All the action from the 2023 under 12s Water Polo Festival

And every year, the talent and numbers rise as Water Polo continues to expand throughout regional areas and the weekend's edition was no different.

In the girls division, Sydney Northern Beaches Breakerettes and Sydney Uni Lionesses fought out a thrilling contest with a penalty shoot-out going in favour of the Lionesses, who won 7-6.

Sydney Uni Lions won in the boys competition, with an 11-2 victory against Highland Bears.

While it was a strong win in the decider, Water Polo NSW chief executive officer Alex Godbold was delighted to see a regional side go so far in the tournament.

"Every year it gets better, first year we came out here there was a big skill difference between the Sydney teams and some of the regional teams," he said.

"Every year we come back it gets tighter and tighter and we've now seen a Southern Highlands team against a Sydney team."

From Friday to Sunday, 35 teams played in the tournament with the local sides coming from the Water Dragons and Kinross.

The mixed competition had to most teams with 15, with over 300 families in attendance overall, providing a significant boost for the local economy.

Godbold believes holding events where players are constantly participating and improving has become the catalyst for growth.

"I think it's been an excellent weekend ... every year we get more and more teams entering from right across NSW and it's been three days of fun and the sun," he said.

"It's events like this that we now run on the central coast, southern highlands and Coffs Harbour (that are the reason for growth - the under 12s is such an important entry into our sport, it's where the kids first start to what traditional water polo is like and have the clubs and coaches getting better at providing more opportunities.

"Players find coming to a tournament where they're playing back to back games is where they learn the most, it's where they have the most fun, make new friends and find the love of the sport and want to stay with it."

Godbold added the support from Orange City Council and its aquatic centre further enhances the opportunities that come with the festival.

"Orange is just a great location, we are forever limited by pool space, it's the biggest restricter of our growth so having the ability to use the diving pool and split the 50 metre pool (is great)," he said.

CENTRAL Western Daily photographers Jude Keogh and Carla Freedman were at the event across the weekend.