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The VRC Hong Kong Beach Water Polo Tournament 2022 will be held on 8 and 9 October 2022, with a total of 14 teams registering for the tournament and teams competing at Deep Water Bay Beach. For the first time, "Ocean Conservation and Parent-Child Exercise Workshop" will be held at the same time, where parents and children can exercise together to share healthy and meaningful parent-child time! Less than two weeks before the competition, the members of the Organizing Committee joined with the Event Ambassador, Mr Harry Chan, to gather at Deep Water Bay today to share the latest arrangements and objectives of the event.

Chairman Mr John Wong Chun Ho, Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the tournament, said: "First of all, I would like to give my heartful thank you to Victoria Recreation Club and the Hong Kong China Swimming Association for providing us with different types of assistance throughout the preparation journey. Organizing a competition requires lots of coordination work with different stakeholders, and we hope to build a platform which everyone can use this to get in touch with different groups of people and achieve a win-win situation. As we all know, China's goal is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, and this competition is held on the beach, which could showcase how to make good use of natural resources and also enjoy the fun of sports. We hope that after the pandemic, we can continue to work with different stakeholders to make Hong Kong becomes a greener and healthier city.”

In addition, Mr Samuel Mak, the co-founder of the Beach Bay Ocean Foundation (BBO), pointed out that the Foundation aims to promote marine conservation research and public education through water sports to enhance public awareness of marine conservation. Mr Samuel Mak Ka Yan, co-founder of the BBO said: “Beach Bay Ocean Foundation is partnering with the University of Hong Kong’s Swire Institute of Marine Science on a pilot project on assessing the coastal marine health of Deep Water Bay. Three ARMS, Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures, were deployed in December 2021 in Deep Water Bay seabed. The plan is to retrieve the ARMS by the end of this year to get an initial idea of the available species and biodiversity situation in Deep Water Bay. BBO will outreach to local school students and the public to participate in the ARMS retrieval work so as to increase public education about marine conservation. Results from the ARMS pilot project will form the bigger scale of marine health assessment and community outreach program that BBO and SWIMS are planning for 2023.”

Vice Chairman of the Organizing Committee for the tournament, Mr Richard Chan Chun Kit, said: "The main reason why we are preparing for this tournament is that we hope to promote water polo sport to Hong Kong people. The "Ocean Conservation and Parent-Child Exercise Workshop" on October 9 are intended to pass on to the younger generation through the experience of the ghost net hunting work by Mr Harry Chan, so that they can cherish our environment."

Mr Harry Chan Tin Ming, the ambassador of the conference activities, cater for what John and Richard said: "This workshop was conducted in the form of a parent and child, which is a good opportunity for them to enhance their relationship through conservation activities, and in the future, they can practice it and become the driver of marine conservation work, and invite friends around them to participate together and contribute to our oceans!"

This event was also supported by the 30th anniversary Asian Academy For Sports & Fitness Professionals (AASFP), which has been promoting "fitness for all" and "sports for all" and hopes that beach water polo will raise awareness of health and environmental protection for participants and the public. Over the past five years, the Hong Kong Fitness Guide has conducted an in-depth study of Hong Kong and fitness venues, with 1,200 fitness and sports venues in Hong Kong in December 2021, double the number of fitness venues in Hong Kong compared to a few years ago. Mr. Gordon Yau, Chairman of the Hong Kong Fitness Guide, pointed out that compared with other places, the current sports population in Hong Kong is still a minority, and the sports and fitness industry is an industry with potential development, "Although beach water polo is an outdoor sport, participants in addition to knowing the skills of water polo and swimming, they also need a certain degree of cardiopulmonary function, coordination and brain fitness." Gordon pointed out, "If beach water polo develops rapidly in the future, it is not excluded that there will be some fitness centres for training beach water polo players."

WeUnion aims to sign potential athletes and organize sports brands events; its Latin dance athlete Miss Tracy Chow Cheuk Ying, used to teach Latin dance, she is also willing to challenge different emerging sports, including ninja fitness, rock climbing and other burial, and this is the first time she experiences beach water polo, and she feel this sport is quite interesting, she said she would invite her friends to play this sport next time when she goes to the beach with her friends.

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Background of Victoria Recreation Club Hong Kong Beach Water Polo Tournament:

Date: 8th and 9th October 2022 (Sat and Sun)

Location: Victoria Recreation Club, Deep Water Bay

Time: 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m

Competition: Day one – Group match, Day two – Position match

Group: Men's Open and Women's Open

Number of team members per team: 4 to 7 people

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Introduction to the Marine Conservation and Parent-Child Exercise Workshop:

Date: 9 October 2022 (Sunday)

Location: 1:00pm – 3:00pm

Time: Hong Kong Deep Water Bay Victoria Recreation Club

Target:  Children aged 8 to 12 and their parents (Cantonese speaking)

Quota: 10 families (1 child + 1 parent).

Speaker:

Mr. Harry Chan Tin Ming, Ambassador for Wildlife Conservation,

Ocean Park Conservation Foundation Hong Kong

AASFP Child and Adolescent Physical Fitness Instructor Mr. Ma

Fee: HK$300 (Those who have registered for the water polo competition can participate in this workshop at a preferential price of HK$250)

Web address: https://www.beachbayocean.org/vrcbwp22ws

Note: Each children will receive one bottle of Babo sunscreen (89ml) and certificate issued by BBO as “Marine Conservation Mini-Ambassador”

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