesome coming Kyzen MacDonald away with a 8-2 victory. The second game was against Iran, this NZ Men’s Coach team was a bit of an unknown for us so we did our research and put together a game plan. Unfortunately it did not go well for us losing 6-4, this put us out of the top 4 and we were now competing for 5th - 8th .

Day 5 – disappointed with the loss to Iran the team came out firing and stormed to a 8-1 victory against Chinese Taipei setting us up to play the Netherlands for 5th - 6th position. The game was a Website: www.paddleblacks.org.nz great rematch for us, with some awesome defence and goal Facebook: @paddleblacks keeping we held them out and won the game 5-3. Instagram: @paddleblacksnz NZ Paddle Blacks 5th in the World 2018 26 World Championships – Paddle Ferns

27 World Championships – Paddle Ferns The 2018 Paddle Ferns can be very proud of their success Eventually this process led the team to develop a 1-4 defence achieved on the world stage. Particularly as it followed a in addition to an already incredibly strong 1-3 defence. challenging build up. Despite 2016 Paddle Ferns establishing themselves as the world champions, NZCPA found it difficult to This gave the team an entirely new tactical advantage, one fill the coaching role following the retirement of Pete Housiaux which we planned to use to full effect at Worlds. The team in 2017. As the coaching role took some time to fill, Andi Fear- improved dramatically over the final months of preparation in Ross and Greg Oke began coaching the team as interim New Zealand. We left the country feeling strong, confident, coaches. The Paddle Ferns and I would like to thank Andi and and prepared for whatever we might face in Canada. Greg for helping the team to achieve a solid base of skills and fitness, but more importantly a great culture, during this time. After a series of long flights and a 6 hour bus journey the team The work they put in with the team helped to make my finally arrived in Valleyfield, Canada for our pre competition. transition into coaching much smoother than it might have The tournament provided a great opportunity to put together been otherwise. The team they selected for the World our finishing touches before Worlds. Although the competition Championships included - Julie Bolton, Kate Bolton, Sian lacked European entries, we were able to have hard games Fendall, Erin Moore (C), Gemma Potaka, Kaylie Potaka, and against national men’s teams. The women competed well at all Sophie Winton. stages of the competition having good wins against the USA Men’s B team and the Canadian U21 Men. After a tough Following my appointment the team and I got straight to work competition we finished the weekend in 6th place, happy to developing tactics to maximise the skills within the group. This have built on our New Zealand development. The remainder of was a collaborative process, with the players doing a fantastic our time in Valleyfield was spent training, relaxing, and job of communicating how they felt our goals could best be enjoying the hospitality of our friendly hosts. achieved. 28 By continuing to play against our U21 Women’s team, the Unfortunately some errors on offence turned over the ball and Australian Women’s team and the Canadian U21 Men the allowed the French 2 goals in transition. These were to prove Women were able to refine their skills even further. costly as NZ eventually lost the game 1-2.

We finished our final days of preparation at the World As the second round continued, the Women got back into their Championships venue in Welland. During this time we were winning habits, taking wins against the USA, Singapore and fortunate to have some warm up matches against Women’s Spain. The final game of the round was to be against Italy, national teams including against the Danish and the French. A another strong competitor. Unfortunately based on the results highlight was playing a half against the French Women’s team of the pool, the Paddle Ferns needed a winning margin of 5 goals and winning 3-1. This came immediately after playing the or more to progress to the semi finals. Once again the team Canadian U21 Men and sprinting 100 meters to get to the started well going a goal up, however the Italians are strong French team’s pitch. This victory provided a massive boost in competitors and got one back to bring the game level. This left confidence for the team as a whole but in particular for the the team having to push hard for the ball, and although we newer players and myself as coach. scored again, it opened us up with small errors on our part ending in goals the other way. The game finished a 2-3 loss for Pumped up and ready to play as the World Champs began, the NZ and left us outside the semi finals. Paddle Ferns went about the systematic decimation of our first round opposition. The Women were playing some very strong I was incredibly proud of how the players responded after the polo with none of the other teams able to keep the lines loss. With the sting of missing the top 4 still fresh, the team set close. Coming into the second round we faced the French about refocusing themselves on achieving the best result Women first up. The game was a big step up, but we came out possible. For the second time in the competition we beat the firing getting an early goal to put us one ahead. For the first time Swiss, winning 3-2 to secure a spot in the 5th/6th final. In our in the competition the team played our 1-4 defence, a big last game of the competition against the Netherlands, the NZ surprise for the French and very difficult to beat with the French Women put in a huge effort, having one of their best attacking unable to score through it. games of the competition. 29 The Netherlands did have some great shooters and managed The campaign would not have been nearly as enjoyable to score four goals, however our Women were ultimately too without your humour, positive attitudes, and willingness to strong and secured 5th place with a 7-4 victory. take on new challenges. I look forward to seeing you all in future New Zealand squads. Although the team would have loved to have placed in the top 4, they were satisfied they had competed well and laid the Phil Hart groundwork for future success at the next World Paddle Ferns Coach Championships.

