The teen water polo player who took to the javelin like a duck to water – Stuff

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Abbey Moody, 18, of Picton, competing in her javelin event at the 2022 Oceania Athletics Championships.

A Marlborough teenager might have one of the best throwing arms in the country ... for her age.

Javelin and water polo are two sports Abbey Moody excels at, having represented New Zealand on an international stage for the first time this month.

The 18-year-old from Picton broke the New Zealand under-19 womens record for javelin at the 2022 Oceania Athletics Championships, held in Mckay, Queensland between June 7-11.

With a throw of 50.42 metres, she beat her previous personal best by 3.5m.

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I was really stoked with hitting the 50-metre mark, she said.

It sort of wasn't feeling realistic, but then hitting it was absolutely incredible.

The teenager was also preparing to head to Belgrade, Serbia next month, after being selected for the New Zealand team competing at the 2022 FINA Water Polo Youth Women World Championships from July 31 to August 8.

This year marked the first time the teenager had competed internationally, and reckoned water polo and javelin had their similarities, in terms of the throwing.

She said when she first picked up a javelin in high school, she thought oh, I can throw this a bit, after having developed a strong arm from water polo, which shed started playing when she was 10 or 11 years old.

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Moody, left, is off to Serbia next month for the 2022 FINA Water Polo Youth Women World Championships.

The technique required to throw a javelin did differ slightly from shooting a ball in the pool though.

With water polo, I guess you don't really come through fully with the throw, whereas you need to with javelin, to get the most power out of it, she said.

Moody played the utility position in water polo, which meant she was more of an attacker than a defender, and thought the sport was the more challenging of the two, because of how physical it is.

Just overall fitness levels have to be higher for water polo, and also because its both physically and mentally so challenging, she said.

A year 13 student at Rangi Ruru Girls' School in Christchurch, Moody was looking forward to travelling to Serbia next month, especially because her family would be there poolside to watch her.

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Moody has played water polo since she was 10 or 11, seen here playing for the Marlborough u16 girls team in 2019.

My whole family is coming over which will be exciting, because they weren't able to come over for the Oceania champs, so just having them on the side of the pool will be quite exciting, she said.

For the next few weeks, the 18-year-old said shed be putting down the javelin to focus on the upcoming water polo competition.

Moody said javelin had become her primary focus though, as she was hoping to use her talent in the sport to get a university scholarship in the United States after finishing high school.

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The teen water polo player who took to the javelin like a duck to water - Stuff