GBR Water Polo team prepares for European Championships
8th July 2014
The British Gas GBR Women’s Water Polo team will travel to Budapest next week to compete in the LEN European Water Polo Championship finals.
The team, which had its funding removed by UK Sport earlier this year, will face Greece, the Netherlands and hosts Hungary in Group A of the competition which starts on 14 July.
This will be GBR’s second consecutive finals and follows a successful qualifying tournament in January.
Coach Kostas Vamvakaris said: “Training has been going really well. The team has been centralised in Manchester for the last six weeks which has given us time to work on our tactics and prepare for the tournament.”
Despite the uncertainty surrounding the future of the team they head to the European Championships on the back of a strong 9-7 win against World Champions Spain in the FINA World League and success playing as team England in the Commonwealth Water Polo Championships.
Vamvakaris is confident these recent wins have had a positive impact on the team: “The win against Spain in April was a huge confidence boost for the players. They feel very positive and believe in themselves which is showing in their game.
“The knowledge that the top six teams in Budapest automatically qualify for the World Championships and the 2016 European Championships is also a great incentive for the team. We finished seventh in 2012 so it would be very satisfying to finish higher, especially in light of the current funding situation.”
GBR player Fran Clayton added: “Since finishing our club season abroad and returning to Manchester we’ve all been training really hard. As well as pool and gym work, we’ve been focusing on tactics and looking at where we can improve.
“It’s been really good to train together and we’re all hoping we can get the right results in Budapest and show that with the right investment Water Polo can have a bright future in this country.”
The team travel to Madrid tomorrow (9 July) to take part in a training camp with Spain before heading to Budapest.
Captain Rosie Morris said: “Spain play in a similar way to Greece so the training camp will be a good opportunity to get match sharp before our first game.
“We are all aware that because of the funding situation this could be our last major competition together so everyone is really up for it. Our fitness levels are good, we’re confident in our tactics and we’re ready to go.”
The GBR team secured qualification to their second consecutive European Championship finals in January after finishing second in the group behind the Netherlands.
In February UK Sport announced it would be removing funding for Women’s Water Polo as part of its annual investment review of summer Olympic and Paralympic sports.
British Gas GBR Women’s Water Polo team:
• Rosie Morris (Captain) (b. Birmingham, c. Olympic Nice Natation, FRA)
• Angie Winstanley-Smith (b. South Shields, c. Lille UC Natation, FRA)
• Chloe Wilcox (b. Carlisle, c. CN Mataro, ESP)
• Claire Nixon (b. Stafford, c. University of Hawaii, USA)
• Pippa Temple (b. Reading, c. Princeton University, USA)
• Fran Clayton (b. Nottingham, c. ZG Eger, HUN)
• Peggy Etiebet (b. Lagos, c. Szentes, HUN)
• Hazel Musgrove (b. Watford, c. Ethnikos, GRE)
• Katie Hesketh (b. Lancaster, c. City of Liverpool)
• Rosie Huck (b. Stockport, c. City of Manchester)
• Aine Hoy (b. Manchester, c. Olympic Nice Natation, FRA)
• Jade Smith (b. Oldham, c. CN Mataro, ESP)
• Ciara Gibson-Byrne (b. Barcelona, c. CN Mataro, ESP)
GBR Group A matches:
• Wednesday 16 July, 12:00 GMT – GBR v Greece
• Friday 18 July, 13:30 GMT – GBR v Netherlands
• Sunday 20 July, 16:30 GMT – GBR v Hungary