Welcome to May’s edition of our monthly England Water Polo club news - May 1, 2024

This month we have been showcasing our junior talent at the GoCardless Swim England Water Polo National Age Group Championships 2024 for U17 and U19 men and women, with images from the National Age Group Championships by Will Johnston Photography

GoCardless Swim England Water Polo National Age Group Championships U17 Boys event
The scene was set for an exciting final weekend as West London Penguin set out to defend their title. Of the teams looking to take the title away, Cheltenham were the Group C winners, City of Manchester topped Group B with a 100% record in the previous rounds and Caledonia qualified as runners-up in Group A behind defending champions West London Penguin.

After some very competitive matches the teams facing each other in the final were West London Penguin and Cheltenham. The standard of competition was very high and the teams were very close; at half time Penguin were behind 10-9. They fought back and snatched victory forcing Cheltenham into silver place. An excellent match.

West London Penguin

A strong performance by Penguin’s Matthew O’Neill Cuadros saw him awarded the Most Valuable Player award and his teammate, Adriano Porsia, the top goalkeeper award, while Cheltenham’s William Bamborough, who grabbed six goals in the final, claimed the top goal-scorer award.

Penguin’s Matthew O’Neill Cuadros MVP

City of Manchester took the bronze position after defeating Caledonia with a 16-9 final score.

GoCardless Swim England Water Polo National Age Group Championships – U17 Girls event
The girls’ event was also primed to be an exciting occasion with City of Manchester hoping to regain the crown they lost to Cheltenham last year. Cheltenham narrowly lost out on the top place in Group A to an in-form Worthing in the qualifiers but they were out to defend their title. West London Penguin made history as this this was the first time ever that a Penguin female team has made a national final. A great tribute to the development of the women’s programme at the club. Also making history at the event was Worthing who were their club’s first female team to reach a NAGs finals weekend.

After some very competitive matches, the finalists were City of Manchester and West London Penguin, and after some excellent play, City of Manchester won the final match 10-8 to take gold.

City of Manchester

City of Manchester player, Lucy Blenkinship, was awarded the Most Valuable Player award.  The awards for the top goal-scorer and top goalkeeper were presented to Cheltenham’s Jessica Day and Penguin’s Kaila Saltman respectively.

City of Manchester’s Lucy Blenkinship MVP

The bronze medal match was very close with Cheltenham narrowly defeating Worthing 10-9.

GoCardless Swim England Water Polo National Age Group Championships – U19 Men’s event
Four teams made it to the finals weekend. Worthing, the defending champions, put in a strong performance in the preliminary round with a 100% record to top Group B. Cheltenham had to settle for second place last year and were keen to repeat their 2022 victory after beating West London Penguin to top their group on goal difference. The other two teams were Caledonia and reigning Irish U19 cup and league champions, Corrib Water Polo Club.

After some very exciting water polo, it was Worthing and Cheltenham who met in the final. Both clubs were very competitive and it was a close match but Worthing took the lead and retained the title with a 8-5 victory. The bronze match was also exciting with Caledonia pulling out all the stops to defeat Corrib 18-13.

Worthing

The Most Valuable Player award was presented to Cheltenham’s Rex Lewis while Worthing’s Felix Monaghan was the top goalkeeper. Caledonia’s Joe Mathieson was the top goalscorer.

Cheltenham’s Rex Lewis MVP

GoCardless Swim England Water Polo National Age Group Championships – U19 Women’s event
In the women’s event, Cheltenham powered their way to reclaiming the U19 title by defeating City of Sheffield 23-5. City of Manchester, the defending champions, earned a narrow win over Worthing to take the bronze medal position. Cheltenham took a clean sweep of the personal awards, with Elizabeth Ross presented with the Most Valuable Player award and Sophie Leveridge the top goalkeeper award. Amelie Perkins earned the top goal-scorer award

Cheltenham’s Amelie Perkins was top goal-scorer

Also this month we have seen the women’s promotion matches for BWPL Division 2. Congratulations to Kirkintilloch & Kilsyth and Watford who won the women’s promotion tournament at Haberdashers ensuring that both will head for Division 2 at the start of the 2024/25 season. City of Bristol and Otter Lutra sadly miss out on promotion this year.

Watford’s women progress

In the men’s promotion tournament, also at Haberdashers, Bridgefield faced a tough battle with City of Birmingham before winning 9-8. Bridgefield therefore qualified for Division 3 next season alongside Cheltenham Spartans, who beat Castleford 15-12. Birmingham and Castleford sadly drop out.

Watford Men’s 1st team retained the Winter League Cup after defeating Chelmsford. Well done!

Watford winter league champs!

West London Penguins’ Junior Tour has taken place in Malta. The trip included paying against top European clubs including OSC Potsdam, Eger and the Maltese national teams. It has been a wonderful experience for these talented athletes.

West London junior Penguins on tour in the sunshine!

That’s it for this month’s round up of club news. We are always happy to publicise news from clubs around England so if you have any news you would like to share, please let us know by emailing cd@waterpoloengland.org

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