Mum’s the Word on 400
An Aussie mum of three achieved an incredible sporting milestone recently.
This past February saw an incredible record achieved by an Australian mum in a sport which requires great skill, endurance and tenacity. It was as a milestone which passed without mention by any mainstream media, and may not be reached again for many years.
Glencora McGhie is a two time Olympic water polo star with the Australian Stingers, claiming a bronze medal at the 2012 London games.
She started playing elite level water polo in the Australian League aged just 15 years old with the Fremantle Water Polo club, and in 2025 she once again claimed a bronze medal, this time with Fremantle Marlins in her 21st season in the league.
The five time Australian Water Polo League national champion played this season with a side featuring several teammates who weren’t even born when she made her senior debut.
In February of this year, Glencora achieved an incredible milestone, playing her 400th game at the elite national level. For context, one person from the Fremantle Marlins club told HER WAY that for any current day male player to achieve that milestone, they would need to play another 12 seasons to catch her record.
Whereas a big name AFL or NRL player might have special merchandise or memorabilia provided for a big milestone, or a social media hashtag to collect messages of congratulations, there was no public fanfare for this truly incredible achievement. During this 21 year season career, Glencora has also raised three kids with her husband, also an elite player with UWA. At the recent AWL Finals series, where she played alongside Paris Stingers silver medal-winning captain Zoe Arancini and American Olympic gold medalist Steph Haralabidis among others, HER WAY asked Glencora about the 400 game milestone:
“When I think of 400 games, I don’t know how I got here - it’s just crept up. So yeah, I’m incredibly proud, and I don’t know if there will be more games, I don’t like to decide too soon on the next season, but I’m proud of my achievement, and I don’t know how I could be so old to have played so many games.”
To put Glencora’s career in content, when she won her first Australian League title, women’s water polo had only featured at one Olympic Games to that point (Sydney 2000). How has she seen the profile of the sport change over that period?
“We think of Sydney, Athens, Beijing, you wouldn’t get to see water polo on TV. It was only a couple of channels and it was never put on prime time TV. Now with the extra channels, everyone was [in Paris] able to watch it and you’re able to get on board and actually watch the Stingers. It was really good for the sport.”
To achieve what Glencora has while raising three kids is no small feat. At 36 years of age, the veteran has spent nearly 60% of her years playing in the elite national league. She gave me a very simple response regarding how and why she juggles water polo with motherhood all these years later:
“It’s just time for me. As a parent you do need something else as well. It’s just fun. It’s something different from being at home… time to get away, train hard… it’s good for the body.”
