Life Membership: Sean Boyd

Born in Wanganui, New Zealand in 1978, Sean moved to Australia and attended Cronulla High School, joining CSWPC in the 1994-95 season.

Sean played junior water polo on Friday nights with SSWPA and through the CHS system while at school before progressing to Cronulla’s 1st grade men’s team at 16 years old. At a rangy 191cms tall, Sean dominated in teams at Cronulla, and this stand out ability eventually saw his selection in the Australian Men’s team. Sean played 164 games for Australia and earning national cap # 21. He attended three FINA World Championships; 8th 1998 WC in Australia, 9th 2001 WC in Japan and the 13th 2009 WC in ITA. In 2000, Sean also represented Australia at the Olympic Games Sydney.

A solid club player for Cronulla, Sean played 236 National League (AWL) games in a period when Cronulla dominated the League, and he fondly remembers the first time he got the call up into the squad. During his AWL seasons 1995-2000, Cronulla won 1 silver and 5 gold medals. At this stage the starting lineup for our team were all current national players. Sean claims his learning curve was steep, yet rapid due to the calibre of the players around him.

As recognition for his elite playing career and influence on developing players Sean was awarded Life Membership of CSWPC.

A huge influence on Sean’s water polo was Shane (Jelly) Graham, Cronulla’s 1st grade coach. He credits Shane with getting him into proper water polo and swimming training while at school, which in turn earned him his elite career, saying that he would never have played water polo if it wasn’t for “Jelly”. He was extremely generous with his time, feedback and general all-round willingness in the feeder/junior programs back then.

Fond memories for Sean include playing games at Gunnamatta Bay while battling the sea lice and the Bundeena ferry swell, followed by beers and speeches up in the clubhouse. Also, National League road trips with the guys were fun and I have a distinct memory of “Dumpa” dressing up as TISM (look them up) and performing at Wanda SLSC!