Stingers splash into winter

They are fit, enthusiastic, competitive and they enjoy their sport. They swim train in the city on Thursday evenings, water polo train at Ryde on Saturday mornings and match play on Tuesday evenings. And there is no truth in the rumour that they grab at their opponents’ budgie smugglers when playing matches.

For this winter season the Sydney Stingers have one men’s team playing in the Sydney water polo competition. They would have liked two but didn’t have enough players to register a second team. They would also like to field (or should that be float?) a women’s team. The Stingers have had female members before but currently it’s an all-male club.

The Saturday morning sessions are taken seriously with a paid professional coach. Newbie Dan, a self-confessed sports junkie, is only at his second training session. The most unexpected part of the training? I’ve learnt that I don’t know how to tread water very well. Water polo has a special method of treading water -“ they call it the egg beater. I used to just paddle around. Now I have to have one leg going clockwise and one going anti-clockwise; it’s quite different.

Ryan is the romantic of the group. He was visiting from the States in 1999 and met his partner on the dancefloor at the Mardi Gras party. Eventually he returned to Sydney, became an Australian citizen and three months ago joined the Stingers. I was looking for something that challenged my fitness, Ryan says, as well as somewhere to make friends and enjoy the social aspects.

He first heard about the Stingers at the Gay Games and decided he wanted to jump in the pool after he found their website. He broke a finger during the demonstration at this year’s Fair Day so hasn’t played in a match yet. Nevertheless, Ryan is enjoying himself and plans to compete in this winter season. The training certainly improves your stamina, he says.

Kerry played water polo in high school. There was a break of about eight years before coming here, he says. I was doing a lot of individual sports and wanted to take up a team sport, something a bit more social.

As an experienced player he found the Stingers quite competitive. Kerry competes in the summer and winter seasons and, like most of the club, keeps up the training in between. He went with them last year to the Gay Games in Chicago and the Outgames in Montr?. He finds the standard of training at the club very beneficial.

It’s one of the more complicated sports. There’s a lot that goes into it: ball skills, shooting, treading water, swimming skills and understanding team dynamics. Lap swimming training has a water polo focus.

There is a commitment to turn up for as many Tuesday evening matches as possible. Kerry says, In a match there are seven in the water but 13 are allowed, so you can have substitutes. We like as many as we can get at each game so we can have more subs; that makes it a better game for everyone.

Pascal is the club secretary. He sums up Stingers. We are getting a lot of compliments from other clubs in the Sydney comp; they say we are harder competition every time they play us. We also compete against the Melbourne Glamourheads every year -“ in Sydney on the June long weekend and in Melbourne on the Australia Day weekend.

With a big smile Pascal says, We have won the trophy every time so the Glamourheads will be trying very hard to take it off us. Be at the Sydney University Aquatic Centre at noon on 9 June if you want to see a great match.

Stingers narrowly missed the podium in Chicago, with a similar result in Montr? where they were the best-ranked gay team behind a bunch of Canadian straights.

Pascal is keen to recruit new players. The club really wants to build a second team. We would really like some new players of any standard, Pascal says, and we would be thrilled to have a women’s team on board.

There are pub lunches on Saturdays, team barbecues, social events, friendly car pooling and a welcoming atmosphere for players at every skill level. Involvement may mean lots of practice but it also means fun.

To contact Stingers, email [email protected], call Pascal 0403 142 763, or visit www.sydneystingers.org.au.