The WPMG announces exciting new strategic partnership - March 26, 2017

For a considerable period of time, the volunteer members of the England Water Polo Management Group, led by Chair Ian Elliot and Talent Pathway Lead Phil Winstanley, have been working towards securing a more permanent training venue for the national squads, which currently include the 1999 and 2000 junior men and women as they prepare for their European Championship Qualifiers over the next 2 years. The WPMG are pleased to have managed to reconstitute a senior programme, and, as announced, the men’s and women’s teams have recently come together in preparation for the World University Games in Chinese Taipei from the 19th – 30th August.

The WPMG believes that the combination of regular pool time with a dedicated coaching team in conjunction with essential support from strength and conditioning coaches, sports psychology, nutrition and physiotherapy support will allow our teams to ‘punch above their weight’ in the international arena, providing us with evidence to support a bid for funding.

This was demonstrated in the European men’s qualifiers in May 2016, where the Montenegro team approached our support team after the game to complement us on how effective we had been, which they had grossly underestimated at the start of the tournament. This squad had only had the benefit of this coherent support structure in place for 6 months – imagine how effective a 2 year lead in could be!

An innovative local initiative in Manchester has allowed the aspiration for our budding world-class athletes to have facilities to support them, especially in view of our potentially restrictive funding situation, to become a reality.

The WPMG has been working in a strategic partnership with Manchester City Council, GLL (local facilities operator), the Manchester Universities and the City of Manchester Water Polo Club. This has allowed us to produce two hugely progressive steps towards developing our talent programme.

The first is the agreement from LEN to allow us to host the 2000 men’s European Qualifiers in May 2017 in Manchester, and the event committee is making excellent progress into realising what will be a fantastic showcase for our ambition. Chair of this group Piers Martin said: “The City of Manchester has had a long and successful relationship with water polo and has supported clubs, development, national teams and major European and World events. We look forward to welcoming teams to Manchester and wish all those competing and supporting a tournament to remember!”

The second is that we now have a 2 year commitment from the Manchester Strategic Partnership to allow monthly pool time for all of the current squads to train. Not only have we got the guaranteed pool time, but Manchester City Council has facilitated a relationship with the world class athlete performance centre (Manchester Institute of Health and Performance) adjacent to the East Manchester Leisure Centre in Beswick.

This amazing facility http://www.mihp.co.uk will allow our athletes to maximise their potential dry-side alongside their water time during the national training camps.”

Phil Winstanley, WPMG’s Talent Pathway Lead said, “We have a fantastic team of volunteers supporting our strength, conditioning and health programmes. The introduction of world class facilities will allow these vital areas of athlete development to achieve their full potential for our squads.”

image credits: Manchester City Council

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