I would like to thank everyone who supported the team through the 2018 campaign, from parents and partners right through to the board. It was a particularly difficult campaign and you were crucial to the success achieved. Specifically I would like to thank Meryn Hinton, who was a huge asset both in New Zealand and Canada. Without her efforts my role would have been far more challenging. I would also like to thank Luke Anderson the U21 women’s coach, for all his assistance. Luke did a huge amount to support the Senior Women behind the scenes, he provided great feedback both on players and on how I might better coach the team. Finally a huge thank you to the players. You earned every success achieved by your hard work, and I have no doubt that all of Facebook: @paddleferns.nz you will go on to even greater successes in the future. Instagram: @nzpaddleferns 30 World Championships – U21 Paddle Blacks

31 World Championships – U21 Paddle Blacks

I am extremely proud of how the U21 Men’s team performed at A big thank you to Emma Hicks - team manager for making the the World Championships. Claiming 5th place after winning a tour such a success. It can’t have been easy spending 4 weeks golden goal playoff match against France. with 9 lads. Liam Barendsen for putting the fitness and This was an excellent result for a young team (6 players conditioning program together. The players who put in the hard remaining eligible for the 2020 world championships) and only work throughout the year long campaign. All the supporters who one player with previous world’s experience. travelled to Canada and the supporters back home who woke up We flew to Europe before heading to Canada for the World early to watch our games. The support was hugely appreciated. Champs. We played a warm up competition in Liblar , and trained against their club team the following week. We had Eric Gurden a training camp with the Netherlands U21 team in Amsterdam. Junior Paddle Blacks Coach Then returned to Essen Germany to train against their club team. Afterwards we meet up with the rest of the NZ teams at a pre-tournament in Canada, where we played the NZ Men’s team in the final. The improvements made by the team during this tour were instrumental in our performances at the world Facebook: @NZU21Canoepolo championships. Instagram: @JnrPaddleBlacks

