The Essendon Water Polo Club is based at the Victoria University pool (Footscray) and our motto For Fun and Fitness pretty much sums up the spirit of our members. We are proud of our long and successful history in water polo, and whilst we are competitive by nature, we encourage our members to enjoy the sport – and that winning isn’t everything!  We have juniors (over 8 years) through to seniors (18-60+) at the club – so we welcome all ages and abilities! You don’t need to be a super fish like Ariarne Titmus or Kyle Chalmers to play water polo! What you will need is a good sense of humour, dedication and determination, the ability to stay afloat and to throw a ball – anyone can play!  Water polo is a safe, low-impact sport with few injuries that requires a reasonable level of fitness.  Most of our members stay with us for over 5 years.

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The Essendon Water Polo Club has seen many changes over the years and was originally known as the Oak Park Water Polo Club. In 1985 members and friends of the Oak Park Swimming Club got together to play water polo for the first time. A group of 8 men dubbed “the water ratz” took to the pool, in the lowest Victorian Water Polo grade on offer, finishing last. It was their developing love of the sport and their determination that saw them succeed over the years and grow in numbers, to include a women’s team in 1990.

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With the expansion of it’s membership and the arrival of juniors to the club, it needed to find improved facilities and moved from the outdoor pool at Oak Park, to the new indoor Windy Hill Fitness Centre (Essendon) in the early 1990’s. This brought about name changes over several years, moving from Oak Park, to Essendon-Oak Park and then finally Essendon.  Further expansion saw the club relocate once more to the aquatic facility at Victoria University.  As Essendon Water Polo, we have continued to win Premiership honours across multiple grades, with many of our members going on to represent Victoria, some gaining scholarships to Colleges in the USA and then ultimately playing professionally in Europe or representing Australia.