Brisbane Barracudas Water Polo Club
Queensland's Premier Water Polo Club since 1963

HEADLINE NEWS
Site last updated Tuesday March 9th, 2010

BARRACUDAS LOSE FRIEND AND LONG SERVING CLUB MEMBER
RAY "GONZO" WHITE PASSES AWAY DURING WATER POLO MATCH

(March 9| 10) Its a sad day for the Barracudas Club who have lost one of our long serving, dedicated and valued members. One of the best players never to play for Queensland, Ray “Gonzo” White, died during an X Grade mens water polo game at the Valley Pool last night.

White (57) suffered an apparent heart attack during the second quarter of the match between his Barracudas team and Souths. Team-mate Lance Johnson said he had nothing but admiration for White. “He was one of the world’s most genuine nice blokes. He ran and swam every day.” Johnson and fellow team-mates Peter Lang, Marty O’Brien, Neil Gynther and Julian Muspratt praised the efforts of the Souths team who administered cardiac massage on the pool deck for nearly an hour. Two doctors were also in attendance. The game and the rest of the matches were abandoned.

White, who hailed from Tamworth and gained his “Gonzo” nickname because of his large nose, moved from his home town to Brisbane in 1978 and proved his abilities in the local A Grade competition. “He was always on the verge of the State team,” Johnson said. He had two sisters-in-laws who played water polo for Australia in the late 1980s — Lisa and Linda Dick. His sons are star Australian volleyball players with one playing professionally in the Netherlands. For funeral details, contact Lance Johnson on 0422 678 062

Barracudas will pay tribute to Ray "Gonzo" White as a Club this Saturday at the Local Derby National League matches.

NATIONAL LEAGUE: BLOCKBUSTER HOME DERBY THIS WEEK - BARRACUDAS VS BREAKERS

(March 8| 10) Its the National League matches that always spark great interest - the annual Local Derby match between cross town rivals, the Brisbane Barracudas and the KFC Queensland Breakers. On the women's side, the match features undefeated and top ranked Barracudas taking on third ranked Breakers in what will be a very tight affaire. The men's competition, the KFC Breakers come in favorites but the fiesty Barracudas are keen to challenge and certainly could upset. Dont miss these great games! Remember Barracudas Junior players enter for free when wearing their Club Shirt. For all the latest updates on National League visit our Barracudas National League Home Page

KFC Queensland Breakers	VS	VICI Brisbane Barracudas
Game 1: Saturday March 13th, Musgrave Pool. Women's Game starts 6:30pm; Men's Game starts 8:00pm ALL BARRACUDAS JUNIOR ENTER FOR FREE WITH THEIR CLUB SHIRTS ON BBQ and Refreshments available throughout both matches.

BARRACUDAS FASHION PARADE / HIGH TEA - MAY 8TH

(March 2| 10) Barracudas are organising a fun afternoon the day before Mothers Day - an ideal way to find the perfect gift for mum and have a great afternoon. This will be a big event and lots of fun so dont miss out!

The event will take place at Yeronga Pool on Saturday May 8th from 2pm onwards. Our very own club players and parents will be modeling the latest in formal, semi formal and day wear for both men and women alike. Jewelry and other accessories all from local fashion houses will all be on display and available for purchase. Sumptuous food, tea / coffee and champagne as well as fantastic raffle prizes will be on offer. All money raised by the day will be put back into the club to help with travel costs and equipment. Please mark the day in your diary and start getting your tables for 8 or 10 people together. More information will be circulated as the day approaches.

Anyone who has any queries or who can offer assistance in terms of donating prizes or time, please contact Leah on 0411 764 875 or Jeanette on 0417 194 726

JUNIOR TROPHY AFTERNOON - 28TH MARCH
SPIT ROAST DINNER

(Feb 17 |10) Barracudas Invite all Junior Club Member to celebrate the conclusion of the season with a Spit Roast dinner and Trophy Presenation at Musgrave Pool Sunday March 28th 5:00 - 7:00pm. On the menu is spit roast, salad, bread roll and soft drink. As this is a catered event, RSVP's are required by March 19th. Team managers should be circulating lists to each team so be sure to get your name down. The cost is $10 per player and $20 per adult or non-player. Dont miss a great afternoon/evening where we will honour the teams of 2009/10!

