Joseph Henry Kayes (born 3 January 1991) is a professional

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 ...

player.Tangata.co.nz Samoan Joe: Our water polo star in Hungary
/ref> He is of Samoan descent through his mother, as both his maternal grandparents were born in

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

. Kayes played for the NZ Senior Men's Water Polo team in 2008. In 2009, he went to Perth where he played for the

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

Mariners Men's Water Polo team which won the Australian National League. In October 2009, he was playing water polo as a full professional at the

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

club in Hungary where he stayed for four seasons. He was mentored as a

Centre Forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

by Tamas Molnar, a three time Olympic gold medal winner for Hungary. Joe won 2 Hungarian Cup Gold medals with Szeged along with 3 bronze medals in the Hungarian National League. In 2014, he played again for Fremantle Mariners in Australia. 2014/2015 – he now plays for OSC in Budapest, once again in the Hungarian National League. In 2015, he obtained

Australian citizenship The primary law governing nationality of Australia is the Australian Citizenship Act 2007, which came into force on 1 July 2007 and is applicable in all states and territories of Australia. All persons born in Australia before 20 August 1986 ...

and was then approved to play for Australia men's national water polo team 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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kayes, Joseph Living people 1991 births New Zealand male water polo players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Australia New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Australian male water polo players Water polo players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic water polo players for Australia New Zealand emigrants to Australia New Zealand sportspeople of Samoan descent 21st-century Australian sportsmen 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen