Love of the game keeps athletes in canoe polo
New Zealander spends thousands of dollars of his own money to travel to world championships in Niagara
Matthew Keong doesn’t just understand mountain climber George Mallory’s famous quote about attempting to scale Mount Everest, he’s living it.
Like Mallory, who said he wanted to climb the world’s highest mountain “because it was there,” Keong competed in the 2018 world canoe polo championships in Welland because they were taking place.
The six-day, 68-team event that wrapped up Sunday at the Welland International Flatwater Centre North Course, marked the sixth time Keong has represented New Zealand internationally in canoe polo.
The 26-year-old telecommunications technician’s motivation for putting his life on hold for worlds every two years and for the World Games is purely personal, because it certainly isn’t monetary.
Like every member of New Zealand’s four teams, and the upwards of 50 family and friends who accompanied them to Canada, the Palmerston North resident had to take the $7,000 in travel costs from his own pocket.
That’s on top of the $8,000 he spent last year to compete at the World Games in Poland. Keong had to come up with the same about to compete at canoe polo worlds two years ago in Syracuse, Italy.
The 14-year canoe polo veteran does it for the love of the game.
“I love the sport,” he said. “I really do love the sport, it’s been part of my life for over half my life.
“Because it’s there, and I’ve always done it. Creature of habit.”
He enjoys the competition and the camaraderie.
“Playing with a whole bunch of my mates,” Keong said. “I’ve always played sports to keep up with mates and stuff like that.
The canoe polo culture in New Zealand varies throughout the south Pacific island nation of about five million.
A lot of the stronger school teams come from Palmerston North and his canoe polo club has upwards of 200 members.
Schools begin offering the sport as an option to students at the intermediate level — ages 11 to 13 — and canoe polo is also played in high schools, though not yet at the university level.
“A lot of people stop after school if they don’t go to a place where there is canoe polo.”
As goaltender of the New Zealand senior men’s team, Keong deals with the pressure of surrendering a goal by reminding himself he’s not alone on the pitch.
“It still has to go through four people much of the time before it gets to you,” he said. “That takes a little bit of the pressure off.”
Keong, whose team placed fifth in a field of 23 in the senior men’s flight, hopes to compete once more internationally before he retires from competing abroad.
“I’m getting a little bit older and stuff like that,” he said. “You look at family, because you don’t get paid to play it.
“You look at things like doing stuff on your house, and creating another sort of life and a family.”
Sierra Davediuk, 18, and her fellow Edmontonian and Canada senior women’s teammate Hannah Patrick, 32, also had to travel to Welland on their own dime, but they’re not complaining.
“This is probably the cheapest we’ve every had,” said Patrick, who spent nearly a month in Europe two years ago when the world canoe polo championships were held in Italy.
This was also Davediuk’s second trip to the worlds. In 2016 she was in Italy playing on the under-21 women’s team.
Family — real and extended — keep Patrick, a veteran of five world championships, involved in canoe polo.
“It’s fun, it’s aggressive, it’s family,” said Patrick, whose younger brother plays on the men’s team.