Latest News
Our seasonal December club news is here! - November 30, 2017
November has been another busy month for water polo in England. The British Water Polo league is hotting up and the results can be followed at www.bwpl.org. Meanwhile there are lots of other events and tournaments going on. We hope to capture a flavour of these below.
Watford U15 A team
ASA Eastern Region Water Polo Grand Prix
The finals of the ASA Eastern Region Water Polo Grand Prix took place on 4 November. The event was for 2003 and under, and 2005 and under age groups. Both competitions were won by a very strong Watford. The Plate competition was won by Northampton with Watford B team coming in as runners-up.
Over the course of the Grand Prix (first rounds in Northampton and the finals in Basildon) 153 players took part, some playing for their club and some playing for teams which combined players from different clubs to ensure as many players as possible had the opportunity to take part.
Several workshops ran in parallel with the event allowing ten new team managers to became qualified and 30 people to attend a refereeing workshop by international referee, Mike Jukes. The Grand Prix also encouraged unqualified coaches and officials to get involved (who were mentored by qualified coaches and officials) with the hope that they will go on to become qualified officials and coaches in the future. A fantastic event!
Bridgefield U15s
Liverpool & District Academy competition
Bridgefield are celebrating winning gold medal position in the Liverpool & District age 15 and under Academy competition. Very well done.
Bridgefield U13s
Bridgefield are also celebrating a silver medal at the Liverpool & District under 13’s Mini Polo Festival.
Liverpool and District tournament
Congratulations to Radcliffe S&WPC’s 12 and under team who were the champions at the Liverpool and District tournament on 25 November. They defeated Bridgefield 4-2 in the final. Well done to all the clubs that competed.
Barnet U13s
As featured in last month’s news, London hosted a development tournament for the U13s (born 2005 and later) on Sunday 26th November at Whitgift School, South Croydon. There were five teams in the competition – Hackney, Haringey, Barnet, Lewisham and Kingston. The teams played four games each. If the picture is anything to go by it looks like a fantastic time was had by all!
A new Polo team is born!
We are delighted to report that a new Ladies Water Polo team is born – Watford Ladies. Below are the players who featured in the inaugural friendly with Imperial – the Watford Ladies won!
Watford senior women
The Swim England Awards for 2017
The Swim England Awards for 2017 took place at Birmingham University on 11 November. Water Polo has had an excellent year and this was recognised in the awards.
George Jackson
George Jackson won England Talent Athlete of the Year Award for Water Polo for his impressive performances in 2016 and 2017. George is a member of Rotherham Metro Water Polo club. During the last season he helped his club to secure promotion in the National League. At just 14 years old, he impressed with his skills as an outfield player, as well as being Rotherham’s number one goalkeeper.
Sophie Jackson
Sophie Jackson was awarded the Performance Athlete of the Year. Sophie is the City of Leeds Goalkeeper and she has had a very successful year on both the national and international stage. She headed out to Holland last year for the European Juniors in Novi Sad, which saw her best performances to date as the British team finished sixth.
John Spicer
The Swim England Coach of the Year was John Spicer of Cheltenham Water Polo Club. John took home the Award for his enthusiasm and commitment to water polo. He has been developing Cheltenham Water Polo club’s players, as well as regional and national players for many years. He is instrumental in running Cheltenham’s After-School Water Polo Sessions that allow prospective new players the experience of water polo training. He has worked tirelessly for the sport of water polo, and during a time of ongoing austerity continues to bring in new players to a healthy and thriving club.
Boldmere WPC award winners
Boldmere Water Polo Club has held its first Annual Awards. Congratulations to the worthy winners of the Coach’s Award. Well done!
Congratulations also to Bryn Edwards who was named Warrington’s Senior Water Polo Player of the Year and received the A. Y. Boyle trophy for 2017. Well done Bryn!
National Women’s Water Polo 1987 – 2017
We celebrated the 30th anniversary of the establishment of a national league for women on 7th November 2017. The National Women’s Water Polo League was formed at a meeting at Gurnell Leisure Centre, London, in November 1987 and staged its first season in 1988 with eight teams. The League was initially set up to give better quality games to assist development of the national team which had competed in the first European Championships (Oslo, 1985), World Championships (Madrid, 1986) and the second European Championships (Strasbourg, 1987). The inaugural teams were Stretford, Potters Bar, Coventry, Heanor Sirens, Dunfermline, Merseyside, Sheffield and Beckenham. Beckenham withdrew after the first round leaving Stretford, Potters Bar and Coventry in Division One and Sirens, Dunfermline. Merseyside and Sheffield in Division Two.
