South East Girls finish 4th in Under 16 Inter – Regional Water Polo Tournament

The South East U16 Girls Water-Polo Team travelled to Liverpool on the 28th and 29th May 2016 to play in the Inter Regional Tournament. Following a disappointing campaign in 2015, where the girls unfortunately to failed to win any games, the SE went to the 2016 event ranked 11th of the 11 competing Regions. It was therefore a tremendous result for the South East to reach the semi finals of the tournament, finishing in a deserved 4th place!

The SE team was:

Lottie APPS Charlie BOND Anashe CHISADZA
Liv HENDERSON Hannah GOODHEAD Sarah ROGERS
Lucy HELLIWELL Evie FAWKES Lily TURNER
Amber RESTALL Grace TURNER

The SER was one of the youngest teams in the Tournament. Experienced players, Lily, Sarah and Anashe played every minute of every game, not only guiding the less experienced players in the pool but mentoring their younger team mates during the tournament. Captain – Lily showed skills and leadership throughout and was justifiably chosen as the South East’s Most Valuable Player. The team entered the tournament without a recognised goalkeeper, Grace volunteered to go in goal and made a string of exceptional saves.

The SER girls achieved the following results:

Group games on 28th May 2016
North East Steelers 4 – 10 South East
London Sharks 9 – 7 South East
North West Lightening 1- 6 South East
South East 8 – 3 Scotland Saltires
Finals on 29th May 2016
Ireland 7 -0 South East
Bronze Medal match
South East 4 – 8 London

 

Ireland went on to win the tournament.

Water-polo continues to thrive in the SE, all but 3 of the team that competed at the end of May are eligible to play in the same event in 2017 . Five members of the team are eligible to play in the Under 14 Inter Regional Tournament in December 2016.

Special thanks goes to Team Managers: Debbie Helliwell and Jill Rogers.

Steve BOND

SER Coach

ASA South East Region Boy’s Water Polo 1999 & Younger Inter Regional Championships (Division 2), 27/28 February 2016

Squad pictured are as follows; –
Back Row;- Alastair Roberts (Team Administrator), Adam Pearson, Matt O’Dell, James Blything, James Jervis, Guy Proctor, Ben Alcorn (Squad Coach)
Front Row; – Ben Chegwin, Zach Elliott, Ben Curtis, Archy Burnell, Max Nugent, Elliott Hurst

After a very late notification of the date of this competition from the ASA, we only had a relatively short period of time to train and select a squad that would represent the region at this event. The final squad was selected after training sessions at Splashpoint in Worthing and eventually the following team travelled to Manchester for what was a busy program of 5 matches over the weekend; –

  1. James Blything (Hastings)
  2. Ben Curtis (Worthing)
  3. Archy Burnell (Worthing)
  4. Adam Pearson (Hastings)
  5. Ben Chegwin (Hastings)
  6. Matt O’Dell (Crawley)
  7. Zach Elliott (Portsmouth)
  8. Max Nugent (Southampton)
  9. Elliott Hurst (Crawley)
  10. James Jervis (Portsmouth)
  11. Guy Proctor (Dover)

The individual match reports are as follows; –

Saturday 27th, 14.45
South East 3, East 5
Quarter scores; – 1-4, 0-0, 1-1, 1-0

A tough start against a quality opposition and a slow start in the first quarter eventually cost the boys a chance of a positive result. The team played well and our defending was particularly good after the first period and as a result we were in the game right up to the finish.
With a better start and if we had taken a number of the chances that we missed we possibly could have taken something form the match. But the manner of the performance definitely indicated that the squad would be competitive in all of the matches.
Scorers; – Ben Curtis 2, Archy 1
Exclusions; – Adam 3, Elliott 1, James 1

Saturday 27th, 17.00
South East 11, North East Reivers 5
Quarter Scores; – 1-1, 5-1, 2-1, 3-2

This proved to be an excellent win and after a drawn first quarter we took control of the match and the final score was probably a fair reflection of the difference between the teams. We were particularly good in the second quarter when 2 goals from Ben Curtis along with goals from Archy, Adam and Elliott took the game away from the opposition.
We should possibly have scored more but we missed a number of chances when we really should added to our score.

