UON water polo club #1 in Australia
After securing both the men's and women's gold medals at the recent Australian University Games, the University of Newcastle (UON) water polo club is now ranked first against all other Australian universities.
The result represents an impressive turnaround for the club, which three years ago had just a handful of players competing at a B-grade level.
Now with teams in every senior grade in the Hunter competition, the Club regularly wins matches in both the men's and women's A grades.
Club President, Simon Clulow said a three year strategy implemented in 2013 had helped turn the club around.
"We made some considerable improvements to our training strategies and dramatically increased our membership to the point where we now attract national and international representative level players" said Mr Clulow.
The club now includes seven men and seven women that have recently or currently compete in the Australian National Water Polo League, including Jake Robinson, Julia Barton and Montana Perkins, who recently represented Australia.
Mr Clulow said he was extremely proud of the club and grateful for the support of UON and NUsport - the university's sporting arm.
"It's a bit of a rags to riches story really. It's no small thing to become the undisputed top university in the country for water polo within a three year period," said Mr Clulow.
NUsport Campus Programs Manager, Andrew Yapp said the club had achieved unbelievable results at a national level.
"The recent University Games result is the first national Division 1 gold medal received by any sports team at the University since 2009, so it's definitely something the University and the wider community can be proud of," said Andrew Yapp.
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