Hannah Buckling
Australian water polo centre back
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hannah Buckling (born 3 June 1992) is an Australian water polo 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 and 2020 Olympic Games
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| Nationality | Australian | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 3 June 1992 Sydney, Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 177 cm (5 ft 10 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 75 kg (165 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Water Polo | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Event | Women's team | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Sydney Northern Beaches Breakers | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | Sydney Uni Water Polo Club | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Personal life
Buckling was born on 3 June 1992 in Sydney, but calls Mosman, New South Wales her hometown.[1][2][3] Her grandfather represented Wales as a member of the Wales School Boy team in rugby union.[1] She attended Wenona Girls School located in North Sydney, New South Wales.[3][4] She received her Bachelor of Science at the University of Sydney in 2014.[5] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic 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.[6][7] She is 177 cm (5 ft 10 in) tall, weights 75 kilograms (165 lb) and is right handed.[1]
Water polo
Buckling prefers to wear cap number six and plays in the centre back position.[1] She started playing water polo as a twelve-year-old in Year 7 at Wenona Girls School.[1][3] In 2011, she was named a Sydney Uni Sport & Fitness/St Andrew's College Foundation Awards winner because of her water polo.[8] She has a water polo scholarship from the New South Wales Institute of Sport.[9]
Club and state representative teams
When she was Buckling, she joined the Sydney Northern Beaches Breakers water polo team[3] who continue to be her water polo club.[1] 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.[10] 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.[4] In 2007, she was a member of the New South Wales development squad[11] 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.[12] That year, her team finished second at the Perth, Western Australia held event.[13] 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.[3]
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,[12] 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.[14] During the 2012 season, she wore cap number four. As of 3 March, she had scored sixteen goals in the season.[15]
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[4][11] with her first international appearance for Australia occurring at the 2008 Australian Junior Tour at the Pythia Cup[1] in Greece where her team was runners-up.[16] The tour also included stops in Italy and Hungary.[4] In 2010, she was a member of the under-19 women's national water polo team that did a European tour.[17] In 2010, as a member of the junior national team, she was a member of the team that toured California and part of the squad that competed in international friendlies against the United States, New Zealand and Canada.[3] She was part of the junior national team again in 2011[13] 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.[3] She was a member of the Australian side that finished third at the 2011 FINA Junior World Championships.[2]
Senior national team
Buckling is a member of the Australia women's national water polo team. 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.[18] She competed in the Pan Pacific Championships in January 2012 for the Australian Stingers.[19] She scored a goal in a Stingers 8–7 win over the United States.[20] In 2011, her goal was to make the national team and compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics.[3] 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.[21]
Buckling was a member of the Australian Stingers squad that competed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. 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.[22]
