Sydney Stingers spear towards International Championship

Sydney Stingers Water Polo team is showing no sign of slowing down as they power through their Summer season ahead of the International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics Championship in Melbourne in February.

“We are proud that our M5 team are heading into the Christmas break equal top of the ladder,” Stingers President Stephen Timbrell told Star Observer.

“The Summer season carries into next year which is really good preparation for Melbourne. Unfortunately, we’ve had a few of our games pulled because of the smoke and air quality – anything outdoors has been cancelled. But we are still confident we will keep on top of our training and weekly games before the championships.”

The Stingers are entering three teams at Melbourne 2020 and are excited to take on the international teams on home turf.

“There are a couple of strong European and American teams, with West Hollywood who is always the one to beat,” Timbrell said. “You never know who might knock them from the top, but they took out the last few comps and are a bit above everyone else.”

“Still from a competitive position, we have a pretty good chance to get into the finals and will be taking at least two competitive teams with us, and I believe one will be right up there.”

The Stingers have always received plenty of support for international comps, with fundraising allowing as any team members who want to to attend. With the Championships held in Australia, they have more people wanting to compete than ever before.

“We always balance up giving people the opportunity to play as well as representing well in competitions. The Stingers are all about inclusion and developing players as well as giving everyone a go. We have to balance getting as many people as we can in a competitive team, so we will stop the international teams from taking the medals out of the country,” Timbrell laughed.

“We’ve had games in other divisions cancelled over the last couple of weeks, and we are waiting to hear what happens before each game. So, we are looking at getting additional swim time indoors and additional training to make up the loss of pool time.”

“Any game time we can get is a benefit to build the team and working together.”

Find out about Sydney Stingers Water Polo here.

Details on the Melbourne International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics Championship here.