Water Polo UK

The Irish Water Polo Association announced that Olympic champion Hungary had agreed to come to Ireland to hold a Training Camp as part of their preparation for this year´s World Championships in Shanghai, China. Hungary will arrive into Dublin on Sunday 5th June until Wednesday 8th June. This will be a shared Training Camp with the Great Britain men´s squad also coming to the Irish capital.
There will be two test matches between Hungary and Great Britain on the Monday and Tuesday evenings, where the organisers hope to have 2000+ spectators at each. This will be the biggest ever event to be held in Ireland so far. 
 
This event will be held at The National Aquatic Centre in Dublin (www.nac.ie). The officials of the Irish federation are looking to hold a four nation pre-Olympic tournament next year if the upcoming event is a success.

Source: WatepoloWorld 

Worthing retained the South East regional men’s title winning their remaining 4 games at the final leg in Jersey.  An emphatic 18-8 win over closest rivals East Invicta helped, but they almost lost their 100% record when Southampton pushed them to within a goal. 

Worthing dedicated their success to their sponsor Sussex solar firm Coastal Solar.

East Invicta finished in 2^nd place, only losing to the champions, and Southampton retained 3^rd.  Basingstoke failed to win a game and have been relegated to division 2.

Callum Bailey, of East Invicta, finished the tournament leading goal scorer with 62 goals in 8 games.

 

Stats and full results coming soon

Those outside the water polo community may not be aware of recent news Great Britain’s water polo team will take part in the 2012 Olympics. 

The great news for British water polo provides an opportunity to begin increasing its participation and popularity by creating a new ‘water polo culture’, aiming not only for more players but fans too - not an easy task.

However, we see organic cultural changes all the time, I will not give examples but we can all think of some.  In its simplest form, we need to significantly increase participation numbers at grass roots level, easier said than done.

I should point out that installing a ‘water polo culture’ would not springboard water polo into the mainstream and it will most likely always remain a minority sport, however, the objective can be to increase numbers of participants significantly.  We need to increase interest in the game at grass roots level - our primary target.

How do we begin a culture?

Essentially, we need two things to begin creating a new culture.  We need community ‘champions’ and we need to generate the interest amongst potential participants.  Of course, logistics comes into the frame and pool time becomes an important issue to overcome.

Champions can come in many different forms.  They can be the people willing to give up their time to coach, those who negotiate pool time and those who write off to the local paper to name a few.

To maximise effectiveness we need to co-ordinate the champions so they are working together.  For example, my background is in marketing communications; therefore, I should try to support a coach ‘champion’ by negotiating pool time, creating interest and awareness amongst local schools and swimming clubs and providing media coverage, (what we are trying to do at Water Polo UK).  

Can we start a community water polo/ mini-polo session with limited/no budget?

The short answer is we can try.  My personal opinion is that half-used private school pools could provide a great opportunity to start community polo or mini polo sessions. Council pools that have discovered lessons and activities actually run for profit may be persuaded to give some pool time, furthermore leisure clubs such as David Lloyd provide activities, we should encourage them to include mini-polo in these sessions.  If we can add value to a swimming pool either with positive PR, an offer of an extra activity or put together a business case it could be possible to put sessions on with no budget – of course having ‘champions’ at the said schools/leisure centres would really help!

What I am really saying is that the water polo community has these champions, many coaches who give up their time for the love of the sport.  We need to find and co-ordinate them as best we can, that is how the current water polo community can increase the number of future participants.

Water Polo UK aims to identify these champions, create role models with coverage of the sport and help ‘market’ water polo in order to increase participation. We are hoping the Olympics will encourage a new wave of interest and see the beginning of consistent growth of British water polo.

Do you agree or disagree with anything said in this blog?

Got loads of youngsters or struggling for numbers?  

We want to hear from you!

 

March 2011

I'm writing this first blog in Budapest, on our team bus which is navigating its way round the crazy Friday night traffic. We're on our way to a city called Eger to play two matches over the weekend against the local side in the Hungarian National League. Since last October we have been travelling twice a month to play in this league and Hungary has become my second home, although I am embarrassed to say my Hungarian language skills are still appalling despite having insider help from Hungarian Penguins Meli and Nuci.

