Mhairi Nurthen made her reffing debut at Basingstoke on the 22 November. Mhairi was teamed up with international referee Brian Littlejohn, to take charge of Championnship 2 games between City of Birmingham and Polytechnic, & Polytechnic and Southampton. At 16 Mhairi is the youngest referee officiating in the league. The BWPL relies on volunteer referees & officials so it is great to see one of the young Otters stepping up. Keep up the good work Mhairi. If you are interested in helping out as either a volunteer table official or referee in 2015 please speak to Lex Higlett.
Otters attend GB U/17 training camp in Szentes
Otter Peggy Etiebet recently organized a training camp for the GB U17 Girls in Szentes as part of their preparation for the Baku European Olympics 2015. Four other Otters, Mhari Nuthern, Kathy Rogers and Izzy Dean - who was team Captain for the tour were selected for the trip with Nick Buller as head coach. Peggy went along as team manager - her first overseas trip as a team manager.
Otter dominates again at short course nationals
We saw some fantastic Otter performances at the main event of the Masters swimming calendar, the National Masters Short Course Championships in Sheffield. Although there were far too many fine performances to list here, some of the highlights are set out below.
Notably, Dave Warren swam a superb 200 fly to set a new European record in that event (40-44), and also set new British marks in the 200 and 400 free. Paul Goudie, competing in the 55-59 age group, picked up a gold, two silvers and three bronzes, whilst Roger Lloyd-Mostyn (70-74) also showed great versatility by picking up a gold and three silvers. Bob Palmer (70-74), particularly enjoyed holding off his brother in-law to take the 200 back title! Also in the 200 back, Lizzie Redpath (70-74), picked up a fantastic silver. Roger Phillips (70-74), showed impressive endurance levels to win gold in the 800 free and silver in the 400 free. Gina Hobson swam a broad range of events, most notably picking up golds in the 50 and 100 back events in the 35-39 category, with Matt Davis also medalling in the same events in the men’s 30-34 age group. Lex Higlett showed real strength in the freestyle events, medalling in the 100, 200 and 400 distances. Oli Wilson and Neal Thomson flew the flag for Otter in the very tough 18-25 age group, with Oli picking up medals in both the 50 and 100 free events in very rapid times.
The weekend also saw a number of swimmers making their first Nationals appearances for Otter. Craig Gillespie (25-29) made a fine debut with medals in both the 100 and 200 breast events. Celia Marcadal (25-29) picked up a bronze in the 50 back, as well as putting in some fine relay swims. David Jones (30-34) was also an integral part of a number of medal winning relays, in addition to strong individual performances in the sprint free and fly events. Adam Brown (25-29) also put in a couple of very nippy swims in the 50 free and 50 fly events. We hope you all enjoyed your first major event for Otter!
As ever, Otter showed strength in depth in the relay events. The pick of the bunch was the women’s 120+ team breaking the European record in the 4x100 free. Well done Celia Marcadal, Lex Higlett, Olivia Reynolds and Gina Hobson! There were also gold medals for the 4x100 medley team (Hannah Brown, Craig Gillespie, Felicity Hannon and Nico Barber) in the 100+ age group; whilst in the 120+ age group the team of Cat Hasnain, Kat Hedley, Gina Hobson and Lex Higlett won the 4x50 medley relay, and in the same age group Gina Hobson, Dave Warren, Dave Roberts and Lex Higlett won the 4x100 medley team event. In the 280+ age group the team of Roger Lloyd-Mostyn, Bob Palmer, Tony Ray and Roger Phillips won the 4x50 free relay. Thanks to everyone for representing the club in the relays, in particular Ben Thomas, Cat Hasnain and Gina Hobson who barely had time to catch their breath after their 200 back events to jump in the water again to lead off their respective medley relays.
On behalf of the entire team we would also like to thank head coach Steve Bratt for getting everyone in shape for the meet, and for helping everyone on poolside pre and post-race (ably assisted by Aeron on the Friday). Thanks also to Tony Ray for shepherding everyone in to their relay teams, and Lesley Davies for organising the accommodation and the team meal on the Saturday night which was enjoyed by everyone.
If anyone is interested in competing for the club in future, but is not sure how to go about it, then please do ask Coach Steve, your Captains, or any of your co-swimmers who will be more than happy to point you in the right direction.
Reunion of 1964 National Water Polo Championship team (October 2014)
On 10th October 2014, through the initiative of John Towers and Tony Milton, a 50th anniversary reunion was convened at The Lord Tredegar in Bow in London of the Otter team that won the 1964 National Club Water Polo championship.
