Blog

Dear Penguins and friends,

I really enjoyed my time with our amazing Club in 2018. I am looking forward to having even more fun next year meeting as many of you as possible, across all sections. I plan to pay a visit to all our teams in the next three months.

I also want to make sure that the whole Club is kept informed of opportunities to support our competitors – believe me, they appreciate the cheers! More on that in due course; all ideas welcome about how best to do this.

For the senior water polo teams, the place to go for BWPL information is https://www.bwpl.org/ under “Fixtures”. Our men’s team next play on 12-13 Jan in Watford (I plan to go on the Sunday); for our women, it’s 5-6 Jan in Newport.

Check out the Juniors’ London League tournaments at http://w.fixtureslive.com/staticapi.aspx?a=comps_entered.ashx%3fclubid%3d38231

In the meantime, have a really good Christmas!

Louis

PS: Our Club is in good health, thanks to a lot of hard work from your committee, and in particular the section leads: Emma, Grimbo and Johnny. A huge thank you to them, and to Sarah, our secretary and Dave, our treasurer – their dedication and work are mind-blowing. Also, merci beaucoup to Sue and Claudio for their work with the juniors, and to all our coaches.

Our Hillingdon Penguin Summer Fun Tournament coincided with the England v Sweden football World Cup, so we too adopted a world cup theme!

The teams and captains were: England (purple) David, Brazil (white) Anderson, Croatia (blue) Adam and Belgium (green) Samir/Michael.

The winning team was Belgium… well done to Samir, Michael, Amy, Bailey, Vicky, Jenson, Aleks Y, Robyn, Riaz and Georgia.

Awards
The after-tournament party was also our awards ceremony.

The Penguin U14s Trophy for 2017 was awarded to the U14s team which played in the London League winter champs. They started the season as two separate teams and had to regroup into one due to players leaving last Autumn. It was amazing how these Penguins found a new determination and great to see some who had previously been sidelined, coming to the fore and playing their best yet.

 

Other awards winners for January-July 2018 were:

Development Group – awarded by coach Shaun

• Coach’s Player: Alexander Rothwell – consistent, takes on board all feedback, puts everything into training and matches.
• Most Improved: Jacob – has grit and determination to improve, now started club swim training, and strength and conditioning dry land training.

  

• Best Sportsman: Sam – a supportive and loyal team-mate, becoming a really strong addition to the competitive team.

  

• Best Newcomers: Órlaith & Riaz – although relatively new, they have learned fast and are already having an impact in the U13 team.

  

Intermediate and Advanced Groups – awarded by coach Aloka:

• Coach’s Player: Charlie – a key component of the U15 team’s attack; always looking to score and drop down to defend.
• Most Improved (Three Awards): Matthew – has grown into his new goalkeeping role, works hard, always keeps the defence in check and has created some good openings on the field; Molly – quiet but always willing to learn, focussed during training, has come a long way in improving her game and skills, and cheeky when she pretends not to hear the number of sprints she needs to do!; Will M – put up his hand to play goalie, has grown in confidence, is solid in defence as well as a utility player who can come out of goal and be a field player.
• Best Sportsman: Sean – a leader, he always holds the team together with discipline and motivation. Also independently picked by Adam for his improvement in technical skill.

Coaches
The coaches have formed a close unit, all working towards developing the children across the groups, supporting each other’s decisions and giving the children individualised feedback. Many thanks to Aloka and Shaun for their leadership and loyalty. Thanks also to Adam and Mickey – it has been fantastic to see their coaching skills improve.

Thank you, everyone!
We are fortunate to have so much parental support. The end of term party would not have happened without Sam’s tireless enthusiasm and hard work. Thanks also to Mike for buying the drinks and Rachel for managing the Under-13 team.

Finally a big thank you to everyone at Hillingdon Penguin – players, parents and coaches – for your individual contributions, and for making this section of the club your own.