MORE BARRACUDAS NEWS

Feb 1 | 10	Bronte Colenso and Blake Edwards named in U18 National Championships Tournament 7s
Jan 5 | 10	VICI Launch the most extensive new range of water polo balls branded after Barracudas own National League captain Melissa Rippon <Click here for more >
Dec 12| 09	Barracudas Girls and Boys Sweep U18 State Championship Titles <READ MORE>
Dec 8 | 09	Barras Boys crowned U14 State Champs The Barras U14 staged an upset snaring the 2009 Queensland State title in the Grand Final at the U14 State Championships held last weekend at the Valley Pool. The tournament concluded Monday and the Barras boys found themselves in the Grand Final against hot favorites Warriors. Barras started the game strongly but Warriors rallied late - all scores were level when a valiant Barras effort snared a goal to go ahead 6-5 and hold in the dieing seconds of a thrilling final quarter for victory. The jubilant Barras boys and their coach Neil Gynther as well as the club's supporters were thrilled with the win. Congrats to the Barras boys and all involved. Our Barras state champion team: Liam McInerney, Alex McKenzie, Hugh Morris, Kieran Mulcahy, George Pullar, Daniel Anthon, Harry Havers, Bede Denham, Charlie Wyer, Angus Scott-Young, James Mackie, Hugo Shepherd, Lachlan Lyndon and Angus Wyllie - Coach Neil Gynther.
Dec 1 | 09	Kelsey Wakefield Breaks into Senior Women's National Team Eighteen year-old Barracudas goalkeeper Kelsey Wakefield is set to compete in her first Senior international tournament representing Australia this December in the Canada Cup in Montreal and then the Holiday Cup in California. For Kelsey this most recent achievement follows on from a stellar past season where she was named QWPI Junior Player of the year, competed in the Junior World Championships and was part of the Barracudas Women's National League championship team. The Gold Coast native now sets her sights on the next level and says its "an honour" to be selected. Joining Kelsey overseas on this most recent tour is veteran Barracudas National League captain Melissa Rippon.
Oct 19 | 09	Barracudas U16 Teams finish 6th and 8th at National Club Champs Barracudas U16 teams put in a tremendous effort at the U16 National Champs which were held in Brisbane. The Barracudas boys finished 8th overall out of 19 teams from all over Australia while the girls finished 6th out of 24 teams. The Barracudas boys put in a solid team performance and were led by Stewart Greenbank who finished second overall on the boys goal scorers and Tyler Sinclair who rounded the tournament out with 8 goals to his name. The girls team suffered a narrow loss to Sydney Northern Beaches who went on to the Grand Final. Bronte Colenso and Bridget O'Connor led the attack for the Barracudas girls with excellent team performances from the balance of the team.
Oct 6 | 09	Congrats to Bridget O'Connor, Bronte Colenso and Stewart Greenbank who both were named in the Australian Talent ID Squads
Sept 19 | 09	Barracudas Win Big at 2009 QWPI Awards Night The 2009 Queensland Water Polo Awards were held last night at Ballymore and our Barracudas finalists did very well picking up three of the nine major awards. Fabio Pavanello was named Queensland Water Polo Coach of the Year after he led the Barracudas Women's National League team to a historic NWPL Championship Title, the first by any team in Queensland. Barracudas players swept the Junior player of the Year awards with BJ Howden and Kelsey Wakefield winning the best Male and Female junior player respectively. BJ captained Australia at the FINA Junior World Championships and captained Queensland at the U18 National Championships while Kelsey competed at the FINA Junior World Champs as well, was named Most Valuable Goalkeeper at the Australian U18 National Championships and was part of the Barracudas Women's winning National League team. Well done to our three Barracudas awards winner. Another major highlight of the night was the induction of two long serving Barracudas / Tugun Club members to the Queensland Water Polo Hall of Fame. Debbie Larkin Powell and Jack Lusic were made the 9th and 10th inductees into the Hall of Fame. Debbie was the first female Tugun/ Barracudas player to represent Australia back in 1976 while Jack, a Life Member of the club is Queensland's most capped player and was part of the Tugun club dominance in the 80s.
Aug 2 | 09	Congratulations to Ben Edwards who was named in the Australian School Boys Team
Aug 2 | 09	Barracudas Compete at 13th FINA World Championships in Rome Four Barracudas players are part of the Australian teams competing at the 13th FINA World Championships being held in Rome. The Australian Women found themselves in the top 8 with a quarter final birth after winning their Group. The Australian women's team featuring three Barracudas players (Jane Moran, Melissa Rippon and Kate Gynther) started slowly with a draw against Canada but built up momentum with convincing wins against South African and New Zealand winning their group based on point for/against. The women the narrowly lost to Greece 4-3 and then in a disappointing result lost 11-12 to reining Olympic Champions the Netherlands to finish the tournament in 6th position. Final Women's Overall Results: Gold -USA, Silver-Canada, Bronze-Russia, 4th-Greece, 5th - Netherlands, 6th- Australia, 7th - Hungary, 8th-Spain, 9th - Italy, 10th-Germany, 11th-China, 12th-New Zealand. In men's action, the Australian team featuring Barracudas Rhys Howden, competing in his first World Championships, were disappointed being downed by Romania in the important quarter final match and thus being relegated to playing off the 9th - 12th positions. The Australian men's performance see-sawed over the course of the tournament with an impressive draw with Serbia who went on to win the Championship, a win over Kazakhstan and a narrow loss to Spain to came away with the Silver. Men's Overall Results: Gold- Serbia, Silver- Spain; Bronze - Croatia, 4th-USA, 5th - Hungary, 6th - Germany, 7th-Romania, 8th - Canada, 9th - Montenegro, 10th-Australia, 11th- Italy, 12th-China
