Head coach Aleks Osadchuk has named a 14-strong Australian women’s youth team to contest the 2012 FINA World Youth Water Polo Championships to be held in Perth in December.
The squad will arrive in Perth in the week leading up to the tournament where they will undergo a series of opposed training sessions and matches, before the team will be trimmed to 13 for the championship.
The extended Australian squad includes WAIS scholarship holders Lilian Hedges, Kassia Ralston, Jessica Zimmerman and Madeline Quinn.
Osadchuk, who has marvelled at the rapid progression of the team, said he was excited to oversee the development of the girls and was grateful for their fantastic approach to the selection process.
“Firstly, I’d like to thank all the girls who have been involved with the squad and I am very proud for this generation as all the athletes have given their very best,” Osadchuk said.
“Unfortunately, not all of the girls have made the team and this is always the hardest part of the selection.
“The girls who have been named have shown great consistency and improvement in the areas most crucial to our success.
“They have improved in the areas that we have sought improvement in and they have adapted well to the style of play we want.
“Largely this has been done over a long period of time, but we’ve also had one player who has come into the squad who has done equally well.
“Overall, I have high expectations for this team, but we also want to be realistic as to the difficulty of the task.
“We’re just going to take it one game at a time and focus on crossing off each hurdle as it comes.”
Australia is grouped alongside Indonesia, Czech Republic and Uzbekistan in the pool stages of the competition and Osadchuk is confident the girls can go all the way.
“Our opposition looks to be strong with a handful of very good European teams, but our week in Perth in the lead up to the tournament is going to be very important,” he said.
“We play in form nations Russia, Italy, Greece and Hungary in a series of warm-up matches and we are going to learn a lot from that.
“I am looking forward to seeing how we match up against these teams and observing what we need to improve for the championships.
“I think this will prove very influential when it comes to deciding the medal games later in the tournament.”
The championships will be held at the Challenge Stadium, Perth and will run from December 1-9. Australia’s final team of 13 will be named on November 29.
– Water Polo Australia