We approached the Hungarian National League as a way to play more frequent tough matches against some of the best players in the world. I think we've improved a lot over the last 6 months and going into this weekend we are ranked fourth in the league which was our initial aim, to stay in the top four.

Back in Manchester where all the squad live and train Sylvester, our coach, puts us through a strenuous weekly training programme. We are in the pool for four hours a day, two hours in the morning and two in the evening. We also do an hour of weights four times a week. I usually have trouble walking by Wednesday thanks to our gym coach's obsession with 'over head squats', and come the end of the week most girls have difficulty brushing their hair due to sore muscles. We get the weekends off to relax and recover and I often spend the time in London visiting friends and family.

We also do a couple of 'out of the pool' sessions a week, with a sports psychologist, undergoing media training, doing video analysis or attending Olympic awareness talks. These help prepare us for London 2012. Last week's session was sprung upon us as a surprise practice press conference in which we were put on the spot by really difficult questions. It was filmed so we could watch ourselves back - this was the worst bit! Hopefully I won't ever have to experience such a tough interview session in real life.

As well as training around 25 hours a week, I work part time just across the road from the pool at Manchester University. It's a great little job as they are happy to be flexible around my training and travelling. Everyone in the office is used to me rushing in in the mornings with dripping wet hair or returning from a trip covered in scratches or with a black eye. They are very supportive.

Over the next few months I'll be updating you with how we are going in our our big aim for this year - qualification for the Europeans in January 2012. We face Spain, Ukraine and Israel in our pool and will play each team twice (home and away) in the next six months. The top two teams will qualify. We had a great start to our campaign, beating Israel 26-1 in Loughborough on 29th January. Thank you to all the Penguin supporters who came to cheer me on! Our next match is against Ukraine in Ukraine at the end of this month. You can follow the results from this match and our Hungarian National League matches on the British Swimming website.

I must admit though, the thing I'm most looking forward to in the coming weeks is the Penguin 90th Anniversary Dinner on 2nd April! Luckily it doesn't clash with any trips abroad so I'll be down in London with my party shoes on, and I'm so looking forward to seeing everyone there.

Until then,

Ciao

Francesca

Source: http://www.penguinwaterpolo.com/index.php?p=custom30

GB Mens Captain Craig Figes is understandably ecstatic GB water polo will be in the Olympics! Here’s what he had to say when WPUK caught up with him!

"It’s fantastic news for the Great Britain mens and womens teams that we will get the opportunity to compete at the Olympics in London next year. The players, staff and wider water polo community (including invaluable help from Friends of Water Polo) have put in a huge amount of hard work over the past 5 years and this news has come at the perfect time to inspire us all to work even harder in the coming months.

This is a unique opportunity for the entire water polo community to pull together in support of Team GB and the games will allow us to improve the popularity of our sport in the UK.

I hope the games will be the catalyst for improving the standard of our current national team, our domestic competitions, junior national teams and GB’s future in the sport. As a younger player I would never have imagined that I would get the opportunity to be part of a GB squad working towards an Olympics. I hope that beyond London 2012 we all, as water polo enthusiasts, leave a legacy which means our young players do not have to wait 56 years before they have the chance to qualify for another Olympics."

Great Britain will compete in water polo at an Olympics for the first time in 56 years at London 2012.

The British Olympic Association (BOA) has confirmed it will allow the sport to take host-nation positions.

GB women's captain Fran Leighton said: "It's brilliant. We're happy the boys will compete alongside us and thankful to everyone who's supported us.

"All of our hard work has paid off and we 're now focused on being the best we can be in London."

The BOA is aiming to support a team of 550 athletes and around 450 support staff in 2012 but with its reported financial problems there have been fears that the organisation would look to make cuts to this number, meaning some of the lower-profile sports could lose out.

"I believe water polo can be one of the star events at the Games."

Water polo joins indoor volleyball, handball, table tennis, weightlifting and basketball (subject to approval from the governing body) in being guaranteed host-nation places for 2012.