Scorers; – Adam 5, Ben Curtis 2, Elliott 2, Archy 1, Ben Chegwin 1
Exclusions; – Matt 3, Adam 1, Ben Chegwin 1, Zach 1, James 1

Saturday 27th, 18.30
South East 8, North West Ravens 5
Quarter Scores; – 2-0, 2-1, 2-3, 2-1

Another good performance against a talented opposition and we definitely deserved to win the match. We played well to win the first quarter 2-0 and James was in excellent form in goal making a number of key saves. Ben Curtis had a particularly good game and led the scoring with 5 goals but this was a good team performance where all the squad contributed.

Scorers; – Ben Curtis 5, Ben Chegwin 1, Matt O’Dell 1, Elliott Hurst 1
Exclusions; – Zach 3, Adam 2, James 2, Ben Curtis 1, Archy 1

Sunday 28th, 10.45
South East 1, Wales 11
Quarter Scores; – 1-3, 0-3, 0-2, 0-3

Wales went on to deservedly win the competition and we knew that we would be in for a very tough match. A number of the opposition squad had played for the Welsh Wanderers in the second division of the recently completed British Water Polo league and this experience was fairly self-evident in the standard of their play.
We actually played well at times and our defending was always well organised but the Welsh just proved to be too strong. We struggled to create much in attack and we were also guilty of missing some chances when we really should have scored. Overall a very tough match but we still remained competitive and all of the squad made significant contributions.

Scorer; – Archy 1
Exclusions; – James 2, Ben Curtis 1, Archy 1, Adam 1, Matt 1, Max 1

Sunday 28th, 14.30
South East 3, Midlands 7
Quarter Scores; – 2-1, 1-1, 0-3, 0-2

A tough finish against the eventual runners up and we made an excellent start leading 2-1 at the end of the first quarter after goals from Ben Curtis and Adam. We still led at half time but the busy program took its toll in the second half where the squad started to tire and this was highlighted by the number of exclusions that we conceded. This was still a really encouraging performance against a talented and physical opposition and we were competitive throughout the match.

Scorers; – Adam 2, Ben Curtis 1
Exclusions; – Adam 2, Ben Chegwin 2, Ben Curtis 1, Archy 1, Zach 1, Elliott 1, James 1.

Overall this was a very encouraging weekend for the squad and we were very pleased to win two matches with two very competitive and close defeats. All the squad made significant contributions but Ben Curtis was named MVP for an overall excellent weekend. James Blything was outstanding in goal and deserves great credit for making a number of excellent saves but all of the squad played well. Ben Alcorn the team enthusiastically and imaginatively and the squad will have learned a great deal over the weekend.

The squad stayed together on the Saturday night at a local Travelodge and all of the boys and parents enjoyed a meal out together in the evening.

A fourth placed finish in this six team competition was well deserved and we are encouraged that 8 of this squad will be eligible to play again in next years competition which will be for the 2000 (& younger) age group.

University Water Polo Scholarships

The ASA has published a comprehensive guide to help water polo players from across the country find university scholarships.

The ASA Water Polo Scholarship Guide centralises the range of sports scholarships and bursaries available to water polo player at universities in from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The interactive guide provides players with information about the opportunities available for players from full scholarships offering financial incentives, one-to-one coaching, strength and conditioning training, physiotherapy and nutritional support, to bursaries with full gym membership.

It also details information about university gym and pool facilities, university water polo teams and links to the relevant contacts for more information.

Helen Mack receives President’s Plate

 

Helen Mack, the Regions lead on swim21 and Young Volunteer Programme was awarded the President’s Plate by Regional President Roger Prior at the Region’s Annual Council Meeting in September.

Well known to all clubs in the Region as a ‘go to’ person, Helen’s work also includes organising training courses and keeping us all up to date with our sport in the Region through the monthly Club Update.

She is also involved in looking for funding opportunities to support clubs and volunteers. In addition Helen works with the SER Development Group and has recently started working with discipline groups.

On being presented with the award Helen said: ‘It was a total shock, I had no idea. I thoroughly enjoy my role with the SER and working alongside some amazing and committed volunteers. It is great to work within the sport which gave me so much enjoyment and fulfilment as a swimmer during my time at City of Sheffield SC and I still love to teach as a volunteer for my local club and schools’.

The President’s Plate is awarded annually by the outgoing President.