Last weekend marked a Winter Classic for
the record books, which our club can take great pride in!!We had a record 36 teams compete in 73 games within 5 divisions playing in 3 fields of play across 2 pool locations making this a premiere event for Ontario Water Polo. This year also marked a first in that we hosted teams in the high school and U14 divisions from Cluj Napoca, Romania. This year also introduced 1st place medals to the Winter Classic which created much excitement from the participating athletes.
An event like this can not happen without an army of volunteers with exceptional leadership. Kyle Devitt, our tournament director, invested many hours on deck but also pre and post tournament to ensure this event was a success. He should be commended for his leadership, dedication and composure. Kyle was supported by over 45 volunteers who contributed on deck, at the store, and in the hospitality room. Calin & Andrea Dragoiescu (live website and signage), Scott Mueller (photos) and Sonja Bilicic (hospitality room), and Tanya Ciciretto (store), need to be recognized for significant contributions.
Each of the 6 KW Inferno teams competing gave a full effort allowing them to carry their heads high after an action packed weekend! We need to make special mention of our U14 girls team who went undefeated on the weekend and captured the GOLD medals. Both our U12 KW Red team and HS Ladies team finished with 2 place results. Among this weekend of victories and losses there were many individual highlights of skill and sportsmanship from all Inferno players.
As always it is necessary to thank our coaching team for their commitment, dedication and leadership which is developing our athletes both in and away from the pool: Paul, Casey, Max and Ricardo led our high school aged players in battle this weekend. While Glen, Ryan, Aleah, Dijana, Adrian and Hunter contributed to our U14 and U12 teams success and improvement at this year's Winter Classic.
We would like to express a very sincere and heartfelt thank you to everyone that contributed to the success of this exceptional event.
Gold Medals:
U12 Division - Shadow
U14 Girls Division - KW Inferno
U14 Boys Division - Mavericks Red
High School Girls Division - Mavericks
High School Boys Division - CSM Cluj Napoca, Romania
KW Inferno Participating Teams:
U12 Girls - KW Red
U12 Boys - KW Black
U14 Girls - KW Inferno
U14 Boys - KW Inferno
HS Girls - KW Inferno
HS Boys - KW Inferno
