HaBaWaBa without Black Star Polo: bureaucracy beats sport, again

Common questions

What is the HaBaWaBa International Festival?

The biggest youth water polo event in the world: for U9, U11 and U13, held every year in Lignano Sabbiadoro (UD) and drawing teams from five continents.

When is the next Festival?

From 13 to 20 June the week for U9 and U11, from 20 to 27 June the week for U13.

Do boys and girls play together?

U9 and U11 tournaments include girls’, boys’ and mixed teams. The U13 event is split into a girls-only tournament and one for boys-only or mixed teams.

How do you enter the Festival?

Open the page of the event for your team (U9-U11 or U13) and follow the Registration Guide: it contains the information, duties, costs and deadlines. A club can enter more than one team in a single tournament.

Where do teams stay during the Festival?

Teams, made up of players, coaches and officials, all stay inside Bella Italia & EFA Village. Parents, family and supporters travelling with the team can enter the village by paying admission.

What is the Champion’s Passport?

It is a code of ethics: the values of sport to respect in order to be part of the HaBaWaBa community.

What is the aim of the HaBaWaBa project?

To spread the values of sport among children and create a deep bond with water polo through an unforgettable experience.

All questions

HaBaWaBa International Festival is a multicolor festival, a grand celebration of waterpolo and its noblest values that has been going on for 16 summers now. As in 2023, however, Waterpolo Development is forced to give a sad news to its little players and to all the people involved in the event: Black Star Polo, the U12 team belonging to the Ghana Water Polo project, had again to give up its participation in the HaBaWaBa International Festival. Ghanaian little players were unable to get entry visas for Italy from the Italian Embassy in Accra, just as happened a year ago. “Last year the Embassy denied the visas on the day of our flight to Italy, this time they didn’t even give the kids and their parents an appointment despite the intervention of the Ghana Swimming Federation: no response, no communication”. Asante Sefa-Boakye, the Ghanaian-born US coach who started the Ghana Water Polo project, tells WPDWorld. “We had to give up. It’s a disappointing and painful situation, it seems there is not much we can do at this time. One day Black Star Polo will be in Lignano, that is for sure, but that day is not now”. Waterpolo Development and the whole HaBaWaBa community feel great solidarity with Black Star Polo, Italian bureaucracy once again proved insurmountable for a group of kids who simply dreamed of participating in a major international sport event together with their peers coming from all over the world. They would have represented Sub-Saharan Africa for the first time at HaBaWaBa. Once again, politics sets boundaries that sports should not know and the little ones pay the price. Surely Black Star Polo will not give up its dream of landing at HaBaWaBa and Waterpolo Development keep supporting their dream.

***

Click here for further infos about HaBaWaBa