Post by Sue Seagroatt
A number of Penguins played in the Hillingdon Under-15 Water Polo team which performed amazingly well at the London Youth Games at Crystal Palace on Saturday 21 June.
The team of 12 comprised a mix of girls and boys from years 7–10. Half the team were experienced players, while the other half only learnt to play water polo in the last few months. The team was Nick Birch, Ilyas Raja, Sam Roberts, David Reynard, Elana Keiles, Joanna Psoinos, Samir Garnie, Saharla Warsame, Yalin Gulen, Michael Seagroatt, Toby Roberts and Patrick Brown.
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Despite being in the harder of the two qualifying groups, the team won the first three matches in blinding form, beating Richmond 6-5, Haringey 12-9 and last year’s winners and top seed, Southwark 8-7. They lost the last qualifying match 4-7 to Croydon putting them second in the group overall.
In the quarter finals the team beat Hackney 12-6.
The draw put them up against Southwark once again in the semi-finals , and they lost 3-9.
Despite their enthusiasm, the players were running low on energy for the 3rd place play-off which ended in a win for Croydon.
Overall the Hillingdon team came a very impressive 4th place and had the consolation that we were the only team to beat the eventual winners. Well done team!
The young team is already looking forward to returning next year with a team stronger for a year’s worth of extra training.Behind the scenes, Penguin members were responsible for much of the organisation of the London Youth Games water polo over the last year. Club members also helped with the organisation and running of events on the day, and played a part in fielding teams in two other boroughs, City of London and Richmond.
Any child who is a good swimmer and is aged 12 or over is welcome to come for a free water polo trial on Saturday afternoons in term time at Uxbridge Pool. Who knows, you could be selected to join the Hillingdon LYG team next year! Contact hillingdonwaterpolo@hotmail.com for more details.