HABAWABA EVENTS POSTPONED UNTIL LATE SUMMER

Dear HaBaWaBa friends,

the coronavirus emergency and the countermeasures adopted by the Italian authorities in order to fight the pandemic have pushed Waterpolo Development to take an hard but inevitable decision: HaBaWaBa International Festival 2020 and HaBaWaBa PLUS U13 2020, both scheduled at Bella Italia & EFA Village in Lignano Sabbiadoro (Italy), are postponed until late summer. 

Meeting the requests of the majority of the registered teams, who asked us to hold both the two events anyway and at a more appropriate time, Waterpolo Development was able to set new dates: the 13^th edition of HaBaWaBa International Festival, which was scheduled from 21^st to 28^th June 2020, will take place from 30^th August to 6^th September 2020. The 5^th edition of HaBaWaBa PLUS U13, which was scheduled from June 28^th to July 5^th, will take place on September, from 6^th to 13^th. The 1^st edition of HaBaFive U14 has been postponed until a later date. Waterpolo Development will soon communicate how to complete the registration for both the two main HaBaWaBa events.

The postponement is the only choice for Waterpolo Development in order to defend the health of little players, coaches, parents and all those who work for the success of HaBaWaBa events. 

At the same time, the postponement is also the better way to protect the values which these events are based on: HaBaWaBa means sharing, interacting, getting to know each other, it means to combine the emotions that sport gives us with the richness that comes from being together. But we can’t be together now, due of the Covid-19 threat.   

We don’t know when the fight against coronavirus will end and the pools will be filled up again by little players, kids who are eager to have fun with “the game of the ball in the water“, perhaps dreaming of becoming great waterpolo stars. All we can do, right now, is work to defend our love for HaBaWaBa and to keep kids’ dreams alive, just as we have done with a pure passion for the last 13 years, also thanks to the help of clubs, coaches, referees, parents, fans, sponsors, sports institutions. 

Together we have become a movement, a community: the great HaBaWaBa community. And we are sure that this community will be able to overcome even this dark moment and to meet again to play, cheer, learn, grow up together. 

So, see you in late summer, and long live HaBaWaBa!

Bruno Cufino – President of Waterpolo Development