After several months of fundraising and hard training sessions, the Tauranga Taniwha under 14 girls' water polo team have secured second place at an invitational tournament in Hawaii earlier this month.

The Hawaiian Invitational Water Polo Tournament has been running since 1968 and is one of the largest and most prestigious tournaments in the world, attracting as many as 115 teams.

The Tauranga team, which is made up of 11 swimmers, are coached by Rob Lemoto with assistance from Matt Valentine.

Coach Rob Lemoto says the tournament was a great development opportunity.

'Playing in new surroundings, in outdoor pools, and against teams from USA, Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand was a great opportunity for the girls,” says Rob.

'They were full of excitement and a desire to represent their home club with pride.”

At the event the girls made it through their initial pool rounds undefeated, and went through to play a quarter final game against a strong team of five girls from California.

'Despite the huge amount of physicality the Americans put into the game our girls muscled up and came away with a big win, securing a semi-final against the only Australian team in the competition - the New South Wales Devils.”

In the semi-finals the Australian team came out representing strong national pride with inflatable kangaroos, numerous Australian flags and a huge support base, but were unable to defeat the Tauranga girls.

'Our girls produced a huge game to come away with a win 6 - 1 and secure a spot in the final,” says Rob.

The Tauranga Taniwha team then went on to play North Harbour, who entered the tournament as favourites and have attended the event for the last four years.

Tauranga met their matchin this final round going down 7 - 4, despite dominating possession and shots on goal.

'The girls were extremely graceful in defeat congratulating the Harbour girls on a well fought victory,” says Rob.

'[They] promise that the lessons learnt in Hawaii will ensure Tauranga look forward to a re-match at National in Wellington later this year.”

The New Zealand Water Polo under 14 national championships will be held in Wellington December 15 - 18.