Sir Clive Woodward, Team GB deputy chef de mission and BOA director of sport, said: "The commitment and results that both the water polo teams have shown, and innovative plans developed for water polo, demonstrate that the players will make the nation proud in 2012 and leave a long-term legacy."

The "commitment" Woodward refers to has been considerable to say the least.

Although Great Britain did not enter a team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, they were still given a budget of £3.14m to develop the sport.

However, in the lead-up to the London Games this was initially slashed by over 50%, resulting in those from the men's programme being forced to look abroad for full-time professional contracts.

In December 2009, water polo - along with 10 other Olympic sports - received a funding boost, raising their 'pot' closer to that which they received prior to the 2008 Olympic Games.

The women's team have subsequently embarked on fortnightly trips into Europe, where they compete in the Hungarian national league in order to gain experience against world-class opponents.

"London will also be an experience that the British players will be able to capitalise on for their future development towards the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and beyond, particularly the comparatively young men's team."

GB men's goalkeeper Ed Scott said it was "fantastic" news for both teams.

"It's the culmination of all the hard work and sacrifices every one of us has made," he said.

"Getting to showcase water polo on the world's greatest stage will hopefully encourage more people to get involved and help develop the sport throughout the country for years to come."

The sentiments were echoed by the sport's CEO David Sparkes.

"It's been a roller coaster ride for the athletes, funding switched on, funding switched off - they've had to work really hard but the commitment of both the men and the women has been absolutely unbelievable.

"We've got 18 months of really hard work with both the women's and the men's teams to make sure we get the best possible performance that we can in London."

Source: BBC 

Continuing our theme of catching up with British players Abroad, Water Polo UK spoke to Rob Parker and Scott Carpenter, currently playing for Natacio Terrassa in the top Spanish League. Rob plays mostly at Centre back and Scott plays 4 or 5.

WPUK:  Why did you choose the Spanish league, did you have any other offers?


Scott: I had some offers in Italy, but the depth of the Spanish league and the chance to play in the Euroleague this year made up my mind. Going back to Australia was an option but it was impossible due to GB commitments.

Rob: I chose the Spanish league because it was the best league I got offers from. Terrassa also finished 3rd last year so would be playing in Euroleague, this really sold it for me. I had a couple of other offers from France but decided on Spain.

 

WPUK: What are you hoping to achieve in your time there?

Scott: To win a trophy. CN Barceloneta have won every competition since around 2005 I think. They beat us by one goal in the Catalan Cup Final and in the Copa Del Rey, so it would be good to snatch one against them.

Rob: I’m hoping to gain as much experience as I can and also hopefully win the finals.

WPUK: What is the best thing about being a professional player?

Scott: We don't train until 12pm so my alarm is set for 11am each day, which is perfect. As far as water polo goes, the standard of training and games is really high, and it's nice that water polo gets so much media attention. There are always camera crews around at training and press conferences before games. The worst thing is having to do all 4 swim-offs in games, which is hard work by the last quarter.

Rob: Getting paid to play sport!

 

WPUK: How’s the Spanish going?

Scott:  I studied Spanish a bit at school so that's made things a little easier. I can speak it quite well but it's difficult to understand a Spanish person at full speed, and Catalan is the main language in Barcelona so that can be confusing.

Rob: Not very well, I live with Scott and our goalkeeper both of which speak fluent English so I have been pretty lazy and not really tried too hard.

WPUK: What do you do to pass time between training and games?

Scott: We can take a quick train into Barcelona city and go for a mooch around, otherwise I spend 8 hours a day sat reading on the balcony, or wupping Parker at computer games.

Rob: I have a lot of spare time which can be very boring but mostly watch stuff on my laptop or the occasional visit into Barcelona.

 

WPUK: Who is the best player you have played against in the Spanish league?

Scott: I don't know many names but probably Ivan Perez. Even though he's 39 there isn't a player in the league who can handle him 1 v 1, because he's just a massive guy with great hands. It's a lose-lose situation for a defender because if he gets his hand on the ball it will be a foul or a goal, and if you get the better of him he's probably going to whack you when no one is looking.

