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Welcome to a new decade with our England Water Polo club news! - December 31, 2019
Welcome to our first water polo club news bulletin of the new decade. We hope that you had a great festive season, and wish all polo fans a happy and healthy 2020!
We start with many congratulations to Mike Hesketh who has been acknowledged as Swim England’s National Volunteer of the year for 2019. Mike has been a stalwart supporter of English water polo for many years at a local, national and international level. The water polo community is very lucky to have such a committed, hardworking and inspirational member. Thank you, Mike!
Mike Hesketh
Congratulations also to City of Manchester Men’s team who topped Division 1 of BWPL with an impressive 100% win rate to match the success of the Manchester ladies. The team will go through to the Super Fives with Solihull, Sheffield, Invicta and Lancaster. The Super Fives for men and women starts in January – for more details of matches/times see @BWPL_org
City of Manchester Men, Division 1 BWPL winners
On Sunday 1 December Hillingdon Penguin hosted a friendly junior water polo tournament with invited teams from John Lyon School (Harrow) and Northampton. The tournament was all about player development and there was a new trophy, the ‘Penguin Development Cup’, awarded to the best team. The event took place at Hillingdon Sports & Leisure centre and the pool was divided to allow two matches to be played at the same time. Pitch A was for teams preparing for the London Youth Games and pitch B for u19 teams. All the matches were brilliantly competitive, with Harrow the victors in both categories. A fantastic event for all involved and also showcasing the work going on at local level to develop water polo talent.
Team Harrow with coach John Nikolovski
The Army Inter Corps Water Polo Championships 2019 took place on 4 December. The event was held at Aldershot Garrison Sports Centre. The Inter Corps Championship winner was the team from the Royal Engineers and the Ladies Team winners were the Army Medical Services. Great to see that water polo is still popular in the forces.
Army Medical Services
Congratulations to Shepway A who are the champions of the Kent 2019 league.
Watford Water Polo Men’s 1st team have won the London League Referees Cup. This is the fourth time they have won the trophy in nine years having won the cup in 2011, 2012 and 2015.
Watford Men’s Water Polo 1st team
On 14 December, the Annual South East Region Grand Prix for players born in 2007 or later tookplace at Chelmsford Riverside pool. Six clubs competed in the event – Watford, Chelmsford, Ipswich, Hitchin, Colchester & Suffolk Coastal. Watford took the top slot after winning all four of their matches. Suffolk Coastal came second and Chelmsford third.
Watford U12s
Penguin Water Polo Club held its annual awards evening in December. The Rob Derbyshire Memorial Trophy was presented to the under 17 Boys team which won the Swim England National Age Group Championships in April. The Ron Turner Memorial Trophy was awarded to Toby Roberts in recognition of his dedication to water polo and the club. Toby has also represented GB and England in the last two years. Well done to everyone winning club honours this year.
Toby Roberts receiving the Ron Turner Memorial Trophy from Penguin President, Louis Lemieux.
Lyme Splash has announced that the Water Polo Sea Championships will take place over the weekend of 22/23 August. Last year 18 teams competed in the event and a great time was had by all. Further information can be obtained from www.lyme-splash.com
Our Team-Mates in America
The men’s NCAA water polo season has now reached its conclusion in the U.S. It is the tradition for each university to celebrate Senior Day at the last home tournament of the season to congratulate those athletes graduating at the end of the academic year. This month Ashley Castle’s (Crystal Palace) collegiate water polo career came to an end after four years. We congratulate Ashley on his amazing career and what looks like an amazing experience at San José State and wish him the best of luck in his future plans.
Ashley with his parents and coaches on Senior Day
Congratulations also to Chris Sturtevant who completed his first season with the USC Trojan’s. The team just missed out on the NCAA championship game after losing a nail biting game in overtime to Stanford. Good job Chris!
In the women’s game there has been an stream of British athletes travelling across the pond to start studying these last few years. Shout out to Robyn Greenslade who looks like she had an amazing first semester at Indiana University, with a training trip to Italy included!
Robyn (Front row third from left) with her Indiana team on their pre-season trip to Italy
Good luck to Robyn, Mhari, Lily, Sophie, and Kathy whose season will start over the next few weeks. Hope you all survive your Hell week!
