Water polo: Head's high in the deep end

New Zealand captain Anna Sieprath. Pictures / Dean Purcell

Life is pretty good right now for Anna Sieprath.

She's 20, captains the fast-improving New Zealand women's team and spends the bulk of her year splashing about in Hawaii.

Sieprath studies international business and finance at the University of Hawaii but as she's on a water polo scholarship that's where a big part of her year is focused.

"It's not bad at all. I'm not complaining," she quipped.

The former Diocesan pupil leads New Zealand in a four-way contest for the Southern Cross Cup against Japan, England and the New Zealand junior women's team, starting at the Millennium Institute on the North Shore on Sunday.

But the real focus for both the men's and women's teams is on the Commonwealth championships, starting in Perth on January 23. The men round off preparations with a four-game series against England starting at the Millennium Institute, also starting on Sunday.

Perth is where New Zealand will get a decent gauge on how much progress has been made, but in the case of the women it will have an element of the bitter sweet.

It will be a farewell of sorts for their coach Peter Szilagyi, who is heading home to the plum job of coaching the Hungarian women's team, the current world No 1.

"It's like coaching the All Blacks," Sieprath said. "Our programme has developed and we've got better and better. It's just a shame that now we've got to a good level he's going back to Hungary. But it's an awesome achievement for him."

The women have had two training camps in preparation for next week's busy programme, at Tauranga and Rotorua, while the men have done their leadup work in Auckland.

"They were really valuable. We were able to sort out our tactics and prepare as a team," Sieprath said. "A lot of us have played for a while but it's always good to come back and spend some time together."

Sieprath may have been a trendsetter for her teammates. Fellow national team member Amy Logan is also in the University of Hawaii's Rainbow Wahine team while four others, Lynlee Smith, Lisa Van Raalte, Emily Cox and reserve Kelly Mason, are following them this year.

The University of Hawaii team play in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Last year they reached the semifinals at the NCAA championships at Ann Arbor, Michigan, before losing by one goal to University of California.

Sieprath made her New Zealand debut in 2003 when they lost the Oceania Olympic qualifier to Australia. She's now played 27 internationals, the same number as Logan, and at the other end of the scale there are three debutants in the squad, Waikato goalkeeper Nicki Bason, Van Raalte and Kimberley Sumich of Auckland.

Last year a significant obstacle was hurdled for the first time - mentally and on the scoreboard - when New Zealand beat the Aussies 8-7.

It was part of a six-test series and although the other five games at the Australian Institute of Sport were lost, they weren't blown out of the water, and that has helped shape a philosophy towards Perth, where defending champions Australia and Canada are expected to scrap for the gold and silver medals.

"We want a medal and it's a very realistic target. We have beaten Australia and we know it's not an impossible task to beat either them or Canada, who have lost a lot of senior players," Sieprath said.

Canada were third at the world champs in Montreal last year. New Zealand finished 12th - the men have not qualified since 1998 - but that was slightly misleading. A slender 2-1 loss to Germany was crucial. A top eight spot was missed by a solitary goal.

As for next week, Sieprath hopes New Zealand have the measure of both Japan and England.

"Japan are not as physically big as some teams but they are very fast counter-attackers, nippy and quite aggressive.

"England are an unknown. We haven't played them for several years so we don't know too much about them."

The New Zealand men finished sixth at the last Commonwealth champs in Manchester four years ago - the women did not attend - and England were third in an event won by Canada. So this series should be a decent guide to how the men, who have prepared in Auckland, are travelling ahead of Perth.

The men's game got a boost with a best placing of 12th at the junior world championships in Argentina last year, which suggests the development of a decent base of players to move into the senior team.

There are hopes to make the Southern Cross Cup an annual event. Strong showings by the New Zealand teams next week will certainly help.

There are seven teams in each event at the Commonwealth champs. Six are in both - Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, England and Singapore - with the fields completed by the Welsh men and Scottish women. And ultimately, there is the big carrot of the world champs in Melbourne in 2007, which both the men and women will contest. 

NZ teams:


Women: Anna Sieprath (c), Amy Logan, Lynlee Smith, Emily Cox, Lisa Van Raalte, Kimberley Sumich (Auckland), Olivia Colebourne, Rebecca Donoghue, Megan Thompson, Kirsten Hudson, Sarah Pattison, Rebecca McGuinness (Wellington), Nicki Bason (Waikato). Non-travelling reserves: Rachel Kelly, Kelly Mason (Auckland), Alice Sharpe (Wellington).

Men: Zane McAlpine, Jacques Venter, Jonathan Ware, Tim Grace, Robbie Tindall, Chris Broome, Nicholas Grieve, Matthew Payne (Northland), David Broome (Hungary-based), Lachlan Tijsen, Aidan Kyrke Smith, Richard Claridge, Sam Williams (Wellington).

What's next

* New Zealand women play Japan, England and NZ junior team in a round robin format at North Shore's Millennium Institute at Mairangi Bay and West Wave Aquatic Centre in Henderson from Sunday until next Thursday, starting at 3.30pm at the Millennium Institute on Sunday. The final is at West Wave at 6pm on Thursday.

* New Zealand men play a four-game series against England starting at the Millennium Institute at 6.15pm on Sunday.

* Both teams head for the Commonwealth Championships in Perth, starting January 23.