MAY WATER POLO MADNESS

Midland Water Polo League 

April saw the start of CSWPC’s U16’s Midlands League campaign. The first match was at Northampton School for boys against Northampton’s first team (Northampton Y). An intense match finished a very close 15-16 to CSWPC. Next was a home fixture against Solihull Gold. Another team who has 2 teams in this years youth league, this is Solihulls first team. A close match again for the youngsters but Solihull just got the edge finishing 9-10 to Solihull. At the end of April the team also took on, at home, Boldmere. A strong win for the team final score 19-15 to CSWPC. Currently the team are lying in second place in the league but there are plenty of matches to go. We wish the junior players good luck and success in 2019.

Bristol & West Water Polo League

Ladies

The ladies first outing was to Cardiff International pool against Welsh Wanderers. The team had a strong first outing being close in score throughout most of the match. Telling for CSWPC was the 3rd quarter where Welsh Wanderers took the advantage. Final score was 13-8 to Welsh  Wanderers. Next up were Bristol, away again at Hengrove pool the team were low on numbers so had to call on some of the very junior members. Alice Tubby and Freya Webster took the long journey to Bristol for a few moments in the pool but their assistance was greatly received. A close match CSWPC this time dominated the 3rd quarter but it wasn’t enough, final score 8-6 to Bristol. CSWPC currently lie bottom of the league table, however there are plenty of matches to go.

Mens

Cheltenham Spartans continued their 2019 campaign in the Bristol and West League with matches against Welsh Wanderers and Bristol this month. Welsh Wanderers took control of the start of the match Spartans came out of the first quarter trailing 4-1 but turned this around in the second quarter. After a storming 7 goals in the 2nd quarter CSWPC continued to play the advantage in the 3rd quarter. Despite Wanderers trading to bring it back final score was 11-10 to Cheltenham Spartans. A trip to Bristol produced an interesting match for Spartans. The first quarter was dominated by Bristol but a sequence of events which included quite a few Bristol players wrapped and the coach dressing roomed Cheltenham began to dominate the weakened Bristol team. Great to see some of the youngsters attending this match and scoring goals. Final score 11-8 to Spartans. This means CSWPC Spartans are now top of the league in the Bristol & West Senior Mens’s Premier Division.

LEN Men’s European Junior Water Polo Championships 2019

The Group B qualifiers for the LEN Men’s European Junior Water Polo Championship took place in Manchester 3-5 May. Great Britain hosted the event in Manchester but there will be three other group qualifiers taking place in Malta, Portugal and Turkey. The top two teams from each qualifier will then go forward to the finals held in August in Tbilisi, Georgia.

CSWPC’s own Charlie Brogan was selected for the GB team and gave the following account of the event. GB’s first game was against Israel. The team went into the game with nervous excitement and started strongly with a counter attack and goal within the first minute. Team GB  created multiple chances to score goals but failed to convert them. Ultimately this led to a disappointing loss to Israel, final score GB 7 – Israel 9.

The next day GB faced Slovakia. After watching Slovakia beat France the night before the team knew they would be a tough, experienced team to beat. Phil Powell (Head Coach) gave an uplifting team talk about keeping percentages high and converting opportunities. The team were ready. After 2 quarters the team had worked hard and kept in the game. The score was tied 4 all. A rough 3rd quarter where GB failed to convert left the team trailing 7-4. The game ended 12-9 to Slovakia but left the GB boys proud about their performance against a much more experienced team.

Sunday saw the final match for GB against France. Fighting for a chance to qualify, the team started strongly as in the previous matches. By half time GB were 4-2 down but were still well in the competition to win the game. A disappointing third quarter GB were set back 11 goals to 5 entering the final period. A strong defensive quarter with only 1 goal scored against them the final score was 12- 5 to France.

Sadly this wasn’t the result the GB boys needed and they will not qualify for the finals later in the year. Charlie said “It was an honour and an unforgettable experience to play for my country in front of a home crowd against highly experienced teams”. He will now be under consideration to join Tom Hunt and Oliver Stanley in the GB U19’s training squad. Good Luck Charlie!  

Also at the Manchester event there were 2 showcase matches with plenty of CSWPC players involved. First up were the Ladies showcase with the GB 01’s playing the GB 02’s. CSWPC’s own Alice Whitehead took the honour of being goalie for the 01 team. Amy Berry captained the 02 team.  Fantastic polo was on show, it gave both teams opportunities to experiment with the new rules. The 01’s put in a surge at the end, final score was 12-7 to GB 01’s. Both coaches were happy to have the opportunity to see the teams in action. Obviously the 02’s have their tournament in September and the 01’s have a tournament in 2020 so will start their training programme very soon.

Not to be left out the men also had a show case match England Senior Men against Scotland Senior Men. Featuring CSWPC’s Rudi Polster for England and Dave Taylor as Assistant Coach. Englands senior men proved too strong for Scotland dominating each quarter and running out comfortable 16-7 winners. “Great preparation for this years World University Games and a standout performance in goal from England’s Dylan Green” said Tim Dunsbee Head Coach.

National Academy

Well done to Alice Tubby and Freya Webster who had their first taste of National Academy Training this weekend. They joined fellow CSWPC players Gigi Boskett-Williams, Charlotte Martin, Sophia Fountain, Harry Mason, George Glover & Lorcan Halstead at the 2004’s and younger academy. Although the programme is nearing its conclusion it is still a great experience and will hold the girls in good stead when their age group starts on the training programme. The 2004’s will trial later in the year for National Squad training. Good luck guys.

 

 

Finally congratulations to Vicki Hawkins who has been selected to play for Englands Senior Women at 2019 EU Nations Water Polo Cup in Brno, Czech Republic at the end of the month. England face Scotland and Serbia in Group C. Good luck England we are hopeful you’ll progress to the later stages.

That about rounds off May. The U17’s NAGS Bronze medal play off will be at the end of the month closely followed by the SBAT British Championship 1st & 2nd June held at Sandford Parks Lido. A thrilling weekend of amazing Water Polo is promised and if the sun shines a totally tropical feel will be had. CSWPC’s first team will be playing. Hopefully repeating the skill and gamesmanship in one of the prelim games on 5th May where a good win was had against Lancaster. Check out the facebook page for some amazing shots of the action. Many thanks Dai Edwards. Come down and enjoy the day and most importantly support CSWPC.