Whats Happened:

Brisbane Rainbow Grudge Match

Stingers caught the last rays of summer up in Brisbane and embraced the concept of a "Special Mixed Edition" of the Rainbow Grudge Match in a way that made it so successful. The bonds of friendship that have forged over the weekend in the crucible of pool and pub are core to why each of our clubs exist. A special shout out to Katelyn, Mimmo, Peter, Harry and Chris for stepping up and taking on the refereeing duties for the tournament. Things would not have run as smoothly as they did without your contributions.

A special mention to Vicky for all of her assistance on tables, she along with a slew of other players helped out with clocks and scorecards, so thank you to all those who gave up their time. Also thanks to Dulux for providing the inspiration for the team names. Bright Delight, Magnetic Magic, Ocean Trapeze, Lemon Delicious, Pink Parakeet and our winners Lilac Fluff.

The next Rainbow Grudge Match will be hosted by Perth on Saturday 22nd November. On Sunday 23rd is Perth Fair Day, and the following weekend you can march with the White Pointers in the Perth Pride Parade on 29th November. Why not a cheeky drink with Margaret in between? Fill out this EOI form if you're keen for any part of the trip.

Summer Metro 

As the chill sets in we congratulate our summer teams for another stellar effort. A few highlights from the season:

• W2 made semis and placed 3rd on the ladder
• M6 finished 4th on ladder 
• From W6, Kiah Flemings was the 12th highest goal scorer in the grade. 
• Ethan Thomas - 3rd highest goal scorer in whole of M7.
• Tyler George - 5th highest goal scorer in M6
• From W2, Kiara Holden was 1st place, followed closely by Isobel Bishop in 2nd and Hayley Collins in 4th place in the whole of the grade.
  
  

Boot Camp

After three weeks of Bootcamp, our April cohort of Booties competed in a Stingers’ time-honoured tradition - booty-lympics! After a quick exhibition match from our existing Stingers, the Booties and Stingers were split into four teams and played five games over the course of a Sunday arvo.

We introduced some of the finer points of water polo slowly to the Booties, starting with no shot clock and lenient rules. But by the semis and finals they were outclassing the Stingers with their mastery of timing the shot clock, playing the ball, watching the refs’ signals, and even going for some drives.

While the team ‘The Nerve of That Gumnut’ took home the gold, the real winners were water polo and fun! Special thanks to NSW Government and Pride in Sport for supporting our bootcamp and bootylympics. 

Booties can upgrade their membership at any time and we've love for you to sign up for our Intra competition held on Sunday afternoon, all aimed at building up your skills along side our players. Please see seperate email for upgrading your memberships and sign up to play on an Intra team here.

Whats On:

Bring on Winter! Autumn Tournie

We’ll be hosting another club tournament at Ryde on 10th May, with a long overdue club brunch afterwards. Let us know if you can play by filling out this form. If you’ve put your name in for metro, we invite you to come along and show us what you can do. Internal tournaments like this are vital to help grade you and the team appropriately. The last few seasons Stingers have shown we have a competitive force at Metro, making grand finals and top of the table in goal scorers. Lets keep up this pressure with a little tournie to get winter rolling.

Winter Season Starting

Winter Metro is starting up 20/21st May. Team allocations will be sent out mid May, before first Metro team training and after the tournament above.

Intra will be starting back on May 18th, please sign up here. Playing at Intra is a perfect opportunity to build up your skills, especially if you've just graduated bootcamp. The comp brings a wide range of the club together to develop the game and keep us all together through the winter. And a bevvy at the pub after :)

We need you!

Trivia Night

We are looking for volunteers to help us organise our annual trivia night to be held later in the year. If you love the club, we’d love your support, events like these are important for our pocket in the pool and we need help making it happen. Please fill out the form if you can assist in any capacity, small or large.

Table Duties

Doing table duties is just part of being in the team. Whether  tabling for someone else's game or your own, it’s a job that we all need to contribute to and be confident with to do our part in making the club run. If you want to revise the tasks of the table you can complete a simple online training module provided by Water Polo Australia, take a look at the Member Zone “Water Polo Rules and Table Official Training” section on how to log in and enrol yourself. You can also come along to Sunday intra competition and ask to be partnered up with an experienced member to show you the ropes.

Many hands make light work, so if you have capacity and interest please consider responding to volunteer call-outs (see above), or please speak to any of the Executive if there is something you’d like to make happen in the club.

To understand more about how our club works, take a look at Club Management Structure. 

Stingers On Tour

Keep an eye out for your teammates as Stingers set out for world domination! We'll be battling it out in the pool and attending these events:

• IGLA Washington DC, 2nd-6th June 2025 (during World Pride).
• Rainbow Grudge Match - 22nd November, 2025 - Perth
• Valencia Gay Games 2026, 27th June - 5th July 2026

General Information:

• If you have Facebook, please join our Stingers Members Page, where you can keep up to date with announcements.
• See the Member Zone for club information
• Check out the Club Calendar for upcoming events and the training plan, you can also subscribe to the calendar on your phone using the link provided
• Grab exclusive merch available on the Stingers Shop at bargain basement prices!

April Swim Set

Between seasons we’ll focus on putting in the distance to keep the swim fitness up ready for winter. 

Total Time: 1 hr (with rest)

Total Distance: 2.5km

Warm Up: 

100 Free, 100 IM, 100 Free

2 x 150m - 50 kick, 50 drill, 50 swim

Main Set:

8 x 200m - 4:30 

-First 50 Medley order, 150m freestyle. (1st 200 is 1st 50m Fly, 150m free. 2nd 200 is 1st 50 BK, 150m free.  3rd is 1st 50m BR, 150m free. 4th is 200m free. Repeat.)

Cool down: 200m

• Notes:
• Adjust the times to suit you, but still aim to push yourself. Suggestions:
  • A bit easier: add 5 to 10s on the suggested times per 50m.
  • A bit harder: minus 5 to 10s on the suggested times per 50m or add 2 more distance intervals (e.g where it says 6x100m do 8 of them.)
• 50m Pool: add 5sec per 50m
• Send your team a selfie with you at the pool after your set! Be the fitspo to my DMs :) 
• Splashproof and reuse the set - write it up with crayon (or pencil) on waxy baking paper, pat dry and keep in your bag for next time.