Welcome to our Christmas Club News! - December 1, 2018

It has been a month of national awards.  First up came the British Swimming Awards and congratulations go to Stephanie Whittaker and Matt Madden for their British Swimming Water Polo Athlete of the year 2018 awards.  Congratulations also to Nick Hume who was recognised as Coach of the year – hugely deserved.  Nick will be a well known figure to many players and parents whose children have gone through the England Talent programme.  Most recently Nick has been the coach for the successful GBR junior women’s team. 

Nick Hume in action

Next came the Swim England Awards and congratulations go to Kent Water Polo who lifted the Swim England Club Network of the Year Award.  The Kent network group looks after developing junior water polo in the county and is made up of six clubs – Bexley Water Polo Club, Faversham Water Polo Club, Hythe Water Polo Club, Invicta Water Polo Club, RTW Monson Water Polo Club and Sevenoaks Water Polo Club.  The group came about through a combined desire to improve the grassroots of the game in the county at a time when many junior squads across the county were unable to field full teams and were struggling to produce county level players. 

Mega congratulations to Stephanie Whittaker who has been named as the 2018 Swim England Talent Athlete of the Year for Water Polo.  Stephanie started her water polo journey at Tyldesley Swimming & Water Polo Club and joined City of Manchester WPC in 2013.  Over the last five years, she has progressed from City of Manchester’s development team to the senior side and has been a regular ever since, becoming an influential player for both club and country.  In 2018, she has excelled in both domestic and international water polo competitions, making a stand-out contribution as Great Britain’s Women’s U19 team secured a top 10 finish in the European Championships in Madeira.  Whittaker finished the tournament as Great Britain’s joint top scorer with nine goals from the team’s six matches. 

Steph Whittaker receiving her award

Another athlete who has excelled on the domestic and international stage is Thomas Manley who was named as the Swim England Performance Athlete of the Year for Water Polo.  Thomas is the goalkeeper for Newton Abbot and was part of the GB Men’s U19 side that reached the LEN European Championships in Minsk, Belarus. 

Award winning Tom Manley

In other news, congratulations go to Shepway A for winning the Kent League for the second year running! It was very tight at the top with only 2 points separating the top 3 places.  Great achievement.   

Well done to both Beckenham teams for taking gold and silver in the Kent U16 Water Polo Championships. 15 games were packed into a 3 hour feast of water polo with each of the six competing teams playing five short games. Beckenham A team won all 5 of their games and scored a total of 47 goals with just one against.  The Beckenham Breams team took the silver medal by winning 4 of their five games including the crucial one against Hythe by just 3 goals to 2. That one goal difference was all-important because had the scores finished level, Hythe would have taken the silver on goal difference. 

Congratulations to Aryan Agarwal who is the most recent Hillingdon Penguin Jack Petchey Award winner.  The award was established to encourage, reward and promote achievement amongst young people.  Aryan is a worthy winner.  His coach, Aloka Prelis, praised him saying ‘Aryan applies himself to water polo with dedication. He has become an extremely valuable player willing and able to play in more than one position. Despite his young age, he analyses each game and correctly works out the best tactics, for particular opposition. His intelligent game play and consideration for his peers makes him a delight to coach.’ 

Aryan Agarwal being presented with his award by Shaun Hill

The London Swimming Development u13 mixed tournament took place on 25 November. Penguin Latymer took the top slot with Otter coming in as runners up.  Well done to everyone who took part! 

London Swimming Development u13 Tournament

Just to show that you are never too old to enjoy the great sport of water polo, the over 40s Invitational Tournament took place this month with teams from Kent, Hants, Essex, Middlesex, & Surrey. A fantastic event with Essex coming out on top as 2018 champions.  Good job! 

Essex o40 Champions

 Off to the US!

Congratulations to Robyn Greenslade and Cecily Turner who both recently signed their national letter of intent to play for American Universities next year! 

Robyn will be attending Indiana University in the mid-west and Cecily will be attending University of California, Berkeley next autumn. Both girls are heading across the pond with hard to come by athletic scholarships. They are going to compete at an extremely high level, all while getting a top education. Indiana and Cal are also in the same conference so the two 2001’s will be seeing a lot of each other in the pool.  

What a fantastic achievement for both girls, hard work does pay off. We wish them both the best four years over in the States and can’t wait to see the players they become. Well done girls!  

Lily Turner goes for goal

Robyn Greenslade signs up!

You may remember the great outdoor water polo matches played last summer in some iconic spots around the country.  We are very pleased to hear that ManUp are already preparing their 2019 programme and look forward to finding out dates and venues. 

Flashback to this summer’s MANUP! Event at Salford Quays

We hope you find this report of interest.  We aim to showcase what has been going on in English Water Polo clubs over the last month and flag up forthcoming events.  If you have any news that you would like to share about your club please contact me at ah@waterpoloengland.org 

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM ALL AT ENGLAND WATER POLO!

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