North Carolina Water Polo Foundation

Our goal is to provide scholarships and financial assistance to athletes and families and help subsidize the costs of pool time, instruction, and equipment in order to expand youth and adult water polo throughout North Carolina.   

Since 2017, hundreds of boys and girls in the Triad, Triangle, and Charlotte areas have been given the opportunity to discover water polo through clinics, camps, and weekly practices.  Because water polo is not yet a high school or city sanctioned sport, no tax dollars or public funds are allocated towards pool time, equipment, marketing, or competitive opportunities.  Almost 100% of the participation costs fall on athletes, coaches, and their families.   All CWPC coaches are volunteers and generously donate their time – often absorbing travel expenses and other costs to provide instruction and mentoring to young athletes.   

To compete at the highest level, North Carolina athletes travel  multiple times throughout the year.  Although we try to find events within driving distance, Junior Olympics, ODP, and many other tournaments and try-outs require travel to Florida, Texas, and California – often multiple times each year.   Despite these challenges, NC athletes and teams have excelled.  Players have been selected to represent the Southeast Zone at USAWP’s Super Regional, the U.S. National Team Selection Camp,  the National Future’s Team, and the Junior National Team.   Malli Challa and Orli Cooper are playing D1 water polo at Bucknell and Harvard.  Many others are playing collegiate club water polo at UNC, NCSU, UNCW, Auburn, and more Universities. 

Through donations to the NCWPF – we want to make water polo more affordable for families and provide more opportunities for athletes of all ages and backgrounds to discover the sport, develop healthy passion, give back to the community, and take advantage of the many life-long benefits that team sports and the larger water polo community provide.