Sport,smiles,ethics:it'sHaBaWaBaBrasil

At the end of 2020, the HaBaWaBa movement restarted from Bauru, Brazil, with an event that reminded the waterpolo world of the importance of the values of sport: HaBaWaBa Brasil. The first historical HaBaWaBa event in South America ended last Sunday satisfying all of the participants and telling that this edition is only the first step for the spreading of the “game of the ball in the water" throughout the continent. Great credit must go to ABDA, the non-profit association chosen as organizer by Waterpolo Development, which took care of the event in every detail, allowing 175 little athletes of 14 mixed teams of 13U category to return to have fun playing waterpolo. Their parents were not allowed to enter the ABDA sports center due the anti-pandemic measures: only for the final games on December 13 - broadcasted live on Facebook - 200 spectators were admitted to the ABDA Arena, a facility that has a much larger capacity. The Hungarian Olympic champion in Montreal '76 Attila Sudar and the Brazil international waterpolo player Rudà Franco and Leticia Belorio attended too. 

During HaBaWaBa Brasil 46 games were played in 4 days: the Cobra d'Agua won the title in the Tsu tournament, beating ADPM 7-5 in the final; the prestigious victory of the Titan tournament went to ABDA, winning over Sesi Interior 14-6. Luso team took the Fair Play Trophy. And after the finals, a special award was also appointed to Eduardo Seidy Kitamoto, 9 years old, as the youngest player of the 1^st edition of HaBaWaBa Brasil.   "It was a fantastic weekend - coach of the ABDA Emerson Martins said -, where the children interacted a lot with the other teams. The biggest result was to see that all the kids, not only in my team, evolved a lot in different aspects, from the game and outside the pool, as in commitment and discipline. The tournament greatly strengthened the spirit of unity of the team. The athletes stayed together the whole time, one helping the other”.  However HaBaWaBa Brasil wasn't just about sports. The little HaBaWaBa players participated in break dance clinic, chat with Sudar, meet the basketball players from the local Bauru team and took part in a nutrition workshop with ABDA's nutrition team. In addition, the teams had fun in the new Aquatic Complex Thermas De Piratininga and the inflatable toys of the municipal Department of sport and leisure (Semel), installed at the site of the event. Also coaches had activities outside the pool: they participated in workshops on basic waterpolo, with the technician Emerson Martins, and on the Rudá Franco method, with Paula Bitencourt. "HaBaWaBa Brazil 2020 far exceeded our expectations, within the current context of the pandemic, both in the technical part and in acceptance and organization - Claudio Zopone, president and founder of ABDA, stated -. The event was impeccable, with the children demonstrating a lot of evolution in the technical part and also in behavior, discipline and ethics. We had no problems, there were no serious fouls in the competition, no disrespect with arbitration or opponents. For next year, we expect to at least triple the number of participants in the event. And we intend to make HaBaWaBa Brasil grow more and more within the calendar of the modality. We are very happy to now be part of the HaBaWaBa family, teaching our children more and more the love of sport as a life-transforming platform”.    Final Ranking Titan Tournament 1^st - ABDA 2^nd - SESI-INTERIOR 3^rd - LUSO   Tsu Tournament 1^st - COBRA D’AGUA 2^nd - ADPM 3^rd - ABDA FEM   Winner of Fair Play Trophy LUSO   HaBaWaBa Brasil gallery (for further pictures visit official HaBaWaBa Brasil Facebook page)

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