Sam Nangle from Winmalee will represent Australia in the FINA Youth Water Polo World Championships in Montenegro in August.
The 17-year-old Winmalee High student was selected last week, saying he was “incredibly excited” to be on the 13-member team.
Nangle plays water polo for the UNSW Wests Magpies Club U18s and first division men’s team, travelling to Sydney Olympic Park for 5am training sessions four mornings a week, as well as night games and training.
Coach of the club’s U18s team, Mark Gilbert, has worked with Nangle for more than three years and said his growth has been phenomenal.
“He’s taken amazing steps in improvement. This year he made a most impressive jump,” Gilbert said.
“His strength is his strength. He’s big bodied and hard to contain.
“He can play in a lot of positions.”
Nangle plays right wing and centre forward positions – a key goal scorer for his team as well as being versatile in attack.
From age six he swam with Springwood Swimming Club, but joined Blue Mountains Water Polo Club at Glenbrook five years later because he enjoyed the team nature of the sport.
“I perform best when I’m playing in a team,” Nangle said. “Players are playing for the one goal.
“And whenever I get in the water it’s a big stress reliever. The stress of the HSC or anything else in life doesn’t seem to matter.”
At age 13 he made the switch to his current club to take the sport to the next level, and that has reaped rewards.
In May he received a Senior Men’s Scholarship from the NSW Institute Of Sport after the institute’s senior men’s coach Chris Wybrow watched him play at a “Towards Tokyo” training camp at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.
“I was very proud to be selected to attend this camp and competition as it was by invitation from Water Polo Australia who were targeting potential Tokyo Olympians,” Nangle said.
“Ever since I started playing water polo it has been my dream to play at the Olympics.”
Standing 192cm tall and weighing 100kg, he’s a formidable force in the pool, and believes his team has what it takes to handle the strong, heavy European teams they’ll face in Montenegro.
“There’s some pretty tough opposition but I think we can handle it,” he said.
Nangle has water polo in his genes – his great grandad James Ward played water polo for Ireland in the 1930s, taking on the role of goalkeeper.
The teenager has practically given up his social life in pursuit of his Olympics dream and will sit his HSC over two years so he can compete in the world championships.
“The national side is a pathway to the senior Australian team so I feel that my dream of Olympic selection is achievable sometime in the future,” Nangle said.
“Of course it all depends on how I develop as a player in the next few years as I need to keep working as hard as I have for the last few years.”