Using a shared venue format, all deep pools and two referees from the start, the NWWPL quickly expanded to provide better standard matches for all female players. An annual ASA grant was established to continue the growth when the league reached 12 teams. After ten seasons, the League became an official ASA competition with 20 teams. The ASA link remained until 2009 when, once again, the NWWPL returned to organising its own affairs. Merger with the NWPL to form the British League followed in 2010 and the women’s game in the UK is now in its healthiest-ever state.
Our team-mates in America
Not so warm in Hawaii!
Aloha! from Claire Nixon who is currently studying with the benefit of a water polo scholarship in Hawaii. The team (pictured wrapped up well!) are busy doing pre-season work, with beach work outs, volunteering in the community with preparation for the upcoming season. In November they played in a pre-season tournament, The Collegiate Cup, in Fresno, California. It was a great trip with the team starting to get to know how each other plays ready for season to start in January.
Kathy Rogers UoM
Our Kathy Rogers (Otter) was also in action at the USA Water Polo Collegiate Cup and not only did she get to play she won eight of her 11 sprints and scored a pair of goals! University of Michigan water polo head coach Dr. Marcelo Leonardi described the first time he saw freshman Kathy as watching an explosive fireball in the water! Glad they appreciate you as much as we do Kathy!
And finally…fancy playing in a tournament in Denmark?
We have received a request from a water polo club in Denmark that would like to invite UK teams to compete in a tournament in Denmark in June. They would also like to play in tournaments in the UK. They have teams from under 11 to under 19. If you are interested please let me know and I will put you in touch with the club.
Well that’s it for this month. If you have any news about your club that you would like to share please do let me know by emailing me at ah@waterpoloengland.org. All that remains is for all of us here to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year filled with lots of water polo!
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Latest News
Our seasonal December club news is here! -
November has been another busy month for water polo in England. The British Water Polo league is hotting up and the results can be followed at www.bwpl.org. Meanwhile there are lots of other events and tournaments going on. We hope to capture a flavour of these below.
Watford U15 A team
ASA Eastern Region Water Polo Grand Prix
The finals of the ASA Eastern Region Water Polo Grand Prix took place on 4 November. The event was for 2003 and under, and 2005 and under age groups. Both competitions were won by a very strong Watford. The Plate competition was won by Northampton with Watford B team coming in as runners-up.
Over the course of the Grand Prix (first rounds in Northampton and the finals in Basildon) 153 players took part, some playing for their club and some playing for teams which combined players from different clubs to ensure as many players as possible had the opportunity to take part.
Several workshops ran in parallel with the event allowing ten new team managers to became qualified and 30 people to attend a refereeing workshop by international referee, Mike Jukes. The Grand Prix also encouraged unqualified coaches and officials to get involved (who were mentored by qualified coaches and officials) with the hope that they will go on to become qualified officials and coaches in the future. A fantastic event!
Bridgefield U15s
Liverpool & District Academy competition
Bridgefield are celebrating winning gold medal position in the Liverpool & District age 15 and under Academy competition. Very well done.
Bridgefield U13s
Bridgefield are also celebrating a silver medal at the Liverpool & District under 13’s Mini Polo Festival.
Liverpool and District tournament
Congratulations to Radcliffe S&WPC’s 12 and under team who were the champions at the Liverpool and District tournament on 25 November. They defeated Bridgefield 4-2 in the final. Well done to all the clubs that competed.
Barnet U13s
As featured in last month’s news, London hosted a development tournament for the U13s (born 2005 and later) on Sunday 26th November at Whitgift School, South Croydon. There were five teams in the competition – Hackney, Haringey, Barnet, Lewisham and Kingston. The teams played four games each. If the picture is anything to go by it looks like a fantastic time was had by all!
A new Polo team is born!
We are delighted to report that a new Ladies Water Polo team is born – Watford Ladies. Below are the players who featured in the inaugural friendly with Imperial – the Watford Ladies won!
