Sedgefield Water Polo Club sent two teams to the Manchester Festival the biggest tournament in Great Britain for young players with 40 teams in attendance.
The under 13’s team started with a hard game against Manchester Ambrose and won 4-3. In their next group game they beat Liverpool Icebegs and in their final group game beat Warrington 4-1.
In the quarter final Sedgefield defeated Merseyside 5-1 and in the semi final beat Bolton comfortably 7-2. This saw them up against Yorkshire Champions, Rotherham in the final. In a close game Sedgefield’s top performer and goal scorer Michael Hampshire (12) scored the winner with a few seconds to go to make the final score 4-3 to Sedgefield.
This was a tremendous performance by the young Sedgefield team against the big city clubs. Sedgefield under 15 team unfortunately had to field an under strength team due to illness and holidays and had to use some of the younger team players. In their first group game they defeated sister club Lancaster 6-2, then beat East Midlands comfortably 9-2 and in their final group game were too strong for Welsh team Newport, winning 13-1.
In the quarter final Sedgefield comfortably defeated Manchester Hawks 7-4. In the Semi Final they were up against Yorkshire Champions Rotherham/Sheffield who combined to make sure they defeated Sedgefield at all costs by 5-1.
In the bronze medal match Sedgefield comfortably defeated Merseyside 6-3.
The two outstanding performers in the two competitions for Sedgefield were Niall Coulthard (10) and Michael Hampshire (12) who both had to play in both age groups because of the shortage of players in the older team with great tenacity and a really positive attitude.
The other members of the Sedgefield squad on the day was Kris Egginton, Connor Keeble, Michael Cousins, Ben Stephenson, Richard Murray, Elliot Edworthy making a very positive debut for Sedgefield, Haydn Craggs, Kate Harrison, Poppy Stephenson, Hollie Turnbull, Joseph Boys, Jake Mendelson, Jessica Webb, Ben Alderson, Daniel Millington and Kes Mc Ewan.
Anyone interested in joining the highly successful Sedgefield squad based at Newton Aycliffe Leisure Centre, aged from 6 years upwards and likes swimming, can get more details on 07818 554449.
