Four local Maple Ridge boys were selected to the Canadian U18 Boys national water polo team.

Matt Halaijan and Josh Lampen play for the Fraser Valley Water Polo club, and Giordano Marconato and Nic Bruneau play for Pacific Storm Water Polo club.

Their training day consisted of one-hour gym time and four-hours of pool time, six-days per week, under the supervision of coach Nikola Maric.

After five weeks of training, the team, consisting of 16 boys, headed off to Croatia and Holland for two weeks, where they participated in intense scrimmages with their Croatian and Dutch counterparts.

“It was a memorable, albeit exhausting, seven weeks for these 16 and 17 year old boys,” said Kathy Lampen.

“They are all hoping for a successful summer this year as well,” she added.

After the nationals competition in 2012, they attended a three-day camp in Victoria. The boys were then invited to centralization camp which took place in July at UBC. During this time they were resident in UBC’s Totem Park.