Rob: I play mostly as centre back so the best centre forward is Ivan Perez. However one of the best players is actually Svilen Piralkov who is in my team who plays on position 2 but is a right hander and is top goal scorer in the league.


WPUK: What has been the best in game moment since you arrived?

Scott: As a team we put in a great all-round performance in the Catalan Cup to beat CN Barcelona 11 3 in front of our home crowd. It's great when everything clicks like that. I scored 4 goals in our first league game so that was a nice moment to start the season.

Rob: Scoring 3 against Navara was my personal, but beating Barcelona away was the best team.

 

WPUK: Are there any new training methods for our readers to try at their own clubs?

Scott: There are no secrets really. Make sure you do your swimming and legs so you have the base to work from, and some gym if you like. Then just make sure your man up/down and defenses are like clockwork and you'll be fine. There are eight Division 1 teams in Barcelona so we play a lot of midweek practice games against them and amongst ourselves which is great for match fitness. I try to practice a lot of shooting around blocks and shooting quickly after receiving a pass, rather than just shooting at a set keeper.

Rob: There’s nothing different we do here to at home just more and at higher intensity.

WPUK: What advice could you give to young players coming through?

Scott: Never be afraid of foreign teams or famous players. Most of it's just hype.

Rob: Never go in to a game thinking you will lose. I think that’s been the difference in many games with GB and 'higher rated' teams, sometimes we expect to lose.

Scott is currently out injured due a problem with his foot, but hopes to be back in the water by the end of the season. Thanks a lot for your time, guys.

 

Good luck with the rest of the season!

 

 

Sean King bagged a hat-trick as SV Weiden held third-placed SGW Hannover to a thrilling draw in the German Bundesliga.

The Brit scored in each of the first three quarters in the 9-9 draw and was unlucky not to see his team run out victors after they were denied a penalty in the dying seconds.

The result leaves Weiden sixth in the table and maintains their chances of direct qualification to the playoffs.

Craig Figes’ UNSW Wests Magpies dropped their first points of the season in the Australian National League but upheld their unbeaten record in their double header with Victorian Tigers.

Wests were held to a 6-6 draw in the opening fixture on Friday but responded in style in the return fixture two days later, running out 11-8 winners.

GB captain Figes continued his scoring streak in the second match, finding the net twice for Wests as they remain third in the league.

The British trio of Mike Bourne, Ric Lawlor and Matt Holland helped PSV Eindhoven to their third victory of the season in the Dutch Hoofdklasse, winning 6-5 against Charles Booth’s Het Ravijn.

Despite one goal from Bourne, PSV couldn’t secure a six point weekend, slipping to a 10-4 defeat at ZPB H & L Productions.

British players Dan Laxton and Alex Parsonage also played in the Hoofdklasse’s weekend fixture but both suffered defeats.

Despite having lead 3-0 after the first quarter, Laxton’s AZ&PC suffered a 5-4 defeat to ZPB H & L Productions on Saturday before letting a half-time lead slip on the way to a 10-8 loss to De Zijl (SG) on Sunday.

Parsonage’s UZSC battled bravely in a 16-10 defeat at third-placed Electrolux on Saturday before a 19-4 at second-placed GZC Widex Donk a day later.

Finally, Adam Scholefield scored once as PVSK-Fuszert suffered an 18-7 defeat to Szolnok VSC in the Hungarian National League.

Source: http://www.swimming.org/britishswimming/water-polo/european-club-updates/king-hat-trick-keeps-sv-weiden-in-the-hunt/8194/

The following is taken from the British Water Polo League Committe meeting minutes - 16/2/11

Olympics: Chairman contacted British Swimming Chief Executive David Sparkes to express BWPL concerns about the make-up of the British Swimming team that will justify to the British Olympic Association Panel the entry of GB men’s and women’s teams into the 2012 Olympics (BWPL Minute 114/10). The main concern was that the British Swimming delegation exclusively comprised professional members of ASA/British Swimming staff and lacked what the league regarded as the vital element of an amateur enthusiast to speak on behalf of players, volunteer coaches and administrators.