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
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Latest News
Welcome to a new decade with our England Water Polo club news! -
Welcome to our first water polo club news bulletin of the new decade. We hope that you had a great festive season, and wish all polo fans a happy and healthy 2020!
We start with many congratulations to Mike Hesketh who has been acknowledged as Swim England’s National Volunteer of the year for 2019. Mike has been a stalwart supporter of English water polo for many years at a local, national and international level. The water polo community is very lucky to have such a committed, hardworking and inspirational member. Thank you, Mike!
Mike Hesketh
Congratulations also to City of Manchester Men’s team who topped Division 1 of BWPL with an impressive 100% win rate to match the success of the Manchester ladies. The team will go through to the Super Fives with Solihull, Sheffield, Invicta and Lancaster. The Super Fives for men and women starts in January – for more details of matches/times see @BWPL_org
City of Manchester Men, Division 1 BWPL winners
On Sunday 1 December Hillingdon Penguin hosted a friendly junior water polo tournament with invited teams from John Lyon School (Harrow) and Northampton. The tournament was all about player development and there was a new trophy, the ‘Penguin Development Cup’, awarded to the best team. The event took place at Hillingdon Sports & Leisure centre and the pool was divided to allow two matches to be played at the same time. Pitch A was for teams preparing for the London Youth Games and pitch B for u19 teams. All the matches were brilliantly competitive, with Harrow the victors in both categories. A fantastic event for all involved and also showcasing the work going on at local level to develop water polo talent.
Team Harrow with coach John Nikolovski
The Army Inter Corps Water Polo Championships 2019 took place on 4 December. The event was held at Aldershot Garrison Sports Centre. The Inter Corps Championship winner was the team from the Royal Engineers and the Ladies Team winners were the Army Medical Services. Great to see that water polo is still popular in the forces.
Army Medical Services
Congratulations to Shepway A who are the champions of the Kent 2019 league.
Watford Water Polo Men’s 1st team have won the London League Referees Cup. This is the fourth time they have won the trophy in nine years having won the cup in 2011, 2012 and 2015.
Watford Men’s Water Polo 1st team
On 14 December, the Annual South East Region Grand Prix for players born in 2007 or later tookplace at Chelmsford Riverside pool. Six clubs competed in the event – Watford, Chelmsford, Ipswich, Hitchin, Colchester & Suffolk Coastal. Watford took the top slot after winning all four of their matches. Suffolk Coastal came second and Chelmsford third.
Watford U12s
Penguin Water Polo Club held its annual awards evening in December. The Rob Derbyshire Memorial Trophy was presented to the under 17 Boys team which won the Swim England National Age Group Championships in April. The Ron Turner Memorial Trophy was awarded to Toby Roberts in recognition of his dedication to water polo and the club. Toby has also represented GB and England in the last two years. Well done to everyone winning club honours this year.
Toby Roberts receiving the Ron Turner Memorial Trophy from Penguin President, Louis Lemieux.
Lyme Splash has announced that the Water Polo Sea Championships will take place over the weekend of 22/23 August. Last year 18 teams competed in the event and a great time was had by all. Further information can be obtained from www.lyme-splash.com
Our Team-Mates in America
The men’s NCAA water polo season has now reached its conclusion in the U.S. It is the tradition for each university to celebrate Senior Day at the last home tournament of the season to congratulate those athletes graduating at the end of the academic year. This month Ashley Castle’s (Crystal Palace) collegiate water polo career came to an end after four years. We congratulate Ashley on his amazing career and what looks like an amazing experience at San José State and wish him the best of luck in his future plans.
Ashley with his parents and coaches on Senior Day
Congratulations also to Chris Sturtevant who completed his first season with the USC Trojan’s. The team just missed out on the NCAA championship game after losing a nail biting game in overtime to Stanford. Good job Chris!
In the women’s game there has been an stream of British athletes travelling across the pond to start studying these last few years. Shout out to Robyn Greenslade who looks like she had an amazing first semester at Indiana University, with a training trip to Italy included!
Robyn (Front row third from left) with her Indiana team on their pre-season trip to Italy
Good luck to Robyn, Mhari, Lily, Sophie, and Kathy whose season will start over the next few weeks. Hope you all survive your Hell week!
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
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