Water Polo Legend Hits Brisbane

Beach Water Polo Fours will host 5 x Olympian and 2008 Silver Medalist, Tony Azevedo, as they together bring the 6-8 Sports Challenge to Australia for the first time on September 14th and 15th at Brisbane's Somerville House and All Hallows School Pools. 

Regarded by many as the greatest water polo player of all time, Azevedo is the former Team USA Water Polo Captain and co-founder of 6-8 Sports & the 6-8 Challenge skill assessment (water polo combine). Along with the best female player in the world, Maggie Steffens, Azevedo created the 6-8 Challenge as a data driven approach to evaluating water polo athlete’s strengths and weaknesses as they develop over time.  

The Beach Water Polo Fours x 6-8 Sports Spring Clinic will be the first time that the Challenge will be presented to Australia, having had major success in the USA.  
“I am very excited to partner with Beach Water Polo Fours and officially bring the 6-8 Challenge to Australia” says Azevedo. “Both Beach WP Fours and 6-8 are working to innovate and grow the sport in creative ways, and I think together we can help elevate the evaluation, training methods and development of our young athletes and of water polo as a whole.”  

While sports analytics data is omnipresent in our daily lives, the 6-8 Sports Challenge was developed on the notion that water polo had fallen behind. Without a standardised data collection that allows for relevant comparison between water polo athletes around the world, coaches and athletes are unable to accurately judge progress and development.  Beach Water Polo Fours founder, Scott Nicholson, believes that the 6-8 Sport Challenge is the future of water polo analytics. “When I was a junior, it seemed that I was completing a different test every year, which meant I was never able to learn or leverage from my results. What Tony and Maggie have designed is bringing water polo into the 21st Century and will give water polo athletes all over the world the opportunity to accurately monitor their progress”, Nicholson says.  In September, participants in the clinic will be among the first Australians to be verified through the 6-8 Challenge to ‘earn their number’, while also getting expert tips and advice from some of the world’s best players and play in a mini tournament.  Along with Azevedo and Nicholson, the Clinic will feature an array of outstanding coaches, including current Aussie Shark and 3 x Olympian, Rhys Howden; 2016 Olympian, Kelsey Wakefield; 5 x NCAA Champion, Michael Rosenthal; and recent FINA World Championship Beach Water Polo Bronze Medallist, Michaela Davies.  

Registration for the Spring Clinic is open for ages 12-17 with participants encouraged to enter as individuals via www.beachwaterpolofours.com/azevedo-spring-clinic. Participants will need to have a legal guardian register on their behalf.