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hildren should be experiencing a wide variety of sporting opportunities in their development stages in order to encourage their pursuit of an active lifestyle. The goal is to create programs that share Canada’s love for sport with an intense desire to see our youth having fun and ultimately continuing on a pathway to develop their athletic and life skills. SIRC talks with Water Polo Canada as they share their story in providing opportunities for developing athletes. What do you love most about Water Polo? Water Polo can be considered a complete sport which has the ability to benefit many age groups and skill levels. It can be as intense or as playful as the players involved desire it to be. For younger children, water polo combines the appeal of the water with the pure fun of playing with a colorful ball, in the hope of scoring many goals. For

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teenagers and adults, it offers an appealing physical challenge and a great level of social interaction. At the highest level, top water polo players are among the best conditioned athletes in the world. It is just amazing to see them execute complex plays and push through the limits of stamina while battling both their opponents and the surrounding water. It is a sport where there is a lot going on, rarely boring, never the same twice.

What is the most popular program (as well as stage and/ or age) for initial sign up to Water Polo? Why? Most children get their first taste of water polo through the initiation of an older sibling or a parent who played in their youth. Aquatic installations and water polo clubs renting these facilities often offer initiation clinics or free try-outs which can be a good way to evaluate an individual’s affinities with the sport. Some athletes just start playing after having had their first experiences swimming around with just any ball in a pool or another body of water in the summer. There are no specific entry points to sign up for water polo. Once you know you can swim well enough and you like being in the water, the best way is to find the nearest club at a local pool and to attend a few practices or friendly games.