June 27 | 09	Senior Award Winners - Club honours 2008/09 Season's Achievements at Awards Night Function <READ MORE>
June 15 |09	Australia wins Bronze at FINA World League Super Finals in Russia USA once again took out the World League Super Finals title defeating Canada in the Gold medal match. Australia defeated Spain 12 - 8 to take the Bronze after narrowly losing to USA in the semifinals in the final seconds of the game. China took out fifth spot defeating Russia in the 5th/6th playoff. Barracudas Jane Moran, Mel Rippon and Kate Gynther all were strong forces in the Aussie women's Bronze medal performance.
June 9 | 09	BJ Howden to lead Australian Juniors at World Champs - Giles and Edwards also named to team Barracudas own BJ Howden is set to follow his brother’s illustrious footsteps when he was named captain of the Australian junior men’s team to contest the FINA World Championships in Sibenik, Croatia on August 20-30. Older brother Rhys Howden, who is playing this week in the FINA World League Super Finals in Montenegro with the Aussie Sharks senior men, competed in last year’s Beijing Olympic Games. Two other Barracudas players will be competing in the Junior World Championships - Matt Giles and Blake Edwards. Congrats to all three of the Barras boys on their selection and best of luck at the tournament. Australia finished 5th in 2007 and will be looking to improve this ranking.
June 1 | 09	10 Barracudas Women named to represent Australia Internationally After the stellar national league season, ten Barracudas ladies have earned top honours being named to a raft of Australian International Teams to compete over the winter months at the elite stage. Qualifying for the World League Super Finals in Russia as well as FINA World Champs in Rome are Kate Gynther, Melissa Rippon and Jane Moran. Also earning their first senior international caps will be Barracudas Hannah Robinson and Nanda Stoltz who will be competing at the Student University Games in Belgrade. Kelsey Wakefield and Steph Thomas both were named to the Australian U18 World Champs touring team and finally Gabby Wikman, Jamie Lee Lewis and Olivia King have all been given the honours of being part of the Australian U20 European Tour team. Amazing that so many of our Barracudas ladies will be gaining valuable international experience. Well done to all and best of luck on tour.
May 23 | 09	Four Barracudas rising stars named to Australian School Girls Team Capping off what has been a stellar season for our Barracudas ladies, four Barras players have been named in the Australian School Girls team following the School Girls competition in Canberra this past week. Kate McAfee, Maddy Coburn. Bronte Colenso and Olivia King have all been given the honour of representing their country internationally for the first time. Congrats to these girls!
May 18 |09	Barracudas Women Win AWPI Awards and 11 Named to AUS Squads Following the completion of the NWPL Finals Series in Sydney and the inaugural AWPI Hall of Fame dinner held at the same time, a number of Barracudas players have been given the top nod. <READ MORE>
May 16 | 09	They Finally DID IT!!! Our Barracudas Women bring home the 2009 National League Championship Title! After making the Finals Series every season since the start of women competing in the NWPL in 2003, the Barracudas can finally add a Gold medal and the coveted NWPL Trophy to their mantle, becoming only the third club to take the crown <READ MORE>. The Barracudas 2009 Championship Team (Pictured above - Photo courtesy Pearse Photography) Melissa Rippon (captain), Fabio Pavanello (Coach) Emma Keogh, Gabby Wikman, Hannah Robinson, Gao Ao, Patsy Redmond, Kate Gynther, Amanda Russell, Nanda Stoltz, Sun Yujun, Kelsey Wakefield, Emma Jackson, Jamie Lee Lewis, Jane Moran.
May 12 | 09	Barracudas win Silver and Bronze at U16 State Champs - Colenso and Greenbank named MVPs The Queensland State U16 Championships were held over the May 1st - 3rd weekend at Nambour and Noosa - a huge turnout for the tournament was on offer with 15 girls teams and 8 boys teams. After 12 games of waterpolo in 3 days, the Barracudas girls solid defense over the 3 days saw them take bronze and the boys won silver going down to Alstonville in extra time in a thriller of Gold medal match (Silver medal team pictured - Photo courtesy Liz Jones) . The Cudas team finished 5th overall. Barracudas up and coming stars Bronte Colenso and Stuart Greenbank were named tournament MVPs. Additionally Barracudas were named to the State Squad of which two teams will be selected to tour NZ. The Barras girls named include Maddy Day, Bronte Colenso, Bridget O’Connor, Maddy McAffee, Suzie Lindley, Beth Morgan and Kami White. The Barracudas boys had an amazing 14 players named in the Squad including: James Broadley, Rafe Denham, Oscar Breakwell, Ziv Deutsch, Reed Douyere-Pate, Dave Edwards, Stuart Greenbank, Luke McKenzie, William Seuss, Lachlan Pettiford, Tyler Sinclair, Caelyn Jones, Harry Hurst and Luke Visscher.