32 World Championships – U21 Paddle Ferns

33 World Championships – U21 Paddle Ferns Third in the world, and done in style. This was a team that stamped That New Zealand can consistently send over teams to compete against their authority on games, playing a unique, high pressure-defence and the European giants, with all the challenges we face, and succeed on the unpredictable offense that, when clicking, other teams could not live level that all four New Zealand’s teams did, is extraordinary. And yet, with. A remarkable achievement considering the age and inexperience there’s no reason why we cannot continue to exceed and eventually go all of the team. The 2018 Junior Paddle Ferns were proud to continue the the way to that elusive gold. It’s with that spirit the Junior Paddle Ferns fine history of New Zealand’s U21 Women’s teams on the World stage. left New Zealand to take on the world. Our official campaign began in September 2017 with a large squad of We began our tour with a tournament in Valleyfield, a small town in the 22 hopefuls. Building on the foundation of the highly successful 2017 French speaking part of Canada. While no European teams attended the Oceania campaign, which was based largely around developing tournament, which led to a few organisational issues, our hosts did a great preparing players for 2018, it was immediately obvious how challenging job in providing a tournament and an environment where we were able to the selection process would be. This was a much younger, prepare and acclimatise. We greatly enjoyed training against our own inexperienced group than 2016, and yet the number of players capable seniors, the Australian Women’s team and the Canadian U21 Men’s team. of competing at the level required was beyond what I had previously That Canadian side proved to be a great opponent for us, and it was a experienced. This competition and depth helped push the players highlight when we won a golden goal thriller against them during the eventually selected to even higher levels. We were also luck to draw on tournament. the experience of past Paddle Fern legends, with guest coaches Moving on to Welland, we had further practice matches against USA and including Freya Hogarth and multiple members of the World Denmark Women, before getting into the tournament itself. 2016 team at each of our first four training camps. After a nervy 4-2 win over Netherlands, we then hit our stride with wins Playing in the National League Open B Grade also provided a hard-to- against Argentina and Canada, before coming up against 2016 silver create competitive environment. medalists . After a poor start where we found ourselves 3-0 down, 34 the game ended 6-5 and showed how closely matched the two teams Thank you also to Meryn Hinton and Jannell Eade, who did a massive were, despite the far greater experience in the Poland side. amount of work behind the scenes both in New Zealand and on tour and This saw us go through in second place to the second round to meet provided unwavering support to players and coach. To Phil Hart who, Great Britain and surprise winners of the other group, France, who had coming on board late with the Paddle Ferns, still found time to offer upset defending champions Germany the day before. A brilliant support to our U21 team. To the senior Paddle Ferns for pushing us so performance from the team saw us defeat GB 7-4, the margin of victory hard at every training camp and on tour. And to the local NZ players, eventually being crucial in securing us a semi-final spot. France, who had coaches, parents, and other supporters: without you the success of our lost to GB 4-1, came out firing and got out to a 5-1 lead, a result which NZ national teams would not be possible. would have seen us miss the semi-finals, before the team showed immense mental strength to pull it back to a 6-3 loss. This result meant Luke Anderson we topped the group, and the incredibly strong French team miss out on Junior Paddle Ferns Coach the semi-finals completely. We would rematch Poland in the semi-finals. After the worst start we could have imagined, we again found ourselves Facebook: @juniorpaddleferns 3-0 down to the Polish and facing a huge effort to mount a comeback. Instagram: @juniorpaddleferns Finding new levels of strength and toughness, the girls pulled back again and again but ultimately the game finished 4-3 to the Polish. We had to turn our attention to GB in the bronze medal game. This game was a far tighter affair than our first game against them. In a game of contrasting tactical styles, it came down to the possession of the game, sitting at 1-all. After superbly earning a shot clock reset and running down the clock, a fantastic team move found Lexi one on one with who finished calmly with seconds remaining on the clock. The Junior Paddle Ferns were medalists once again. Full credit belongs absolutely to the players, who showed unwavering commitment to training throughout the winter months and came such a long way over the campaign. Every one of you has won my respect a thousand times over. 35 2018 Awards

NZCPA Medal: NZCPA Player Awards Cameron Butler Maree Burnett U21 Men: Penny Dustin Player Potential Award: Phil Massarotto Players Player Award: Ethan Flanders Most Valuable Administrator: Megan Bolton Most Valuable Player Award: Jake Talbot

Most Valuable Coach: Kyzen Macdonald U21 Women: Player Potential Award: Greer Edilson Most Valuable Referee: Michael Beauchamp Players Player Award: Madison Gaiger-Grove Most Valuable Player Award: Madison Gaiger-Grove Steve Hunt received special recognition for long service as Paddle Black coach from 2006-2017 Senior Men: Most Valuable Player Award: Sam Hapeta

Senior Women: Most Valuable Player Award: Julie Bolton New Zealand Canoe Polo Medal The New Zealand Canoe Polo medal is voted by our membership and is the highest award of the association. It is for service to Canoe Polo and recognises and/or rewards special contributions to Canoe Polo nationally. This is an acknowledgement of the award winners – who have contributed so greatly to our sport.

2018 Cameron Butler, Maree Burnett & Penny Dustin 2016 Andi Fear-Ross 2015 Kirsten Demanser-Wilson 2014 Michael Beauchamp 2013 Sean Thomson 2011 Peter Bolton 2010 James Mitchell 2009 Kris Claman (Worlledge) 2008 Peter Housiaux 2004 Phil Parry

2003 Troy Lipsham 37 Membership

Deep South Canoe Polo Horowhenua Canoe Polo Club Burnside Canoe Polo Club Southland Canoe Club Wellington Canoe Polo Assn. Otago Canoe and Kayak Club Otaki Canoe Club Wairarapa Paddlers Palmerston North Canoe Club Kiwi Canoe Polo Club Auckland Canoe Polo Hawkes Bay Canoe Polo Club New Plymouth Canoe Polo Hamilton Canoe Polo Havelock North Canoe Polo Karamu Development

38 Our Supporters

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