Recently we wrote an article about a water polo tournament played in a volcanic lake. We discovered another tournament played in a fantastic location! This time we take you to Lagoa Azul in Brasil. The mind behind this tournament is José Maria known as Zema.
Why Lagoa Azul?
We are a group of athletes from Pernambuco (one of the states of the north-east of Brazil) who loved the idea of organizing an open-air championship since we have a lot of beautiful beaches but we faced a big problem – sharks! That is the reason we decided to do organize the tournament in Lagoa Azul.
The location is amazing. Its particular origin made it a unique landscape. It is an old private stone quarry that now is filled with blue and warm water. Nowadays the quarry is no longer working on extraction and have been transformed into a green park. The “Lagoa Azul” is a lagoon close to the city center of Recife, more or less 45 minutes by car.
Tell us a little bit about the tournament?
Unfortunately, water polo isn’t a popular sport here, so this tournament is an excellent opportunity to present our sport to other people and fundraise money for our social water polo school.
This is our 4th tournament but is the first time we are opening our inscriptions to other states. Our first has been in 2016. We wanted to do something different, out of pools. Our first event was so small; we had only five mixed teams of 7-9 players from Pernambuco. This year we plan to have a 10-15 team in 3 different categories – Male, Female, Juniors. Our goal is to have lots of games and fun, for this reason, we won’t have any knockout stage.
What about the rules?
13 players, unlimited substitutions. The duration of the game will be four periods each of eight minutes actual play. Games will be played according to FINA rules.
What can teams coming from other countries expect?
We will receive all the foreigns like they are our family! We are going to help them find the best accommodation, pick them up at the airport, showing them our beautiful city. They will get more than a single organization; they will find friends! We are negotiating discounts for the hotels and the transport in the city. We also plan a great party for Saturday night 😉
Plans for the future?
We think big. We want to become a big international tournament. This would help us grow our social water polo school and involve more teenager to have more opportunities through water polo.
The tournament will be held from 2nd – 4th of August. If your team wants to experience this amazing place, please apply via this email espawp.espa@gmail.com
