Photo Credit: Sam Walters
By Jacob Lee — Reporter
With COVID-19 rattling the college sports world, many athletes have been unable to compete this year.
While college sports are on hold, one Spartan has had athletic success in New Zealand winning a national championship in the water polo men’s league in his home country.
Justin Pickering, a senior member of SJSU men’s water polo team, flew home in March to continue to practice and play with the hopes of returning to the United States for his final collegiate season.
“It was a blessing in disguise being able to play for my hometown club and bring the first national championship to Tauranga Water Polo alongside some other international boys who had come back due to Covid as well,” Pickering said.
There were about a dozen athletes competing in the New Zealand Interclub National Championship tournament that would have otherwise been playing in the USA or abroad if it weren’t for COVID-19.
“I would say that the level and quality of water polo grows with a lot of the international players being back in the country,” Pickering said.
Pickering scored two crucial goals to lead Tauranga to a 13-7 win over Marist in the Gold Medal match.
Pickering also had four goals in the semi-final match to secure Tauranga’s trip to the championship.
“Having Justin was a huge boost to the team’s performance and gave us so many layers to the dynamic of the team,” said Tauranga goalkeeper Bae Fountain.
Mathew Hansen, another one of Tauranga’s attackers, shared about the impact that international players, like Pickering, had on the team.
“It seems like Covid was almost our best mate. It brought home these international players who in the final scored over half of our team’s goals,” Hansen said.
New Zealand is a country that is nearly free of Covid-19.
Pickering, along with a few other players who go to college in the US got the chance to experience something that not many athletes have gotten the chance to do.
Malia Josephson, who plays water polo at Staten Island’s Wagner College, got to participate in the Interclub National Championships as well.
“Being able to play was such a unique experience since the rest of the world was on lockdown. It was great to be with friends and get together to play the game we love,” said Josephson.
There is currently no men’s or women’s water polo season scheduled for SJSU in 2020.
Although there have been cancellations and postponements, SJSU and its athletes have been able to represent itself and achieve success across the world.
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