Player Profile

Daniel ‘Mars’ Marsden started playing water polo at school at age 11.  Mars made the New South Wales (NSW) schoolboy’s squad in 1982.  He then joined the Balmain water polo club and later made the U/21 NSW team in 1985 and Australian U/21 team in 1986.  He took up a full-time scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in 1987 and is the second longest serving scholarship holder in the history of the AIS with fourteen years of service. 

Representative Honours

Daniel has played 408 international matches for the Australian's men's team (Aussie Sharks) from 1989 - 2000 and 2006 - 2007. His international playing career has spanned twenty-one years including 708 international appearances for Australia.

Playing Honour Summary

• two Olympic Games (1992 Barcelona and 2000 Sydney - Captain)
• four FINA World Championships (Perth '91, Rome '94, Perth '98 and Melbourne '07)
• four FINA World Cups (Berlin '89, Barcelona '91, Athens '93 and Sydney '99 - Captain)
• two World Under 21 Championships (Sao Paulo '87, Narbonne '89 - Captain)
• three Australian schoolboy teams (1985-87 as Captain)

Coaching

Dan has been coaching male and female, junior and senior water polo teams since 1986, a coaching portfolio spanning over 25 years. What makes this an outstanding achievement is the well known fact that the majority of his hands on coaching time was accrued whilst he was playing representative water polo on the domestic and international scene.

He has a simple and unique philosophy coupled with an attitude of continual improvement that has assisted players achieve extraordinary personal results in their on-field performances.