HaBaWaBa is back, the great water polo festival for children
The world is at HaBaWaBa: little water polo players from 5 continents in Lignano
On June 16th the 16th edition of the largest youth water polo event on the planet will begin: 160 teams arriving from 17 countries for a truly unique celebration
The most colorful and wild party that the world of aquatic disciplines knows is ready to start again: it is the HaBaWaBa, a water polo carnival which also in the edition 2024 aims to use "the game of ball in water" to spread the noblest values of sport among children.
The event – made possible by the help of the sponsors Turbo, Compact Goals, Ossidabile and All Risk Consulenze Assicurazioni – will start on Sunday June 16 at the Bella Italia & EFA Village in Lignano Sabbiadoro (UD), home of the two subsequent competitions which make up HaBaWaBa 2024: it starts with the 16th edition of the HaBaWaBa International Festival, in which 87 mixed U12 teams will participate ; Sunday 23rd and until 30th June, it will then be the turn of the 8th edition of HaBaWaBa PLUS, in which 24 mixed U10 teams are registered and 44 U13. Overall, 160 teams are expected at Bella Italia, as well as 1,500 small water polo players and around 4 thousand people including coaches, managers, fans and special guests.
Always an international event, HaBaWaBa will set a new record in this 2024 edition thanks to the participation of teams from all 5 continents: never like this time , the world is truly at HaBaWaBa.
As many as 17 countries represented: Australia, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina , Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Montenegro , Palestine, Principality of Monaco, Romania, Singapore, United States , Switzerland, Turkey and Hungary.
Sunday is the day dedicated to the arrival of the teams, from Monday 17th the U12 tournament will start: teams, players, calendar and results can be consulted on the official HaBaWaBa app which can be downloaded for free from Google Play and Apple Store. The final is scheduled for Saturday 22 June. Prizes are expected for all participants, in addition to the winning teams, and the Fair Play Trophy will be awarded to the most correct team.
But HaBaWaBa is much more than a sporting competition: young athletes will have the opportunity to mingle with each other, make new friends, have fun in the village facilities and meet peers from distant countries. Demonstrating, once again, the extraordinary power of sport in bringing people and people together and in educating civil coexistence.
What is HaBaWaBa
HaBaWaBa is an acronym that stands for "Happy Baby Water Ball", words that refer to the joy of a child when he tries "playing with the ball in the water" . By HaBaWaBa, therefore, we must primarily understand the game invented by Waterpolo Development, a simplification of the sport of water polo for children, but also the universe of people, events and appointments that arose from it.
At the center of this universe are the HaBaWaBa International Festival and HaBaWaBa PLUS, the youth water polo events born in 2008 and which over the years have become the largest and important in the world. Conceived and organized by the non-profit association Waterpolo Development, HaBaWaBa is today "supported by" World Aquatics, European Aquatics, COMEN, FINand CONI. In addition to the three competitions (U9, U11 and U13 in previous years, U10, U12 and U13 starting from 2021), the HaBaWaBa includes playful-educational workshops and promotes aggregation and knowledge between children coming from all over the world. All the teams stay inside the Bella Italia & EFA Village, without parents but under the control of the coaches, transforming it into a sort of small Olympic village.
Fabrizio Napoli – Waterpolo Development
