Welcome to our 1st club news of 2018! - December 31, 2017

Happy New Year!

After a busy November we thought that December would be a quiet month but how wrong we were! The fact that so much polo has been going on in December is testament to the resurgence the sport is experiencing. Matches and competitions have been played at all levels and there have been a number of end-of-year awards ceremonies. This month we are also featuring the Warrington 16 and under squad as they have enjoyed an exceptional year of competitive success. If you would like your club to feature in the Club News please do contact us using the contact details set out at the end.

Solihull Water Polo men’s team have been on an incredible journey since they re-entered the British Water Polo League five years ago. Starting in Division 5 securing back-to-back promotions, they are now winners of Division 1 and for the second year running in The Super 5 Championships. To celebrate, 112 players, retired players, coaches and friends of the club came together at a dinner on 21 December 2017. Congratulations to Nick Beard on winning 2017 players player of the year & Heidi Bach for winning the Women’s Most improved award.

 

Watford Water Polo club held their AGM, Club Match Night and Player of the season awards in December. The event was attended by 88 players from across the club from the under 8’s to the men’s first team. The team had a lot to celebrate after they qualified from Division Two into Championship One of the British Water Polo League. Well done Watford.

 

Spalding Water Polo is celebrating after being crowned champions of Division One in the Hertfordshire League. They concluded their season with a 10-5 win over Bedford to secure the top spot. The game started off tentatively in the first quarter but Spalding was soon into the swing of things and the title was theirs. Good job Spalding!

 

Lancaster hosted its fifth annual Christmas Development Water Polo tournament on 17 December 2017. Thirteen teams competed. Sedgefield were the overall winners with Rotherham Metro coming in second and Bridgefield took the bronze position. Congratulations to all who competed.

 

Congratulations also go to Warrington’s 12 & Under team who are the Lancaster Christmas Festival Plate Winners, and star in our Featured image at the top of the news. Very well done!

Bridgefield Water Polo club had another success with their Ladies team winning silver at the Liverpool and District Women’s tournament.

Newton Abbot Water Polo Club celebrated an astonishingly successful day on Saturday 23rd December. The club was the proud winner of the Under 17, Under 19, Senior and Ladies Devon County Knockout Cups!! What an amazing achievement.

 

 

 

 

The brave souls from Newton Abbot WPC also went on to take part in the annual Boxing Day dip in the sea! A hardy lot!

 

Meanwhile Crystal Palace Water Polo Beacon Programme held an, apparently glittering, annual awards ceremony on 30 December.

Female Beacon Athlete of the Year was Lily Turner. Lily, from Crawley SC, was GB’s joint top goal scorer in the u17 Euros where she helped GB achieve a best ever 6th place. Lily captained Otter to the u17’s national title and was BWPL 2017 women’s Division One top goal scorer.

 

The Male Beacon Athlete of the Year was James Spencer-Boyce. James, from Beckenham SC, represented England and GB under 19’s this year and helped England win the u21 EU Nations Cup. He also helped Invicta win bronze in this year’s British Championships.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Long serving international player, coach and inspiration Peggy Etiebet was awarded the CP Beacon Lifetime Achievement Award. 2017 was the year in which Peggy became a World Champion this year with Italian team SIS Roma at the World Masters Championships, Budapest and this award is well deserved. Peggy, we salute you!

Club Feature – Warrington U16
Warrington 16 and under Water Polo mixed squad have had an exceptional year playing 22 matches without loss. The team started the season by winning the Northern League and they have recently won the Liverpool and District 16 & Under tournament. If that was not enough on the same day that they won the Liverpool and District tournament they went on to complete the Manchester and District 16 & Under League competition with an impressive 17-8 victory away from home at Radcliffe maintaining their position at the top of the league. During the season, they also won the Bolton & District knockout competition with a 33-5 victory in the semi-final. The opposition conceded the final match so the team retained the trophy for a second season in a row. The team is the current Cheshire Champions as well with this year’s competition held over to January. A truly amazing season – very well done.

Not surprisingly the players are now progressing to the senior side so the club is actively recruiting potential players for their 12u, 14u and 16u teams to follow in the path of the above team.

There are taster sessions at Orford Pool on Saturday 6th and 20th January at 6 pm for any strong swimmers who might wish to give this great sport a go. For more details or to register an interest please contact waterpolocoach@warringtonsc.co.uk

Enfield Water Polo Club is planning a tour of Barcelona in July 2018! The team will be playing a series of exhibition matches against local Spanish teams and watching the finals of the European Championships, which are being held in the city at the same time. Sounds exciting!

The dates for the 2018 British Championships have been published. Key dates for the diary include the group game dates below, and the finals which will be held at Sandford Lido on June 2nd & 3rd 2018.

 

 

 

 

We are always needing new Officials to help out at matches. Coventry Water Polo club will be hosting a Club Table Officials Course on Saturday 27 January 2018 from 10am to 5pm at Coventry Sports Centre, CV1 5RY. For more information and to book on the course, please message Coventry Water Polo Facebook page or email Claire.walmsley@coventry-swimming.org.uk.

Our team-mates in America

Crystal Palace Water Polo Beacon Programme honoured its overseas athletes at its recent awards night. There were three nominees for the Overseas Athlete of the Year, Ashley Castle (San Jose State University), Kathy Rogers (University of Michigan) & Mhairi Nurthen (University of Hawaii). The winner was Ashley Castle. The Croydon Amphibian is in his second year at San Jose State where he has enjoyed a spectacular season scoring 20 goals and many assists to help his team rise to 11th in the NCAA rankings. A fantastic achievement; well done Ashley!

 

The men’s university season is now at an end and the women’s season is about to begin. The Arizona State Sun Devils (Rosie Huck) are currently on a pre season tour of Australia. Looks a lot warmer than Newton Abbot! The season starts in earnest in January.

 

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!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.