The connection comes through 15-year-old Charlie Murphy, son of well known former locals Mick and Kylie Murphy, now of Albury.
Charlie got into the sport at the age of 10 playing in under-14s in the Albury Ovens & Murray competition, and he has never looked back.
Late last year, Charlie was drafted by a Melbourne water polo club — the Melbourne Collegians’ under-16 team — to specifically to play at the Australian Youth Tournament in Perth in January this year.
While the team missed out on a finals berth, Charlie had an outstanding tournament, scoring 35 goals.
It made him the highest goal scorer for the tournament across all age groups.
Following the WA event, Water Polo Australia set about putting together a training squad for an upcoming series in New Zealand.
Based on Charlie’s outstanding tournament in Perth, he was selected in the training squad, which went into a training camp over Easter at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.
Due to Charlie’s overall training camp and tournament performances, he gained selection in the Australian under-16 team for the NZ tour.
Charlie has worked extremely hard to achieve his goal of playing for Australia, with 5am swim sessions and regular trips to Melbourne and Sydney for games forming a major part of his weekly program.
I’m sure all will agree the effort will be worthwhile when Charlie and his mum and dad set foot on Kiwi soil for the biggest games of Charlie’s career to date.
Good luck to Charlie, and I’m sure all your Mathoura relatives and friends will be wishing you well in this big event.
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