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It’s the first of the month, and England water polo club newsletter time! -

This month has seen teams preparing for the start of the www.bwpl.org Super Fives.   City of Coventry women have prepared in style by taking part in a tournament in Sweden.  The women’s team put in a great performance and came in second to the hosts, Järfälla.

City of Coventry

The @BWPL_org Mens Championship 2 played the first weekend on 12 January.  Congratulations to West London Penguin who are continuing their great form to take  the topspot at the end of the weekend

West London Penguin

The first weekend of the BWPL Super Fives took place on 18/19 January with some spectacular play, which left the defending City of Manchester’s Men and Women’s teams sitting at the top of their respective tables.  

City of Manchester Women

Penguin Women are continuing to develop with two wins in the London League so far.  Great to follow their progress.

Penguin Women

A great start to the year for Watford Water Polo club’s under 12s who saw success in the opening round of their Winter League campaign winning three matches and drawing another.  Good luck in the next round on 2 February!

Watford Water Polo under 12s

The under 14s London Winter League has seen the first of two ‘final five’ play off tournaments.  Special congratulations to the Worthing team which won all four of its matches to put themselves in a very good position for the final tournament next month.  

Worthing under 14 team

Sevenoaks Water Polo Club held its awards night this month.  Special congratulations go to James Fry who wonThe Stuart Pettit Award presented to “the member who has made the most outstanding contribution to Sevenoaks Water Polo Club during the past year. Well done James!

 

James Fry

Meanwhile, Enfield Water Polo club has been on tour in Budapest and playing on the famous Margit Island.  The squad also got to present Hungarian water polo legend Gergely Kiss with an Enfield water polo shirt! 

Enfield Water Polo club on tour in Hungary

Also on tour this month were the Watford under 13s.  They competed in the Galway tournament where they secured an impressive bronze medal.  Well done guys!

Watford under 13s

In other news we are pleased to see that the Pelican Centre is running mini-water polo sessions on Fridays between 7.30 pm and 8.15 pm at Castle Street, Tyldesley.  The sessions are suitable for swimmers at stage 4 or above and are run by Tyldesley water polo coaches.  Do go along if you want to introduce your children to this great sport!

We are always keen to promote good causes here at Water Polo News.  We have spotted that Sheffield University water polo club are again raising money this time for Cancer Research UK, Marie Curie and The Swimathon Foundation.  If you would like to support this noble quest please donate at –

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/sheffieldstingraysswimathon

Polo at the Lido

We have featured Brockwell Lido in other editions of Water Polo News.  We are therefore delighted to have more information about this amazing south London club.  Thank you to the club for sharing their story with us.

There is a history of Water Polo being played at BrockwellLido in Herne Hill, South London SE24 since it was first opened in 1937 as a sports and leisure facility for the local community. This art-deco pool was later joined by a similar style lido in North London at Parliament Hill and both held annual Championships to discover the best swimmers, divers, synchro and water polo clubs North and South of the River.

With the present lack of deep water pools in London it was an obvious choice for the Brockwell Swimmers club to resurrect the sport in the Summer of 2015 with the help of coach Jim Boucher and the loan of goals from Guildford Water Polo Club. The first session happened on Monday 7th July 2015 and quickly started picking up players from both the regular swimmers and local experienced players. These one hour, weekly recreational sessions have helped new people discover the game and enabling past players to get back in the water. It is this combination of keen novice and seasoned shooter that has helped make the sessions work so well.

Although Brockwell Lido is ideal for the Summer the water can get too cold, and the evenings too dark, during the rest of the year. So in February 2017 the club started indoor sessions at the nearby Alleyns‘ School pool in East Dulwich SE22 which has been recently refurbished with new lighting and water polo goals. These sessions are held every Monday 8pm to 9pm. The first trial session is free and new members of any experience are always welcome. More information can be found on their web site www.brockwellswimmers.com.

Brockwell Water Polo players

American Water Polo News

The season is underway in the US, with most of the University teams starting their competitions this month.  With this being the Olympic year and lots of players training with national teams, the championship is more openthan ever.

Hawai’i, where Mhari Nurthen plays, has made a great start to the season, wining all their opening games. University of California, Berkeley, where Cecily Turner plays also had a busy start to the season with 8 games over 2 weekends and are currently 5 wins to 3 loses, with Lily looking to be a key player in the team. University of Michigan, where Kathy Rogers and Sophie Jackson play, are also 5 wins to 3 losses and both girls are getting a lot of playing time in the water.  

Below is an amazing picture for English water polo showing Kathy Rogers and Sophie Jackson lining up for Michigan and Lily Turner lining up for California.  This was a nail biter match with Californias winning goal scored with 1 second of play left!  The final score was 8-7.

Robyn Greenslade at Indiana University scored her first goal in her first competition weekend as her team are now 2-2. Thea Simpson at St. Francis Brooklyn is still to play, but we wish her the best of luck in their league!

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

One response to “It’s the first of the month, and England water polo club newsletter time!”

  1. Interested Parent says:

    Why is there never any mention of the British Universities water polo? Many of the Players who play in BWPL play for BUCS teams. Is there some sort of embargo on mentioning BUCS, for some reason? It seems very strange, this obsession with America. Is it because whoever writes this article doesn’t have a child at a British University so doesn’t have access to the relevant information?
    The Man Met men’s team have just won the Premier North Division for the 4th year running, surely that’s got to be worth a mention next month?

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