So, we have finally arrived at the end of the season!  It’s a great time to sit back and reflect how far all of our players have come this season.  I think it is worth everyone remembering back to that very first training session and then looking at where they are now, in terms of: fitness; water polo skills; the great times playing games; mateships developed and most importantly (I would argue), the fun had over the season.  Hopefully, for all of you there were many more positive experiences than there were negatives and that ultimately you enjoyed yourselves playing water polo.It was great to see that we had 4 teams make it into the Sunsmart Junior State League semi finals: Waves (U14B Girls); Pearls (U16B Girls); Orcas (U16B Boys) and Barbarians (U16A Girls).  Unfortunately, we didn’t have any of the teams progress to Grand Finals, but each game was fiercely contended and all players did themselves and the club proud (see Juniors section below for more details).  Well done to you all!

Our Men’s Division 4 team have also reached the semi finals of the Senior State League, in their first season of competition.  This is a great effort and I wish you all the best of luck for the big game on Wednesday night.

For our FlippaBallers, it will be great to see you all down to our last training session this Thursday, where we will celebrate the season with a fun windup.  Good luck for your last games on Friday night.

Our Juniors will be having their end of season windup on Sunday afternoon. We look forward to seeing all Juniors and their families down at the pool for one last time to celebrate your achievements for the year.

We will be conducting an end of season review in April, so if you have any feedback, please send it through to me, or via your team manager.  Our AGM will follow in May and it would be great to see as many parents as possible come along, particularly those that might be interested in helping out in some capacity.  I will send out more details closer to the date about the roles that we require moving forwards.  Please remember that the club exists as a result of the amazing work that our volunteers do throughout the year.  On that note, I want to say a very big and heartfelt thank you to all our volunteers, including our wonderful committee members; team managers and those that stepped into help out in whatever capacity was required.

In addition, our club wouldn’t exist and grow without the fantastic work of all our great coaches (both Junior and Senior coaches).  Thanks to all of you for the time and effort you put into training and developing our players.Lastly, I would like to thank you all for being involved in the Newman Water Polo club this year and I truely hope to see you back again next season (if not sooner, for those that are keen to continue training over winter – more details to follow).

Adam Wheeler
President – NWPPA

Don’t forget to pay for your hoodies and polos !

Hoodies – $55
Polos – $50

Please transfer payment to:
BSB-036 063
ACC-300 240
REF- surname and hoodie/polo

Justine – Merchandise  
merchandise@newmanwaterpolo.asn.au

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Final Flippaball Games
Friday 23 March
@ Beatty Park

Training
No more training sessions (both swimming & skills) will be held this term. Please stay tuned for details of our Winter program which we hope to have up and running in our heated pool in Term 2.Semi Finals Excitement
Four of our Junior teams battled it out in some of the most exciting action in the pool this season. Unfortunately none of our teams progressed to the Grand Finals however every player should be extremely proud of how they played last night.

U14B Girls Waves v Melville Mackerels
The Waves under the guidance of Oliver started strong and fought all the way to the end of the game. They should be proud of their best performance of the season against the undefeated Melville team. Final score Melville 9 – Newman 4.

U16B Girls Pearls V Triton
The Pearls left everything they had out on the field, with multiple goal scorers and everyone in the team stepping up and helping each other on the field. With the two teams jostling for the lead late goals from both teams left both teams not sure who had won. In the end the Pearls unfortunately just came short but Sam was very proud of the girls passion and energy towards the game and for the entirety of the season.  Final score 10 – 8

U16A Girls  Barbarians v Triton
In Jeremy’s absence, Lorenzo coached the girls through a close contest against undefeated Triton. The girls were very strong in defence and managed to keep the Triton girls with limited scoring opportunities. Final result 8-2. BRAVO!

U16B Boys Orcas V Phantoms
Such a great game last night which had spectators on the edge of their seats. With a draw at the siren, the penalty shoot out followed also resulting in a draw. The sudden death penalty shoot out resulted in the win to Phantoms. True Orcas spirit and great resilience and sportsmanship was shown by all players at the end. Very proud Coach (Oliver) & Manager (Grant) remarking “the boys left everything in the pool!”

Juniors Windup
Newman Water Polo will be holding our Juniors windup this Sunday at the Newman pool:

All players will receive a team photo and a free burger and drink. Awards will be presented to the Fairest & Best for each Division and Coaches awards for each team. Family members can purchase burgers for $5 each.

For catering purposes can you please respond below as to how many players/family members will be attending – by Thursday 22^nd March

We hope to see as many of you as possible to help celebrate our wonderful Juniors and what they have achieved this season.

On behalf of Juniors Co-ordinators we would like to say a big thank you to all players & parents who have contributed to our club over the last season. Our Newman community spirit and parent involvement is the envy of other clubs and we hope to build on this next year. If you would like to become more involved please have a chat to one our Committee members this Sunday.

Junior Grand Finals
Don’t forget to get along to HBF Stadium to watch the Juniors Grand Final action.  See attached

Jocelyn (girls) , Laura & Jo (boys) – Juniors Co-ordinators 
juniors@newmanwaterpolo.asn.au

Thanks to all our Seniors who played during the season.  We hope everyone enjoyed the season and all members will return next season to play again or join in as a training only member.

The Seniors Wind up was held on Sunday 18th March at the Floreat Surf Club.  It was a great evening for our members to catch up with one another outside of the pool in a relaxed setting alongside the beautiful coast.

Well Done to the Newman men on making the Finals in their first season.The team is made up of Seniors and some of the U16 Junior boys. And after a season of mixed results finished in 4th position at the end of the season.  We wish them good luck for the final on Wednesday 21 March @ HBF at 7:30pm.

On Sunday 18 March 2018 Newman Water Polo Club participated in the Annual Water Polo WA SunSmart Flippa Ball Carnival run by Water Polo Western Australia.  There were 14 teams from 7 different clubs and this was the first time Newman Water Polo Club had participated in this event which was very exciting for all. There was such team spirit in the games played and the improved skill level really showed.  The team demonstrated fantastic sportmanship in all the four games they played (and won) and from all reports the day was enjoyed by all.

A few photos from the day…

The U14 girls had the opportunity to play a game during the half time break of the UWA Torpedoes vs Sydney Uni Lions Womens game held at the UWA Aquatic Centre on Friday 16 March.

The girls from the Seals and Waves team had a great night and also got the chance to watch the women playing the highest level of Water polo in Australia.  Unfortunately our Western Australian team went down to NSW in the end. Thanks to coach Oliver and Juniors coordinator Jocelyn for coordinating the girls involvement.A few photos from the night…