Several of the team gained either swimming or water polo international honours. Murray (Tich) McLachlan (now resident in California) represented South Africa at the 1960 Rome Olympics coming 6th in the 400m and 1500m free. He came to Otter after winning a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University. John Towers was a GB international goalkeeper. Duncan Kemp (now resident in Portugal) was a GB international from 1959-64 and former GB WP Captain. Tony Milton represented GB at the 1960 Rome Olympics in the 4 x200m free relay, where the team placed 4th. Among the other members of that 1964 team, we have lost touch with Len Elsom and Bob Hunt (GB under 21). Neil Paine, now resident in South Africa, sent his apologies for nonattendance. Our then Coach and non-playing Captain, Eric Kimber, died a number of years ago, and sadly Peter Stevens passed away in 2012.
The photo shows those who were able to attend: Back Row L-R. Norman Griffin, Murray McLachlan, John Towers, George Hill. Seated L-R. Bob Burn, Duncan Kemp, Tony Milton.
Bronze for Holly & the Scottish Ladies at the 5 Nations
Otter Holly Campbell has been busy representing Scotland over the summer. Playing a key role in the Scottish women’s recent bronze medal at the EU 5 nations tournament in Switzerland with a convincing 15-6 win over a resurgent Denmark. Nice work Holly.
Otters roam freely at La Santa, Lanzarote
Otter returned to La Santa in September 2014 for the annual training camp. 25 club members made the trek to sunny Lanzarote for a week’s worth of training and sunbathing in the work hard/play hard Otter tradition.
As always, plenty of other sports were on offer, with Otters excelling in pretty much everything they took up, especially on the tennis courts. La Santa also opened a new 50m pool on the other side of the resort, which Otter made use of most afternoons. With most days having a morning and afternoon session at two hours a piece, many also spent their free time sunning themselves on deck, enjoying one of La Santa’s many restaurants, or cooling off in their flat. All were pleased that Coach Steve made the trip again and provided everyone with challenging sets and plenty of useful, welcome advice.
The Otter ladies happily rose to challenge 2013’s Mr Motivator costumes and showed up for an afternoon session dressed as 1950s bathing beauties, complete with flowered caps. Not to be outdone, the guys came prepared for the annual Wednesday night out in Puerto del Carmen dressed in Baywatch outfits, only to discover that the ladies had the exact same idea. The locals and tourists in Puerto del Carmen were treated to more than two dozen Otters donning the red and yellow better known to the beaches of Southern California, ensuring that anyone’s hopes for a quiet candlelit dinner and nightcap were duly shattered. The night included a stop at a karaoke bar to sing the Baywatch theme song and hear the vocal skills of the bravest Otters who chose to sing solo or duet.
Many Otters competing at Nationals later in the year took advantage of the week at La Santa to peak before a well deserved taper, with others carrying on with the normal training schedule on their return to the UK. Felicity Hannon and Greg Comiskey took on the planning for La Santa 2014 and have handed over to Chris Sutton for 2015. Please speak to Chris to join this year’s La Santa trip, scheduled from 12-19 September 2015.
GB U19’s Water Polo team qualifies for the 2015 World Championships
Otter Women’s water polo players – Brooke Tafazolli, Tilda Williams ,Hannah Patchett, Kathy Rogers competed for GB U/19s at the 2014 European Champs in Ostia finishing in 7th place. The team finished second in Group B after comfortable wins against Portugal (14-6) and Slovakia (10-7) lost against Italy (1-16) and Russia (4-23) before beating Ukraine in the seventh place playoff match.
The Championships followed training camps for the team in Manchester, Holland, Serbia, Romania & Hungary.
Congratulations Brooke, Tilda, Hannah & Kathy.
Peggy Etiebet is awarded the London Swimming Water Polo Athlete of the Year 2014 award.
Congratulations to Peggy for winning the London swimming Waterpolo Athlete of the year award.
In 2013/14 Peggy made her full International debut for GB and represented GB at the World Championships in Barcelona, World League Games, the European Qualifiers and at the European Championships In Budapest. She played the season in the Hungarian National League. Her team won the Hungarian National League and in doing so she became the first ever British player to win a Hungarian Water Polo Championship. She was granted the award as she is a wonderful role medal who gives back to the sport coaching England Talent and the Crystal Palace Beacon Programme, acting as a team manager for the GB U17 girls team and helping with club organisation.
Otter travel to Hamburg
Otter took a small team made up of Otter & Otter Lutra players to Hamburg over the August long weekend for some pre-season friendly games vs recently promoted Dutch club team SGHA & Hamburg ETV. Otter won all 6 games played. Huge thanks to Hamburg ETV for hosting us again, we had a brilliant time. Come over to London soon!
British U17s runners-up in Germany
The Great Britain under 17s water polo team have returned as runners-up from the 4 Nations International Tournament in Warendorf, Germany which was held from 14 - 17 August.
Otters Izzy Dean, Mhairi Nurthen & Anna Szyszko represented GB U/17s at the Tournament, where many of their games were against older opponents. Otter Izzy Dean was named Captain for the tour & Otter coach Nick Buller was part of the coaching staff.