Activities
A century-old water polo tradition brings the Makarska Riviera together, builds lifelong skills, and has forged at least one world and Olympic champion. Every summer, from June to September, the coast quietly turns into a string of open-water courts — ropes and buoys strung up right next to the local ports, where kids learn to swim before they learn much else.
What is the water polo tradition on the Makarska Riviera?
On the Makarska Riviera, water polo is a sea sport, not a swimming-pool one. Local clubs, including VK Galeb MR in Makarska, VK Gradac, and VK Podgora, train and compete in open-water courts set up in the sea itself each summer. The tradition spans generations, produced Olympic gold medallist Ivan Buljubašić, and draws crowds every August to watch the Makarska Riviera Summer League finals in Gradac.
The sea is the best playground
From June to September, the Riviera’s ports become a series of temporary water polo courts, roped off with buoys just off the local piers. The sea itself becomes the training ground and the pitch, and the training season is compressed into the warmer months.
The clubs that carry the tradition
VK Gradac
Vaterpolo klub Gradac was founded in 1956 and has maintained a continuous tradition of the sport ever since—it is the oldest active sports club in the Municipality of Gradac. Each year, it brings together more than 100 children and young people aged 6 to 16, and throughout its history it has also fielded senior and veteran teams, some of whom are still active today. At one point, the club even had a women’s team, a detail that stands out in Riviera water polo’s history.
VK Gradac counts around 150 members today. Training runs only from mid-June to the end of September, since, like every club on this coast, it has no covered pool and depends on the open sea. The club has changed its name over the decades; in the 1980s, it proudly competed as VK Omladinac-Gradac.
VK Galeb MR (Makarska)
VK Galeb MR is the heart of the Riviera’s youth water polo scene. The club competes in Croatia’s regional and national leagues and, every autumn, hosts “Mladi Galeb,” an international youth tournament for players born in 2011 or later — the 2024 edition was already the 23rd, drawing teams from as far as Hungary, Slovakia and Germany alongside Croatian and regional clubs.
Galeb’s best-known product is Ivan Buljubašić, who started his water polo career at the club before going on to win Olympic gold. We could not find a publicly listed founding year or membership count for VK Galeb MR to match against VK Gradac’s figures — if you can get those directly from the club, we can add them here.
VK Podgora
VK Podgora is one of the clubs that keeps the Riviera’s summer league alive, regularly meeting VK Galeb MR and VK Gradac on the water.
Podgora and Gradac: home to the fiercest summer derbies
Every summer, the Makarska Riviera Summer League brings together young players and cadets from clubs along the coast for a season of matches that culminates in a finals day in Gradac. Across youth and cadet categories, matches pit VK Gradac against VK Galeb MR and VK Podgora, and VK Podgora against VK Galeb MR, before the day closes with medal ceremonies on the pier. If you hear whistles and cheering carrying across the water in August, you’ve almost certainly stumbled on this.
Igrane: home to VK Zale and an international summer camp
Igrane is home to VK Zale, the local water polo club, which runs its own water polo school and hosts a summer camp at the town’s swimming venue. The camp draws visiting clubs for a run of summer tournaments — most recently the youth tournament “Mali Zale,” followed by the Igrane Cup, which closed out this year’s summer camp held by Sarajevo’s VK Invictum on the Makarska Riviera.
From Makarska to Olympic gold
This is where Ivan Buljubašić started his journey. Born in Makarska on 31 October 1987, he began playing water polo at VK Galeb before moving on to Jadran Split, Mladost Zagreb, Primorje Rijeka, Steaua Bucharest, Olympiacos and Trieste. He won Olympic gold with the Croatian national team at London 2012, added World Championship gold in Budapest in 2017, and picked up European gold in Zagreb in 2010 along with several other medals over a long international career — cementing his place as the most successful athlete Makarska has produced.
Long before anyone builds a covered pool on this coast, the sea has already been doing the job — raising children who can swim before they can properly walk, and, every so often, an Olympic champion. Catch a match this summer, grab a drink, sit on the pier, and watch authentic Mediterranean sports culture in action.
