Joe Kayes
Joseph Henry 'Joe' Kayes is a professional water polo[1] player. He was born on 3 January 1991 in New Zealand. His parents are Paul Henry Kayes and Dorcas Tamara Kayes; his brother is Daniel John Kayes and sister Julia Mary Kayes.[2]
Joe (as he is known) grew up in Papamoa, Tauranga, New Zealand.
He first played water polo for Mount Maunganui Intermediate and Mount Maunganui College, as well as Tauranga Water Polo Club (founded by his father, Paul Kayes in 2002).
Joe played for the NZ Senior Men's Water Polo team in 2008 while still at school. In 2009 he went to Perth where he played for the Fremantle Mariners Men's Water Polo team which won the Australian National League. By October 2009 he was playing water polo as a full professional at the Szeged club in Hungary where he stayed for four seasons. He was mentored as a Centre Forward by Tamas Molnar,[3] a three time Olympic Gold medal winner for Hungary. Joe won 2 Hungarian Cup Gold medals with Szeged along with 3 bronze medals in the Hungarian National League.[4]
In 2014 he played another season for Fremantle in Australia.[5] 2014/2015 – he now plays for OSC in Budapest, once again in the Hungarian National League.[6]
In 2015 he obtained Australian citizenship and was then approved to play for Australia men's national water polo team at the 2016 Summer Olympics.[7]