Water Polo: Inaugural Water Polo on the Waterfront will be back in Tauranga in 2020 after successful first event

The Sharks play the Whales during the weekend's inaugural Water Polo on the Waterfront. Photo / Andrew Warner

The first Water Polo on the Waterfront event may have had some challenges with the tides and the weather conditions, but after all the positive feedback from athletes wanting to come back organisers are committed to running it annually.

The inaugural tournament was held in the Tauranga Harbour at the weekend, with 120 athletes competing in 12 teams in a fun and action-packed tournament on Saturday and Sunday.

It was two Auckland teams that took the top spots with the final match coming down to the Marist Sharks and Waitakere, with the sharks taking the win 8-5.

Crowds gathered over the weekend to watch water polo matches during the two-day event, with about 400 people coming along about midday on Saturday and similar numbers coming throughout the day on Sunday.

Organiser and player Danny Kayes says he the tournament wasn't without its challenges given the weather forecasts leading up to the event and king tides forcing players to compete against strong currents. However, he was pleased with how it went overall and so were those taking part.

"I didn't get one piece of negative feedback," Kayes says.

"It was a really successful event."

He says many of the teams he had spoken to had already told him they will attend future events and he was already looking at the 2020 tournament.

"We've already committed ourselves to next year, we're definitely going to be back."