Sedgefield Water Polo Club would like to congratulate two of its members who have recently returned from Brno, Czech Republic after representing England in the U17 EU Nations Tournament for the second time.
Ben Alderson and Ryan Griffiths (both 16) have played water polo since a very young age, training hard at club and regional level, before being selected to be part of the U19 England Junior Mens squad in 2021. They were both selected to represent England in this tournament after competing in the same tournament last October and subsequent rigorous tests on their game awareness, swimming, passing and shooting at their monthly squad training camps which are held at various locations across the country.
The squad got off to a good start with a convincing 18-10 win vs Luxembourg, followed by a tight 13-13 draw vs tournament runners up Lithuania. This placed England into the 5-8 place categorisation tournament by 1 goal difference.
They overcame a determined 2006 age group GB squad 12-10, before hard-fought losses, to firstly, the Czech Republic supported by a partisan crowd 11-10, then Austria 20-12 which left them with a final position of 7th in the tournament.
The boys found the level of polo from the European teams to be exceptionally high but thoroughly enjoyed the experience and scored a fantastic 19 goals between themselves during the three day tournament; Ben was delighted to see he was the second top goal scorer for England with 15 goals and 11th overall in the tournament. Matches were live streamed on You Tube to allow their friends, family, and other members of the water polo community, to watch.
Sedgefield Water Polo Club operates from Newton Aycliffe Leisure Centre and is always looking for new members. We offer a range of different sessions per week for ages 8 to adult, so why not come along and join the fun? We have members from beginners (Level 8), youngsters to adult sessions available. You won’t be disappointed with this fun and exciting team sport, which helps improve overall fitness and swimming at the same time.
Please contact us via email to receive details of our club app in order to book a free taster session; sedgefieldwp@hotmail.com