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BARRACUDAS NEWS ARCHIVES

Aug 28 - 2008	Barracudas Melissa Rippon and Kate Gynther help Australian Women Win Olympic Bronze <READ MORE>
June 24 - 2008	Jamie Lee a match for Wally - Barras' Lewis making waves and headlines <READ MORE>
May 6 -2008	Barracudas Men earn silver at FINA XII World Master Championships in Perth <READ MORE>
Mar 28 - 2008	Barracudas U14 State Champs and National Bronze Medallists <READ MORE>
April 7 - 2007	Aussie Women win Silver at World Championships in Melbourne <READ MORE>
Aug 16 - 2006	World Champs Back in Brissy - Supporters greet World Champs at Airport <READ MORE>
Aug 15 - 2006	Australian Women win World Cup <READ MORE>
Jan 30 - 2006	Barracudas' Melissa Rippon named MVP at Commonwealth Champs as Aussies earn double crowns <READ MORE>
Sept 14 - 2005	Gynther named best Aussie at World League <READ MORE>
Sept 11 - 2005	Barracudas named Club of the Year at Queensland Water Polo Awards Gala <READ MORE>
July 15 - 2005	Barras represent at FINA World Championships in Canada <READ MORE>
May 1 - 2005	Barracudas Women bring home National League Bronze medal <READ MORE>
Aug 30 - 2004	Barracudas' Olympians return home from Athens <READ MORE>
June 1 -2004	Barracudas named to Athens Olympic Team <READ MORE>
May 1 -2004	Barracudas crowned National League Champs <READ MORE>