Veteran goalkeeper Robin Randall looks at the Canadian men’s water polo team and sees a lot of youth.
But he doesn’t see inexperience.
“I would use the word bold to describe them. I see them do things and it makes me proud,” said the 31-year-old from Drinkwater, Sask. “It’s almost an indignance, you know. They look at other teams and they’re not at all scared of anyone or anything.
“They’re just willing to go out and give it their all and put their skills to use as best they can.”
That resolve will be put to the test starting Sunday at a last-chance Olympic qualifying tournament in Edmonton.
The format is simple and intense. Twelve countries, two groups, and possibly eight games in eight days – all to sort out four Olympic berths.
After round-robin play, the top four teams from each pool play in crossover quarter-final matches on April 6. The winners book their tickets to London.
Canada is in Pool B, along with Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Turkey and Venezuela. Pool A features Germany, Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro, the Netherlands and Romania.
Canada opens Sunday against Venezuela at the Kinsmen Sports Centre.
The pools were seeded on results at world championships and World League with some geographical separation.
But Canadian team manager Neil Muir says luck of the draw also played its part. Canada’s pool is weaker than the other.
And while that may help Canada finish higher in its pool standings, it also means that may not be much of advantage.
“So for us, we would expect to be first or second in our bracket but the advantage of playing second, third or fourth on the other side, there isn’t one,” said Muir.
“The teams on the other side are all basically the same and the problem is winner goes forward, loser goes home. And all of those teams are good teams. We think we can play with all of those teams but it’s just going to be the team that plays on the day.”
Canada placed 11th out of 12 teams at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Before that, Canada was 10th in 1984 in Los Angeles, ninth in 1976 in Montreal and 16th in 1972 in Munich.
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Last year, the Canadian men finished 10th at the FINA World Championships in Shanghai.
Spain, fifth at the 2011 world championship, looks to be the class of Canada’s group. The South American sides will also be prickly opponents.
“They’re very physical, and so with a schedule like playing a game a day, you don’t want to be dragging anybody down the pool on your neck,” the six-foot-five Randall said dryly.
The Canadians know all about Spain having spent time in a pre-tournament camp with them. The two meet April 5, the day before the quarter-finals.
“They’re pretty tough,” said 29-year-old Canadian captain Aaron Feltham of Lindsay, Ont. “We beat them once last summer in Montreal and that’s one of the only times we’ve beaten them in recent history. But we feel we can beat them. That would hopefully solidify us into first place.”
Randall, for one, likes the idea of playing a strong European side like Spain the day before the all-or-nothing quarter-finals.
Muir says the team is well-prepared, having spent the best part of two years in Calgary with head coach Dragan Jovanovic, with just a couple of players missing because of overseas club commitments.
“The difference between this team, and the team four years ago, is this is a much younger group but it’s a much more cohesive group, much fitter group. I think our preparation has been much better,” said Muir.
Feltham and Randall are veterans on the squad but they’re surrounded by youth. Nicolas Constantin-Bicari is 20, Justin Boyd, Dusko Dakic and Luka Gasic are 22, Devin Diggle is 23.
The Canadians made it to Beijing at a similar qualifying tournament, in March 2008, but they had to do it the hard way.
“We played the host team Romania in that quarter-final, after having lost the week before (to them) by 10, which is quite a margin in water polo,” Randall recalled. “We had some foul troubles and ended up with quite a few young guys in the water and won the game by one.
“It was pretty spectacular, a pretty fantastic way to qualify for the Olympics – not like there’s a real run-of-the-mill way to do it, but yeah it was a last chance. We thought our best chance was at the Pan American Games so we were all disappointed when we didn’t do it there months earlier.
“We just put everything we had into that one game and that’s all you need to do.”
The Canadians also missed out a chance at the Pan Ams this time round, losing 7-3 to the U.S. in the gold medal game.
Canada will have home-field advantage this time, although the players acknowledge their sport attracts less attention here than elsewhere.
“Canadians haven’t really grown up hearing about water polo, so slowly if we can keep having tournaments like this and if we can keep having results, then we can be the people to help build the reputation,” said the six-foot-four Feltham. “We knew it when we came into it (the sport) so I can’t really complain about it too much. We just try to represent it as best we can.”
Kevin Graham, one of the team’s stars, shares Randall’s self-belief that Canada can make its mark in the sport.
“We have respect for the opponents that we play against but we also have self-respect,” said the 25-year-old from Regina. “And we know that we have skills too and we have a lot to bring to the pool and this team’s philosophy has always been it’s not about the guy that you’re playing against, it’s about yourself and performing how you know you can play.”
The six-foot-six Graham plays professionally in Hungary, a water polo powerhouse.
For Randall, the Canadian campaign is about doing more than qualifying for the Olympics. It’s about excelling at them.
“It’s not every four years, it’s every day,” he said.
The Canadian women’s team will take part in its own qualifying tournament starting April 15 in Italy.
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Canada
Robin Randall, Drinkwater, Sask.; Devon Diggle, Pierrefonds, Que.; Justin Boyd, Beaconsfield, Que.; John Conway, Ottawa; Aaron Feltham (capt.), Lindsay, Ont.; Oliver Vikalo, Calgary; Dusan Aleksic, Gatineau, Que.; Constantine Kudaba, Port Coquitlam, B.C.; Nicolas Constantin-Bicari, Repentigny, Que.; Scott Robinson, Calgary; Kevin Graham, Regina; Dusko Dakic, Gatineau, Que.; Jared McElroy, Calgary; Luka Gasic, Laval, Que.
Head Coach – Dragan Jovanovic, Calgary.
Assistant Coach – Alex Beslin, Calgary.
Team Manager – Neil Muir, Calgary.
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