Packaworld was on show at Nelson Bay in Port Stephens, New South Wales this past weekend, with its inflatable water polo goals, fields and signage helping to make the final Beach Water Polo Fours event of the 2018/2019 season a success.

The event, which ran over two days, was attended by Packaworld Chief Executive Pete Roberts, who got involved in the Open Men’s Competition on the second day, donning a pair of hot pink budgie smugglers for the occasion.

“Everyone was having an absolute blast. Beach water polo is as much fun for the spectators as it is for the players – and it’s a lot of fun for the players!”

It wasn’t only players and spectators taking to the water during the event, with dolphins and pelicans adding to the thrill.

It was always going to be a challenge bringing bocce ball to a place like Texas, where the sport is not widely known, admits local entrepreneur and restaurant owner John Dante.

But “jumping in heavy”, as he puts it, is the way Mr Dante likes to do things. He has recently purchased four portable Packabocce courts and has been holding bocce-themed events at his recently completed Bella on the Vine event centre in the city of Converse.

The 8,500-square-foot venue is right next door to Papa Dante’s Restaurant; an Italian-American eatery his family opened in 1979. The restaurant specialises in Italian comfort food like spaghetti and meatballs, lasagne, pizza and submarine sandwiches. John, brother Lanny and the entire Dante family are rightfully proud of its 40-year history.

Some of New Zealand’s top water polo players plunged into Tauranga Harbour over the weekend for New Zealand’s first festival of ocean-based water polo.

The two-day Water Polo on the Waterfront event was played in full view of The Strand hospitality district, attracting thousands of spectators who enjoyed a weekend of water polo, music and delicious delicacies offered by on-site food stalls.

Event organiser Danny Kayes said the event saw 12 teams from around New Zealand competing in a five-a-side tournament played with eight-minute halves rather than the eight-minute quarters seen in conventional water polo.

“We wanted to create a fast-paced festival atmosphere that was fun and accessible, similar to that of Rugby 7s. The stormy conditions over the weekend made things challenging, but it made for good watching regardless.”

Special Olympics athletes in Rotorua and Southland can now test their skills at the ancient Italian sport of bocce.

The Special Olympics chapters in both regions are expanding their bocce programmes after successfully sourcing portable ‘Packabocce’ courts that will enable them to bring the game to schools and other venues.

Special Olympics Rotorua committee member Christine Brewer said bocce was an internationally popular sport that was growing in popularity in New Zealand. It is similar to pétanque but is played within a walled court.

“Bocce has a strong international scene so we are really keen to give our athletes the opportunity to give it a go,” Ms Brewer said.

New full-sized portable rugby posts that can be transported in the trunk of a car and set up in minutes could help grow the sport of rugby across North America.

That’s according to Fort Lauderdale Ruckus Rugby Club President Matthew Wells, who introduced world-first inflatable Rugby Packaposts at the club’s first home U19 10-a-side women’s tournament in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, last month.

Mr Wells said the club had initially planned to use conventional steel rugby posts for the tournament but discovered at the last minute that some of the components they required were missing.

“Fortunately, I had gotten hold of a pair of full-sized Rugby Packaposts after seeing them at the USA National Rugby Development Summit in Denver last year. I brought them to the field in the back of my jeep, set them up in 10 minutes each, and they performed perfectly.”

The Paralympic sport of goalball has received a major boost with news Blind Sport New Zealand has purchased eight new portable goalball goals to bring the game to blind and low vision athletes around New Zealand.

The type of goals being purchased are new to the sport, having been recently developed by New Zealand company Packaworld and used internationally for the first time in a goalball exhibition match involving the Great Britain Men’s Goalball Team in England.

Known as Goalball Packagoals, the nine-metre-wide goals feature an inflatable yet highly stable design that is more portable and easier to store than traditional goalball goals made of steel or aluminium.

A partnership between Special Olympics Hong Kong and one of East Asia’s leading insurance companies is bringing bocce ball to Hong Kong schools using a revolutionary portable bocce court.

The recreational-sized Packabocce courts being used feature an easy-to-transport inflatable and compact 30-foot by 8-foot design. They made their first Hong Kong school appearance on 15 November when students with and without intellectual disabilities at Jockey Club Sarah Roe School took part in a unified bocce event. The school is attended by 70 students with special needs, aged from 5-19 years.

The bocce event was run by Special Olympics Hong Kong and supported by staff from the insurance company, which sponsors the Special Olympics Unified Schools and Athlete Leadership programmes. The event aimed to introduce bocce ball and the Special Olympics programme to children at the school.

It’s been a challenging year at Waikato Water Polo Club. Its main playing venue at Waterworld in Hamilton, New Zealand, closed for refurbishment work, forcing the club to find alternative deep and shallow water venues for its training.

The loss of its main venue cast doubt over the club’s 2018 season and had organisers and players questioning how they would be able to keep club and school competitions running. It also posed a challenge for its representative teams, which needed to keep training for upcoming major tournaments, including the biennial Pan Pacific Youth Water Polo Festival held in Auckland in July.

Club President Mark Harvey said the club searched for a new pool to run its training events but struggled to find a suitable venue that could store its existing three-metre-wide aluminium goals.