Mackay President excited by coaching opportunity!

With the 2018 Australian Country Championships less than 24 hours away, the teams are preparing for four thrilling days of competition in Rockhampton.

With the home water advantage, the Queensland Country teams will be aiming for medals in Rockhampton and coaching the sides to gold (hopefully!) are four of Queensland’s top regional coaches.

We caught up with Mackay Water Polo President, James Mogg, who is will be coaching the Queensland Country Black side throughout the competition.

James, you must be excited to be coaching the Queensland Country team?

Of course! I’ve previously played with the Queensland Countries team in 2015 and won bronze. Coaching will be a new experience for me as I usually play but I’m looking to develop my skills as a coach.

You’ve been involved with water polo in Mackay now for some years. How did you get involved?

I started playing back in 2006 in the high school competition that ran here in Mackay and from there I played in the Seniors competition. About three years ago, a group of players got together to restart the club and from there I was appointed President.

We’ve seen a lot of new players coming on board to breathe new life into the club, it has been a great thing to be a part of. We’re always looking for new ways to bring people into the club and improving on what we have.

You mentioned that you’re fairly new to coaching, what are you looking to learn from the tournament?

I’m really hoping to improve my skills as a coach, especially at a higher level of competition. It’s an opportunity for me to really focus on improving my technical knowledge of the sport, look at how other teams play and how we can best counter that strategy and if that’s not working, how do we adapt?

As a coach, what are you looking to instill in your athletes?

Queensland teams have always had a strong sense of mateship and that is what I want my team to work towards. Water polo is such a team driven sport and I really want to look at working as one team instead of a group of individuals.

What are your expectations for the Queensland Black team during the tournament?

It’s going to be a tough tournament this year, with seven strong teams in the men’s competition. I’m hoping that my team will push themselves as hard as they can. We may be a development but I don’t want that to hold us back. I want to give every team we face a challenge, if we can get into the final game by playing as hard as we can, that would be awesome.

Who are the Queensland players to look out for?

The Maroon side has quite a few strong players, who will be key for the team – especially the ones from Mackay!! There are a lot of good players in the development teams as well. It’s quite a young side but if we play well and learn throughout the competition, I think there is a good chance that most of the Black team will make the Maroon side in a few years’ time.

There are some strong oppositions sides, who are the ones to watch?

I guess I’m a little biased but the Queensland Maroon’s team are definitely a team to watch. They have some really strong players and are well balanced, so I’m predicting they will be a tough side and will be a tough Queensland derby.

NSW are always a strong team. In previous years, they have strong swimmers who are good on the counter-attack, so we will have to be wary of that.

Good luck James and the Queensland Countries teams.