news blog

A visionary water polo club with a knack for getting things done is using portable water polo fields from Packaworld to bring the sport of beach water polo to the Middle East.

The Dubai Camels Water Polo Club hosted the United Arab Emirates’ second ever international beach water polo tournament earlier this month.

“It was a real showcase of beach water polo and Dubai,” said Peter Roberts, chief executive of Packaworld International. “The Dubai Camels did a fantastic job organising the event and the backing from sponsors and supporters was brilliant.”

The tournament venue – a scenic stretch of water alongside Club Vista Mare on Palm Jumeirah – was transformed into a beach water polo players’ dream with the help of a Packaworld inflatable water polo field and a set of high-quality water polo Packagoals.

A bevy of bikini and speedo-clad water polo players joined the wildlife at Jervis Bay in Australia on the weekend for the first major Beach Water Polo Fours tournament of the summer season.

The event was held during the popular Sand and Sea Festival, with players competing on a portable water polo field supplied by Packaworld International. It saw mixed teams from New South Wales do battle in fast-paced day of four-a-side water polo action.

Beach Water Polo Fours spokesperson Emma Brown said the tournament went perfectly despite high winds in the area causing some of the other Sand and Sea Festival multisport events to be cancelled.

"The westerly wind was absolutely crazy, but Huskisson Beach where our tournament was held wasn’t affected at all."

An old quarry in the forests of Ohio is gaining cult status among water polo enthusiasts as the venue for one of North America’s most unusual outdoor festivals.

Known as The Quarry Scramble, the two-day tournament combines water polo, camping, cliff jumping and rafting on the former site of a free-loving hippy haven that sprung up after the Nelson Ledges Quarry near Garrettsville was abandoned.

This year’s festival, held on 3-4 August, was the Scramble’s fifth anniversary. It saw a record 230 water polo players travel from across the United States and Canada for what is becoming an annual pilgrimage.

Organisers Kacy Pugh and Kyle Ford said the tournament differed from other water polo events because teams are made up of people who don’t know each other beforehand.

Friday night. The wind is howling and a polar blast is forecast to hit the Sydney coast in the morning. You might think plunging into the waters off Botany Bay for a beach water polo tournament would be the last thing on anyone’s mind, but for Scott Nicholson and the rest of the Beach Water Polo Fours tournament organisers, the icy forecast just added to the thrill.

Played last Saturday, in the midst of the Australian winter, the inaugural Beach Water Polo Fours Winter Classic saw 40 keen participants don their booties and wetsuits for a day of fast-paced four-a-side beach water polo action.

Matches were played using inflatable water polo fields and goals from Packaworld, and hot tubs were brought in to help players stay warm during downtime.

Some of England’s top water polo players took to the water off Manchester’s iconic Media City, Salford Quays for a festival of outdoor water polo on Saturday. 

The Packaworld-sponsored event, played in brilliant sunshine, was the third and final event on the 2019 MANUP! Water Polo calendar.

MANUP! Water Polo Co-founder Craig Stowell said eight men’s teams and four women’s teams took to the water for the festival, competing in six-a-side matches to be crowned champions.

At the end of the men’s competition defending champions Castleford emerged victorious, beating Sedgefield in the final. Tournament newcomers City of Manchester won the women’s competition with a victory over Liverpool.

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef became the stage for a world-first water polo event on Sunday, when members of the Australian women’s water polo team took to its warm tropical waters for a one-of-a-kind exhibition match.

The match was organised by Cairns Water Polo Club and Sunlover Reef Cruises, with special permission from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. It was played 47 km offshore alongside the Moore Reef Marine Base using a portable Packaworld water polo field and Water Polo Packagoals.

“It was a pretty spectacular day,” says Cairns Water Polo president Jesse O’Hara.

“The blue and green colours were just shining through the water, the reef was looking great and there were plenty of fish around.”