Hannah Buckling (born 3 June 1992) is an Australian

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

centre back. As a representative of Australia on the junior and senior level, she had her first international cap during the 2008 Australian Junior Tour at the Pythia Cup. She was a member of the Australian side that finished third at the 2011 FINA Junior World Championships. As a member of the senior team, she competed at the 2011 Canada Cup and helped the team take home gold. She competed in the

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

and

2020 Olympic Games The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Personal life

Buckling was born on 3 June 1992 in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, but calls

Mosman, New South Wales Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore (Sydney), Lower North Shore region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative c ...

her hometown. Her grandfather represented Wales as a member of the Wales School Boy team in

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

. She attended Wenona Girls School located in

North Sydney, New South Wales North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore (Sydney), Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. And is the administrative centre for the Local government in Australia, local government area of North ...

. She received her Bachelor of Science at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

in 2014. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and the postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she was able to return to her studies at the Sydney Medical Program to continue her post-graduate medical degree. She is tall, weights and is right handed.

Water polo

Buckling prefers to wear cap number six and plays in the centre back position. She started playing water polo as a twelve-year-old in Year 7 at Wenona Girls School. In 2011, she was named a Sydney Uni Sport & Fitness/St Andrew's College Foundation Awards winner because of her water polo. She has a water polo scholarship from the

New South Wales Institute of Sport The New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) is a high-performance-sports training institute in New South Wales, Australia. The New South Wales government agency provides coaching, performance support, and daily training environments to help t ...

Club and state representative teams

When she was Buckling, she joined the Sydney Northern Beaches Breakers water polo team who continue to be her water polo club. One of her club teammates was another future national team member, Emily Scott. Buckling gave Scott advice related to future planning for water polo playing. While playing the sport casually on school and club level, she got a new coach at the Breakers, Jamie Ryan. Jamie Ryan helped elevate Buckling's intensity at practice and become a more serious player. In 2007, she was a member of the New South Wales development squad and competed on the 2007 16 & Under National Championships Girls where she scored 15 goals in the competition. In 2008, she again represented New South Wales at the 2008 16 & Under National Championships Girls where she scored 13 goals. At the 18 & Under National Championships Girls in 2008, she scored only 8 goals. In 2009, at the 18 & Under Girls National Championship and as a member of the New South Wales side, she scored 8 goals. That same year, as a member of the New South Wales team at the 20 & Under National Championships Junior Women, she scored 8 goals. In 2010, she scored 18 goals in the 18 & Under Girls National Championship and 6 goals in the 20 & Under National Championships Junior Women. In 2011, she scored 8 goals in the 20 & Under Junior Women National Championships. That year, her team finished second at the

Perth, Western Australia Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

held event. In 2011, her training consisted of going to the pool every morning, and doing training at the gym three times a week. During the summer, she would compete in up to three games a week. During the winter, she would compete in an average of one game a week.

National Water Polo League

Buckling plays for the Sydney Uni Lions of the National Water Polo League. In 2011, her first year in the league, she wore cap number 14 and fifteen total goals for the season. Her largest single goal came was on 15 March against the Fyfe Adelaide Jets. During the 2012 season, she wore cap number four. As of 3 March, she had scored sixteen goals in the season.

Junior national team

Within 20 months of having Jamie Ryan being her coach on her local club side and as a fifteen-year-old, she made the Australian u-17 team with her first international appearance for Australia occurring at the 2008 Australian Junior Tour at the Pythia Cup in Greece where her team was runners-up. The tour also included stops in Italy and Hungary. In 2010, she was a member of the under-19 women's national water polo team that did a European tour. In 2010, as a member of the junior national team, she was a member of the team that toured

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and part of the squad that competed in international friendlies against the United States, New Zealand and Canada. She was part of the junior national team again in 2011 and in July, she was invited to be part of the training squad for the junior national squad that was training in Perth in preparation for the Junior World Championships. She was a member of the Australian side that finished third at the 2011 FINA Junior World Championships.

Senior national team

Buckling is a member of the

Australia women's national water polo team The Australia national women's water polo team represents Australia in women's international water polo competitions and is controlled by Water Polo Australia. It was one of the most successful women's water polo teams in the world. It is curr ...

. At the 2011 Canada Cup, she scored a goal in the first period in the gold medal match against China that the Australian team ended up winning. She competed in the Pan Pacific Championships in January 2012 for the Australian Stingers. She scored a goal in a Stingers 8–7 win over the United States. In 2011, her goal was to make the national team and compete at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. She was part of the Stingers squad that competed in a five-game test against Great Britain at the AIS in late February 2012. This was the team's first matches against Great Britain's national team in six years. Buckling was a member of the Australian Stingers squad that competed at the

Tokyo 2020 Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. By finishing second in their pool, the Aussie Stingers went through to the quarterfinals. They were beaten 8-9 by Russia and therefore did not compete for an Olympic medal.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buckling, Hannah 1992 births Living people Australian female water polo players Sportswomen from New South Wales University of Sydney alumni Olympiacos women's water polo team players New South Wales Institute of Sport alumni Water polo players from Sydney World Aquatics Championships medalists in water polo Olympic water polo players for Australia Water polo players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Water polo players at the 2020 Summer Olympics 21st-century Australian sportswomen