Water Polo Results & Reports

Teamipswich Under 16s are regional silver medallists

Teamipswich Under 16s Water Polo Team finished as silver medallists in the East Region Junior Summer cup held at Watford at the weekend.

The tournament saw Basildon taking the bronze medals, Ipswich taking silver and the home side (Watford A) deservedly taking the gold medals. In a heated and heavily contested tournament. Ali Clements and Amy Ennion were Ipswich's joint top goal scorers with 4 a piece.

Ipswich's first clash was against Watford B, in which they scored three quick goals and retained their lead through a goalless second half to record a comfortable win over the young and relatively inexperienced side.

Ipswich's second match was against the favourites, Watford A. Playing in an unfamiliar deepwater pool, Ipswich were unable to prevent four goals being scored in the first half, although they did claw one back with a superb late goal. In the second half, however, Ipswich lost the energy and determination that was evident in the first period, and Watford were able to slot a steady stream of goals past the Ipswich defensive line, resulting in a final score of 13-1.

Dispirited by the heavy defeat that they had suffered at the hands of Watford A, Ipswich's next game was a critical point in the tournament. The game that followed, against a very strong Basildon team, was an extremely tense affair and proved to be the most exciting and evenly matched game in the tournament. The defence from both sides was first rate and neither side could find a way to punch through the final line. Late in the second half, while the score was 2-2, Ipswich finally found the elusive goal that they had been searching for (scored by Ali Clements). Now late in the game Basildon reacted quickly and desperately to fight back and regain some form of points from the game and in the final seven seconds they had a fantastic chance. Luckily for Ipswich the shot was wide and Ipswich took their second win of the tournament.

The final game was an exciting local affair between Ipswich and Deben, the rivalry stretched tensions between the two sides almost to breaking point, and in a fast paced game of attack and counter-attack Ipswich emerged the better side claiming their third win, 4-2.

The squad was: Rebecca Atherton, Gabriel Bambridge, Jamie Bird, Jack Chamberlin, Ali Clements (captain), Jack Elden, Amy Ennion, Jack Faul, Nick Fisher, Evelyn Granat, Lucy Granat, Alisdair Penman and Grace Williams.

Mallorca Tournament

A squad of 13 teamispwich water polo players flew to Palma, Mallorca, at the weekend to take part in the inaugural Proinosa Invitation Water Polo tournament.

The squad included four teenagers – Tom Ealham and Owen Stephens, who are both now playing regularly for their for university teams, Robbie Pryke and Peter Stephens. Also in the squad were Tom Young and Ben Brennan, two promising newcomers who still have considerable potential to develop.

Competition proved to be fierce against Spanish teams who were fielding some international standard players, including a former Cuban captain. Matches were played in a deepwater pool (5 metres deep) and at a higher tempo than the Eastern League in which teampsiwch play most of the competitive matches.

 Chris Pryke, who was playing his last matches as club captain after five years, before handing over to Phil Trett, said: "It was a fantastic weekend for the squad. With the Spanish teams having the pool time to train for several hours a day it was always going to be a very challenging event for us, and it was a very tired squad by the end of the weekend. However it was a great experience to be able to play against some top level opposition and gave the squad plenty of ideas about our further development.

We were staggered by both the quality and quantity of the facilities available for swimming and water polo in Mallorca. Throughout the weekend we also received fantastic hospitality from Proinosa our Spanish hosts."

Six teams contested the tournament, including UK national league team Cambridge City, and Cambridge University. the Spanish teams were Proinosa Malllorca, CN Ciutat and CW Campus Esport.

The teamipswich squad was:

Chris Pryke, Robbie Pryke, Phil Trett, Nick Trett, Tom Ealham, Dave Ealham, Chris Stephens, Owen Stephens, Peter Stephens, Ian Granat, Tom Young, Ben Brennan, and Nick Blaxill.

The teamispwch squad trasins at Crown Pools on Tuesdays and Fridays at 8pm.