{"id":198419,"date":"2021-08-13T17:32:03","date_gmt":"2021-08-13T15:32:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/?p=105828"},"modified":"2021-08-13T17:32:03","modified_gmt":"2021-08-13T15:32:03","slug":"games-experience-lights-a-spark-for-madibaz-trio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/games-experience-lights-a-spark-for-madibaz-trio\/","title":{"rendered":"Games experience lights a spark for Madibaz trio"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>
The Madibaz water polo contingent of, from left, Ashleigh Vaughan, Meghan Maartens and coach Delaine Mentoor arrive back in Gqeberha from the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. Photo: Full Stop Communications<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite tough challenges, South Africa\u2019s Madibaz water polo contingent returned from the recent Olympic Games stimulated by the experience of competing at the highest level.<\/p>\n

Delaine Mentoor, who received plaudits as the only female head coach at the Games, and players Meghan Maartens and Ashleigh Vaughan were part of the country\u2019s first women\u2019s water polo team at what is arguably world sport\u2019s most iconic event.<\/p>\n

On their return the trio agreed that the exposure they received would be hugely beneficial for water polo in SA.<\/p>\n

Mentoor described it as the \u201cexperience of a lifetime\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to put into words, but the challenge, as tough as it was, was all worth it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo compete against the best in the world and to be part of the first women\u2019s team to represent the African continent in water polo at the Olympics is just incredible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lessons we took from this event were invaluable.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that the team\u2019s goal was to grow better with each game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was achieved and defensively we got better, which showed in our last match when we limited the Australians, with great goalkeeping from Meghan, who had the game of her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe learnt that we needed to work on our attack and, with the current group of ladies and the national programme, we can achieve that.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlayers like Ashleigh [Vaughan] showed that we can put the ball in the back of the net past some of the best goalkeepers in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mentoor felt the exposure would help them develop the game at all levels.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt excites me so much and I cannot wait to share the knowledge and experience I have gained to grow the programme at our club and obviously in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe contacts and opportunities we have following the Games are massive and I look forward to the road ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mentoor is now focused on the Junior World Championships (U20) in Israel this October.<\/p>\n

For Maartens, the Olympics experience still hasn\u2019t fully sunk in and she said her memories would last a lifetime.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only words to describe this experience are \u2018amazing\u2019 and \u2018beautiful\u2019,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wow factor was walking among all these athletes who work so hard to get where they are. And it was so crazy to think that we were there too.<\/p>\n

\u201cMixing with so many famous people was fantastic \u2013 everywhere you looked someone was taking a photo with someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

She acknowledged the challenging nature of the competition, which taught her more about her game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have walked away with a lot of experience and knowledge, and with a different understanding of certain situations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best memory in the pool was the Australia game. We didn\u2019t win, but against one of the powerhouses of the world in our hearts it felt like we had won.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australia won 14-1 but only had the measure of their opponents in the second quarter when they netted six times in response to a single goal by Vaughan.<\/p>\n

Maartens said the Games had motivated her to never give up on her dreams.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to start training hard again when I get back and I\u2019m more motivated than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vaughan, who said scoring the first goal for her country at the Games was a personal highlight, also acknowledged the privilege of seeing some of the world\u2019s best sportsmen and women in action.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat an amazing experience it was,\u201d she said. \u201cThe hard work put into the Games and sacrifices people had to make to compete; it was really fantastic to see athletes performing at their peak.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main thing I learnt is that there is no room for error. There\u2019s a lot we have to work on as a team and I feel there is always room for improvement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have set a standard and now it\u2019s all hard work to better this standard and continually improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Source: MyPR.co.za<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Madibaz water polo contingent of, from left, Ashleigh Vaughan, Meghan Maartens and coach Delaine Mentoor arrive back in Gqeberha from the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. Photo: Full Stop Communications Despite tough challenges, South Africa\u2019s Madibaz water polo contingent returned from the recent Olympic Games stimulated by the experience of competing at the highest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":198420,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9021,3330],"tags":[3257],"class_list":{"0":"post-198419","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mypr","8":"category-port-elizabeth","9":"tag-mypr","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/games-experience-lights-a-spark-for-madibaz-trio.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}