Otter U/17s 4th in THE NATION

It was tough weekend for the Otter U/17s at the National Age Group U/17s Waterpolo Finals in Manchester this weekend. 

Saturday saw defending champions Otter take on Exeter in an extremely tense semi final. With the scores locked at 11 goals each at the final whistle the teams played extra time before the Exeter side managed to overcome Otter, on penalties. The game finished with a final score of 17-16, and after playing brilliantly and putting up a valient fight Otter was relegated to Sundays bronze medal match vs Rotherham. 

Congrats to all of the Otter players on playing so well, and fighting so hard this weekend. We're incredibly proud of you all. 

Congrats also to Rotherham Metro who won the Girls’ U17 bronze medal, defeating last years Champions Otter 5-2. In the final City of Manchester held off a resolute Exeter side to lift the Girls’ U17 title at the ASA National Age Group Water Polo Championships 2016.

Futura U/17s in National Age Group Plate finals

The Otter Futura girls were back in action this weekend in the National Age Group U17 Girls Plate finals in Manchester. 

Futura were drawn in a tough Group B, alongside Tyldesley & Welsh Wanders. The young Otter team who continued to improve throughout the finals, made it tough for Tyldesley in the first match before going down 5-3. They then put 4 goals past eventual group winners & Competition runners up Welsh Wanders loosing 9-4. Undeterred the Futura girls took on Cheltenham in the 5th / 6th Play off, and finished on a high, winning the match 8-5 to finish the competition on a high. Congratulations to all of the girls who played this weekend and throughout the championships. We're very proud of you all.  

Full results from the competition can be found on the ASA Waterpolo hub here.
 

4 Otter teams in action this weekend

Good luck to the all the players competing in the National Age Group U/17 & U/19 Championships this weekend in Manchester. Otter are well represented at the final weekend of the Championships with 4 teams in action. 

The Otter U/17s kick off their U/17 title defence on Saturday in the semi final vs Exeter @12:25pm. The Gold & Bonze medal games will be played on Sunday.

The Otter U/19s will be looking to go one better than last year where they finished as runners up in the U/19s competition. The U/19s are in action on Saturday at 4:45pm vs City of Manchester. The winner will go through to Sundays Gold Medal game, while the loser will play off on Sunday for Bronze.

Both of the Otter development teams are also in action this weekend in the plate finals. The Otter Futura U/19s take on Northampton @11:50am & City of Leeds at 3:30pm Saturday. While the Otter Futura U/17s are in action on Sunday vs Tyldesley at 12:10pm & Welsh Wanderers at 2:40pm. 

Good luck Otter Pups!

Sasha & the England U17 win Bronze

Otter Sasha Tinkler-Davies & the England U17 girls’ water polo team take bronze at the EU Nations Cup 2016 in Odense, Denmark.
The England U17 girls water polo team opened their EU Nations Cup 2016 campaign with two wins and one defeat in the group stages before falling to South Africa in their semi-final. But the 13-strong squad finished the competition on a high note with an impressive 11-6 victory over Malta to see England win bronze at the EU Nations Cup 2016 – an improvement of two places from 12 months ago.
England bounced back from their semi-final defeat with a strong opening quarter against Malta, who had defeated them in the first game of the tournament. Emily Pilkington opened the scoring early before adding a second goal and Rebecca Lee saw England end the first quarter with a 3-1 lead. After winning the second quarter swim-off, Fleur Kennedy scored twice to maintain England’s two goal lead going into halftime (6-4). The team held their lead consistently throughout the third quarter (7-5) before ending on a high with a final goal from Sasha Tinkler-Davies sealing a 11-6 final score and the third place on the rostrum.
Congrats to Sasha & the England team on the Bronze.

ENGLAND GIRLS’ 1999 SQUAD: Naya Patel – Grantham & Hucknall, Emily Pilkington – Sedgefield, Emily Watkins – Bristol, Jordan Parsons – Devonport Royal, Fleur Kennedy – Warley Water Polo, Sam Murby – Lancaster, Ellie Muncaster – Liverpool, Abbie Turner – Northampton, Sasha Tinkler-Davies – Otter, Frances Holder – Liverpool, Lauren Richardson – Leeds, Rebecca Lee – Manchester & Jennifer Herring – Exeter

Otter U/17s through to NAG Finals

Six-time champions City of Manchester have finished at the top of the Girls’ U17 Qualifiers 2016 table last weekend as they maintained their unbeaten record heading into next month’s finals. The qualifiers played at the Liverpool Aquatics Centre, were full of action. Defending champions Otter started slowly going down to City of Manchester (8-3 ) & Exeter (13-7) before securing their spot in the finals and a 3rd place ranking with a 5-4 win over Rotherham.

