Katinka Postma is the head coach of the Saint John Water Polo Club.She is a native of the Netherlands, who moved to New Brunswick in the summer of 2003. She started swimming at the age of 5, moving at a later age into competitive swimming until she was 18.
After swimming, she took up water polo and played for 15 years, progressing to the Dutch sub-top level before a back injury forced her to stop at the age of 35.
Although she had already been training 5-8 year old children for mini water polo for some time, she obtained her trainer/coach diploma in 1995. She subsequently trained/coached several youth teams in her home country.
Upon crossing the Atlantic Ocean in 2003 she went looking for water polo in the Saint John area, but found nothing. The Canada Games Aquatic Centre showed interest in her story about water polo and asked her if she wanted to attempt a start up club in Saint John.
And so she did. Successfully.
In January 2004 she started a recreational club for adults and in September 2007 she started a 12U program for kids aged 8-12. With her assistance, in October 2008 WPNB Inc. was founded, the Provincial water polo association for New Brunswick, Canada. In January 2010, after the “I Love Water Polo” clinic on the 23rd , the 16U program for kids age 13-16 was started. Because of the succes and growth with the youth program, they added the 18U (age 17-18) program in September 2015. The 16U program was split up into 14U(age 13-14) and 16U (age 15-16), to complete all the age groups for the youth.
In March 2013 she started a water polo program at the High Schools, to grow the sport under the Saint John students. They compete each year in May against the different High Schools located in the Saint John area.
Andrew Brillant is a coach for the Saint John Water Polo Club and is currently the primary coach for the 16U group. Andrew was first introduced to the sport when the Saint John club began in 2004. Since that time he has helped pilot I Love Water Polo clinics throughout New Brunswick and is a Master Learner Facilitator for the I Love Water Polo (Community Sport-Initiation) program. He is a past president of Water Polo NB, the Provincial Sport Organization for Water Polo Canada.
J.C. Besner started playing water polo in the Montreal region during the summer back in 1985, at the age of 14. In university, he played for College Militaire Royale de St-Jean for two years and also played a year for Royal Military College (CMR) in the Ontario University Athletics Association (OUAA). He was forced to take a break from playing after university because of military commitments. In 2004, he started playing again with the Saint John club. J.C. is currently the captain of the Saint John club. He is one of the founding members of Water Polo NB, the Provincial Sport Organization for Water Polo Canada, and is currently serving a second non-consecutive term as President of WPNB.
J.C. started coaching swimming at the age of 16. He has coached Fit Swim and swimming for triathletes since 1998. JC has been the Head Coach of the Saint John adult water polo team since 2012, and has been the team captain since the inception of the club. He is a trained Community Sport coach and is a Learning Facilitator for the Community Sport Coaching course. J.C. is also trained as a Provincial referee and is the only Master Evaluator for officials in Atlantic Canada. As well as playing experience, J.C. brings a passion for the sport and a general understanding of fitness principles to the pool.