Mr Sparkes stated that the league’s views had been carefully considered and, while the “passion and desire to contribute” was understood, it was felt that the team was the strongest possible. It had a deep knowledge of elite water polo as well as issues around the Olympic Qualification Standards and the criteria against which BoA will judge the sport. The BS team would “argue strongly for the inclusion of both teams and we believe we have amassed all the evidence we need to satisfy the Panel.” 
 

The 2011 British Gas Water Polo Championship titles were decided in emphatic style as City of Manchester women claimed their fourth consecutive Championship title and Bristol Central were victorious in the men’s competition.

With the best of Britain on show at the Manchester Aquatics Centre the spectators were treated to a day of first class water polo.

Looking to make it four British titles in a row, City of Manchester women’s team came into the match with an unbeaten run of 15 and the 2011 League title to their name.

Having convincingly beaten West London Penguin 11-6 yesterday in the semi-final Manchester were up against City of Liverpool who were looking to avenge their fourth place finish at last year’s Championships.

Liverpool got the goal scoring underway and a competitive first quarter saw the teams match each other goal for goal ending 2-2 after the first eight minutes.

Tactical work and tight defences kept the scoring low throughout the second period ending with the half-time whistle blowing at 3-3, but it was Manchester’s strength that proved the differentiator as they began to run away with the match.

Penalties were exchanged, each finding the back of the net, but Manchester’s next four goals left Liverpool with too much to do.

A late penalty scored by Liverpool’s Becky Benson was not enough to harm Manchester’s hold on the game and the home side won their fourth British Championships title 9-5.

“It’s amazing,” said Manchester team captain Kate Massender. “The whole team’s worked really hard and we’ve had a great season so far, so it’s all paid off.

“The end of the match was much better for us, we stepped up our game and played well. Claire [Nixon] scored four goals - she’s got a cracking shot and not much can stop her!”

The third/fourth play-off between last year’s runners-up, West London Penguin, and London Otter needed extra time to find a winner.

After a 5-5 draw in normal time, the players lined up to contest two further periods of three minutes each. Near misses and close saves kept the first period goalless, but it was Lorelle Dooley who fired the deciding shot for Penguin and eventually won them the match which finished 6-5.

The men’s final between last year’s runners-up Bristol and home side City of Manchester was a game of skill and tactics.

Lots of opportunities in the end-to-end play saw the teams on constant alert, but both defences worked hard to prevent shots from being converted and keep the score low.

With Manchester leading 2-1 at the start of the second quarter, Bristol’s Stuart Fennell equalised. But Manchester once again took the lead just before half time.

A double man-up advantage early in the second half allowed Bristol to level the match at 3-3 but Richard Polya put Manchester ahead once again.

Excellent saves from Britain’s Ed Scott prevented Bristol adding to their tally but a penalty conceded in the final seconds of the third quarter allowed Bristol to equalise once again.

Exchanging goals once more meant that with two and a half minutes to go both teams were level at 5-5

With 39 seconds left on the clock Bristol’s Matt Thresher stunned the Manchester defence to take the lead for the first time which turned out to be the decisive shot of the match as Bristol played out the rest of the game to secure a 6-5 victory and the British Gas Water Polo Championship title.

“It’s amazing,” said Bristol team captain Jon Hutchings. “It was an amazing game, the defence dominated throughout and we’re just so happy.

“We’ve learnt throughout the season how best we play and it’s paid off here. Our goalkeeper Andy Crawford has played fantastically all season and today he was a key part of why we won.

The third/fourth place play-off saw last year’s champions Lancaster claim a 10-8 victory over Cheltenham in a hard fought match.

Match results:

Women’s Final
City of Manchester 9 - 5 City of Liverpool

Women’s 3/4 Play-off
West London Penguin 6 – 5 London Otter

Men’s Final
Bristol Central 6 – 5 City of Manchester

Men’s 3/4 Play-off
Lancaster 10 – 8 Cheltenham