Watford senior women
The Swim England Awards for 2017
The Swim England Awards for 2017 took place at Birmingham University on 11 November. Water Polo has had an excellent year and this was recognised in the awards.
George Jackson
George Jackson won England Talent Athlete of the Year Award for Water Polo for his impressive performances in 2016 and 2017. George is a member of Rotherham Metro Water Polo club. During the last season he helped his club to secure promotion in the National League. At just 14 years old, he impressed with his skills as an outfield player, as well as being Rotherham’s number one goalkeeper.
Sophie Jackson
Sophie Jackson was awarded the Performance Athlete of the Year. Sophie is the City of Leeds Goalkeeper and she has had a very successful year on both the national and international stage. She headed out to Holland last year for the European Juniors in Novi Sad, which saw her best performances to date as the British team finished sixth.
John Spicer
The Swim England Coach of the Year was John Spicer of Cheltenham Water Polo Club. John took home the Award for his enthusiasm and commitment to water polo. He has been developing Cheltenham Water Polo club’s players, as well as regional and national players for many years. He is instrumental in running Cheltenham’s After-School Water Polo Sessions that allow prospective new players the experience of water polo training. He has worked tirelessly for the sport of water polo, and during a time of ongoing austerity continues to bring in new players to a healthy and thriving club.
Boldmere WPC award winners
Boldmere Water Polo Club has held its first Annual Awards. Congratulations to the worthy winners of the Coach’s Award. Well done!
Congratulations also to Bryn Edwards who was named Warrington’s Senior Water Polo Player of the Year and received the A. Y. Boyle trophy for 2017. Well done Bryn!
National Women’s Water Polo 1987 – 2017
We celebrated the 30th anniversary of the establishment of a national league for women on 7th November 2017. The National Women’s Water Polo League was formed at a meeting at Gurnell Leisure Centre, London, in November 1987 and staged its first season in 1988 with eight teams. The League was initially set up to give better quality games to assist development of the national team which had competed in the first European Championships (Oslo, 1985), World Championships (Madrid, 1986) and the second European Championships (Strasbourg, 1987). The inaugural teams were Stretford, Potters Bar, Coventry, Heanor Sirens, Dunfermline, Merseyside, Sheffield and Beckenham. Beckenham withdrew after the first round leaving Stretford, Potters Bar and Coventry in Division One and Sirens, Dunfermline. Merseyside and Sheffield in Division Two.
Using a shared venue format, all deep pools and two referees from the start, the NWWPL quickly expanded to provide better standard matches for all female players. An annual ASA grant was established to continue the growth when the league reached 12 teams. After ten seasons, the League became an official ASA competition with 20 teams. The ASA link remained until 2009 when, once again, the NWWPL returned to organising its own affairs. Merger with the NWPL to form the British League followed in 2010 and the women’s game in the UK is now in its healthiest-ever state.
Our team-mates in America
Not so warm in Hawaii!
Aloha! from Claire Nixon who is currently studying with the benefit of a water polo scholarship in Hawaii. The team (pictured wrapped up well!) are busy doing pre-season work, with beach work outs, volunteering in the community with preparation for the upcoming season. In November they played in a pre-season tournament, The Collegiate Cup, in Fresno, California. It was a great trip with the team starting to get to know how each other plays ready for season to start in January.
Kathy Rogers UoM
Our Kathy Rogers (Otter) was also in action at the USA Water Polo Collegiate Cup and not only did she get to play she won eight of her 11 sprints and scored a pair of goals! University of Michigan water polo head coach Dr. Marcelo Leonardi described the first time he saw freshman Kathy as watching an explosive fireball in the water! Glad they appreciate you as much as we do Kathy!
And finally…fancy playing in a tournament in Denmark?
We have received a request from a water polo club in Denmark that would like to invite UK teams to compete in a tournament in Denmark in June. They would also like to play in tournaments in the UK. They have teams from under 11 to under 19. If you are interested please let me know and I will put you in touch with the club.
Well that’s it for this month. If you have any news about your club that you would like to share please do let me know by emailing me at ah@waterpoloengland.org. All that remains is for all of us here to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year filled with lots of water polo!
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