The Girls U17 Finals 2016 will take place at the Manchester Aquatics Centre from 23-24 April. A win in Saturdays 2nd vs 3rd Semi against Exeter will see Otter progress to the final where they will take on either  Manchester or Rotherham for the title. 

Otter through to U/17's NAG Qualifers

Otter & Otter Futura teams were both in action yesterday at the ASA National Age Group Water Polo Girls’ U17 Prelims. 

The Young Otter Futura development team were drawn in a very competitive Group A, where they took on the more experienced City of Manchester (12-0), Rotherham (6-2)  City of Liverpool (7-0) & Caledonia (8-3). The team played extremely well against tough older opposition. 

It wasn't smooth sailing for Otter on the Group B side of the draw either where there was nearly another shock. London Otter – going for a hat-trick of wins this year – left it until their last game to secure their spot in the Qualifiers. Last year’s fourth-placed side Exeter won the group, easing to victories over Welsh Wanderers, Cheltenham and Tyldesley after surprising Otter with an 8-3 win in their opening match in Gloucester. Otter quickly bounced back from their defeat to secure 17-3 victories over both Tyldesley and Cheltenham and set up a winner-takes-all clash with Welsh Wanderers for the second qualification spot. And any chances of an upset were quickly expelled as the London outfit came through 12-3 to book their spot at next weekend’s qualifiers in Liverpool.

Full results from there prelims here.

Champions Otter return to defend their U/17s NAGS title in 2016

All of last year’s National Age Group champions have confirmed that they will defend their national water polo crowns after entries closed for the U17 & U19 NAG Champs 2016. Among them are defending champions Otter who return to NAGS action in search of their third consecutive girls U/17s title. The Otter U/19s are looking to finish one place better again this year after finishing with silver in 2015, and bronze in 2014.  Following the success of our younger Otter '02s in the U/15s last year, Otter have also entered Otter Futura teams in both the U/17 & U/19 age group this year so that all our future stars can get as much experience at a National Level as possible. 

U19 Girls (1998 and under) Competition dates
Group A & B Preliminary round: 5 March – Liverpool Aquatics Centre
Qualification round: 9 – 10 April – Watford Leisure Centre
Finals weekend & Plate competition: 23 – 24 April Manchester Aquatics Centre

2016 U19 Girls Teams
Cheltenham
City of Leeds
City of Manchester
Exeter
City of Liverpool
Mid Sussex
Northampton
Otter
Otter Futura
Hucknall
Caledonia

U17 Girls (2000 and under) Competition dates
Group A Preliminary round: 12 March – The Edge, Leeds University
Group B Preliminary round: 13 March – GL1 Leisure Centre, Gloucester
Qualification round: 19 – 20 March – Liverpool Aquatics Centre
Finals weekend & plate competition: 23 – 24 April – Manchester Aquatics Centre

2016 U17 Girls Teams
Cheltenham
City of Manchester
Crawley
Exeter
City of Liverpool
Otter
Otter Futura
Rotherham
Tyldesley
Caledonia
Welsh Wanderers

 

GB Captain & Otter Izzy Dean looks proudly back on Baku 2015 Games

Team GB water polo captain Izzy Dean insisted the Brits’ could be proud of their Baku 2015 European Games campaign after finishing 11th overall. 

The Brits defeated Isreal 10-5 in their last match of the Games to finish their challenge on a high after seven matches in as many days. Defeat to Serbia in their penultimate game ultimately cost the Brits a top 10 place – their target going into the tournament, having snuck through the qualifiers on goal difference earlier in the year. 

Dean was adamant the team would only take positives from their experience in Baku, having played three of the top six European water polo nations in the form of Greece, the Netherlands and Hungary, for the first time in the careers of all but one of the squad. “We learned so much,’’ said Dean. “It was just an invaluable experience for us all. “It was our first time competing in such a high multi-sport event, and only one of us had ever competed in a European Water Polo Championships before. So it was definitely a great start for our water polo careers.”