Joel on Swift Path Through National Ranks

Western Australian Institute of Sport water polo scholarship holder Joel Swift has returned recently from an impressive European Tour with the Australian 20 and Under squad.

The Australian age squad toured Europe earlier in the month where they faced tough matches against powerhouse water polo nations such as Croatia, Serbia and Hungary, who were all in preparation for the current European Under 20 Championships.

Swift – who was a member of Australia’s gold medal winning World University Games team earlier in the year – finished the tour as Australia’s joint leading goal scorer after impressing in the centre forward position throughout.

The 19 year-old East Fremantle resident finished the campaign with 24 goals which included 11 goals against Croatia in five matches and six goals in two games against Hungary.

WAIS head water polo coach Paul Oberman believes Swift has much more to offer going forward too.

“Joel was an integral part of the Australian team that won the World Uni Games (Oberman coached the successful Australian team) and he took that form through to the 20 and under squad where he showed a lot of promise against some powerful European opponents,” Oberman said.

“Commonly centre forwards develop towards their mid twenties as the position requires good strength and an understanding of the role, but Joel has shown that he is on a good development path for future senior national representation.”