Teenage sharp shooter on the rise
Jewish teenage water polo rising star Matthew Sharp has had a hectic start to the year, finding a way to juggle HSC studies with training and playing for his club, state and junior national teams – so far with much success.
JEWISH teenage water polo rising star Matthew Sharp has had a hectic start to the year, finding a way to juggle HSC studies with training and playing for his club, state and junior national teams – so far with much success.
After representing the U18 Australian Schoolboys in a drawn series against New Zealand in December and helping Newington College win bronze in the Trans-Tasman Schoolboys Shield, Sharp’s UNSW West Magpies won the 2018 U18 Sydney Metro competition grand final, and he finished the summer season as the competition’s top scorer, with 54 goals.
The team also won the three-day NSW Club Championships tournament, where Sharp again finished top scorer, this time with 16 goals, and was selected in the tournament’s honorary top seven squad.
“We are quite a small team in terms of height, so we rely on agility and fast reaction times,” Sharp said.
“Most of us play in more than one team together and have done so for years, so we work well as a unit.”
While Sharp did not have time to also train with the Magpies’ Men’s division two team, he played for them too during the metro season, and they finished runners-up on March 24.
Sharp also fitted in representing his school in the 2018 AAGPS/CAS competition, which Newington finished undefeated.
And just last week, the talented 17-year-old played for the Magpies in the less familiar position of centre forward – which is normally occupied by taller players – in the U18 Water Polo National Club Championships in Canberra, top-scoring for his team with 16 goals in just seven matches.
The Magpies enjoyed a sizzling start at the nationals, including a 13-4 thrashing of Sydney Uni Blue in which Sharp scored a hat-trick, and a convincing 9-3 victory over eventual runners-up the Cronulla Sharks.
But a combination of injuries to key members in the team – including a rolled ankle to Sharp – and a drop in focus and intensity, led to UNSW bowing out in the quarterfinals, finishing fifth overall.
“Our only two losses in the whole tournament were disappointing because they were only by one point – including against [eventual champions] UWA City Beach – and three of the four semifinalists had lost or drawn more games than us,” Sharp said.
“But it is how you play on the day that counts in the end.
“It was great meeting up with my interstate-based Australian squad teammates, which only happens a few times per year, and I’m sure we’ll all be playing waterpolo together for a long time to come.”
National selectors for the Australian Born in 2000 squad were present at the nationals, and will pick the Australian team within weeks that will be competing at the Water Polo 18 Boys’ World Championships in Hungary in August.
Sharp, who is now preparing to do his rescheduled half-yearly year 12 exams, said he hopes he gains selection, but will need to make a decision with his family about whether he can adequately balance studying with preparing for and actually going to the World Championships, which conclude just five days before the HSC trial exams.
Sharp’s longer-term goal is to earn a sports scholarship at an American university in 2019, and continue representing Australia.
“Matt’s been applying to US colleges and has had good interest so far, so that’s where his future might lie,” his mum, Michele, said.
He represented the junior USA team at the 2017 Maccabiah Games in Israel, winning bronze, but only because Australia did not enter any teams into the tournament.
SHANE DESIATNIK
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