Scotch College

Fulfilling a waterpolo dream

Playing for a national water polo team has always been my dream, and this year I was offered a chance to play for the Australian U/18 water polo team. When I found out that the team was travelling to Europe, I was delighted.

Holland was the first place we visited. For eight days, we stayed in a small town called Zeist, close to Amsterdam. This was just a small training camp before the real tournaments. We played training games against the Dutch team, winning some and losing some, and at the end of the trip everyone came out with much more experience. While in Holland, we went to Amsterdam for a day, where we had a lot of fun.

After Holland, we travelled to Greece where we played our first real tournament, the Odysseus Cup. It wasn't a big tournament - only four teams - but it was well worth playing in it. We played against Greece, Croatia and Russia, and, considering that these are some of the best water polo teams in the world, we played pretty well. There, we visited some of the oldest buildings in the world, including the Acropolis.

Following Greece, we went to Slovakia to play our last tournament, a much bigger one this time. We played France, Italy, Germany and Slovakia in an eight-team tournament. We finished sixth, even though this time we were more confident about earning a better spot. But then again, the other teams were better and more experienced than us.

With the finished tour, and much more experience and skill under our belts, we made our way back to Australia. Even though school (and a lot of work to catch up on!) was waiting for me as soon as I got back from Europe, I was still happy to be back home. All in all, the trip was awesome and I would love to travel with the national team in the future, for instance, to the Olympic Games, which has been my ultimate dream since I was a kid.

To be honest, when I was selected to go on this trip, I was over the moon but also worried when I saw the price of the trip. Fortunately, the Old Scotch Collegians' Association has very generously donated money for my trip, and I was able to go. So I'd like to take this opportunity to thank once again everyone at OSCA for their help and support, because I wouldn't have gone to Europe without it.

Nikola Josevski