Playing for your country is a huge responsibility, but no more so than pulling on the green and red of the Hungarian national team. For one youngster the journey has been a wild ride of emotions with junior success in the past month that saw him elevated to the senior men’s team, blending seamlessly with his older peers in the cauldron of the World Aquatics World Cup.
Vince Vigari has a birthday coming up next week, but there will be no time for celebrations as all his thoughts and his team’s will be on playing the host nation in the opening round of the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
He will turn 20 next Friday but the important day is a mere blip on what has been a busy and compact few months and what will be a huge year.
In Bucharest, Romania last month he hoisted the men’s U20 World Championship trophy aloft as the captain of the Magyars — after finishing a disappointing fourth at the previous edition — who carried off the event having just dispensed with Serbia 12-7 in a lop-sided final. Vigvari opened with the first two Hungarian goals and fired in a third late in the second quarter as Hungary led 5-4 and shot to 12-5.
His brilliance and obvious leadership skills make him a fine prospect for the national programme for many years to come.
In Los Angeles earlier this month, there were just the three matches in which to impress and he contested the first day against Greece with the team winning 6-4. Vigvari slotted the second Hungarian goal six seconds from the quarter-time buzzer, sitting up from the right-hand-catch position on extra-man attack for his first senior international goal in his first match. He sat out the second encounter and came back with a rush in the third.
What makes this youngster tick? “My main strengths are my game intelligence and my shooting skills. I am also very agile and creative. What makes me stand out in my teams is that something always happens when I'm in the water.” It sure does and perhaps this is what could be needed for Hungary to propel its way to the Fukuoka finals?
Vigvari started playing water polo at the age of eight “through my father Csaba Vigvari, because he was a Hungarian champion water polo player.
“I come from a very sporty family; my grandfather (Former IOC Vice-President Pal Schmitt) is a two-time Olympic fencing champion and my grandmother is an Olympic silver medallist gymnast. My mother Greta Schmitt played tennis and my brother Vendel Vigvari also plays on the national team.
“I started playing water polo in a small team, Kópé. From there, at the age of 10, I moved to the most successful Hungarian junior team, UVSE, where I spent eight years, grew up and became a good player. At the age of 18, I transferred to OSC, which was a big step up for me because I've been playing in the LEN Champions League for two years and became a national team player.”
He's no slouch either, getting in the goals big time with 46 in the 2021-22 season and 29 in the past season in the LEN Champions League alone.
“Since the age of 13, I have been in every junior national team. I was first invited to the senior national squad when I was 18. My goal is to win every competition on the club level and with the national team.
“I became world champion in my last junior world championships, and as team captain. It was a great success for me and because of my good performance I was confident that I would make it to the senior team,” he said.
On that historic match in Los Angeles last week, he said: “It was the first match of my life with the senior national team. We won and I scored a goal. So, of course, it was a great pleasure.”
Vigvari said playing in Los Angeles was special for the sport. “I'm very happy that the World Cup was held in LA, bringing entertaining water polo matches to the American audience. It is very important for water polo to grow there.”
Looking to the future, he said he was working hard every day to have a chance to make the team. “Hungary is the most successful water polo nation in the world. It is an honour and a great responsibility to play for the Hungarian national team. I want to win everything with the team.”
He was involved in the World Cup bronze-medal play-off with United States of America when, after winning the match in penalty shootout, a post-match appeal forced the encounter to be replayed for the last four minutes and 42 seconds, reversing the result in favour of USA.
“I was sorry to see what happened in the bronze-medal match; it's a bit upsetting that it was all because of a referee. At least we'll have experience in something like that now.”
Finally, what is it like competing with your brother, Vendel Vigvari, for a spot on the national team?
“We don’t make a big deal out of competing against each other with Vendel. We both just try to give our best and then see what that brings.”