The national women's water polo team will be in Canberra until the end of December as coaches make tough selection decisions.

There are 18 athletes in the capital to train, but just 11 will earn a ticket to the Tokyo Games.

The Stingers are in serious contention for a medal at the Olympics after winning bronze at the world championships held in South Korea in July

Stingers captain Rowie Webster says the squad has embraced its new home and living together at the AIS.

"This group gets along really well and some of us are best mates from way back so it's really nice to be experiencing this part of our lives together," Webster said.

"It's a really positive environment and it's really easy to live here like our food is taken care of, we can walk to the pool so no one is sitting in traffic and things like that."

The Stingers will be using the institute's world-class facilities and will give the campus life having moved away from its scholarship hub function in the past.

"The AIS is an integral part of us preparing the way we need to," Webster said.

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"Being here collectively and together is great because you can call on meetings, we can call on the support of other athletes from across the country that are here as well as all the recovery facilities."

Assistant coach Bec Rippon says that the team will train and play against Hungary in December and then later the United States in preparation for the Olympics.

"We often go overseas and have training camps with another country just to spend some time getting international competition and getting some really good hard training games under our belts," Rippon said.

"It's unusual because sometimes you do have to play them but it's beneficial but it's part of our sport."

The Stingers won gold at the Sydney Olympics followed by bronze in Beijing and London.