Otter wins top men’s and overall trophies at Middlesex County Championships

A big effort by our swimmers in Barnet on Sunday June 7th saw Otter retain its position as top club in the Middlesex county, winning by a healthy margin over Cally Masters Islington and fourteen other clubs. Congratulations to everyone who took part and contributed to this victory. 

The Middlesex Championships is always a good opportunity for swimmers to make their first competitive appearance for Otter, and this year Wade Rimbach (30-34 year age group), Dontony Gill-Nasadi (18-24), Josh Sambrook-Smith (30-34), Paul Fakley (45-49), Sharon Wright (55-59) andDaiga Taurite (30-34) all made their Otter debuts. In fact some of the best swims of the day came from our debutantes, including Wade narrowly touching out Josh to take the 50m backstroke title in exciting fashion, Josh taking gold in the 50 breastroke, Paul Fakley seemingly winning every race he swam, and Dontony, Daiga and Sharon all beating their entry times and picking up a number of medals along the way. 

Special mention also goes to Rebecca Mulcahy (18-24), Tracey Allen (25-29),Peggy Etiebet (35-39), and Emma Shkurka (30-34) who transferred their water polo talents to the racing pool for the day with great success. Peggy picked up a fantastic gold in the 50 breastroke, as did Emma in the 50 fly. Both Rebecca and Tracey picked up a number of medals in their very competitive age groups.

Otter 4th at British Champs

Otter started the 2015 British Championships strongly against Super 5 winners City of Liverpool. Goals to Peggy Etiebet, Izzy Dean & Emma Hamilton Foster had Otter in the lead at the end of the first half. The eventual champions mounted a comeback in the 3rd quarter to take the lead & win the game 10-7 to secure their place in the final. Otter scorers:  E Hamilton Foster 3, P Etiebet 2, I Dean, H Patchett. 

The women's third place playoff match was another tightly contested match with Otter & City of Manchester trading goals throughout the last quarter before Machester scored a last gasp goal with 12 seconds to go to secure the bronze medal 9-8. Otter scorers: B Tafazolli 3, H Patchett 2, Dani Brazier 2, P Etiebet 1.

Special mention to Lutra players Mhairi Nurthern, Izzy Dean, Kathy Rogers & Otter NAGs player Dani Brazier who made their (British) debut for the Otter first team at the Championships.  

Congratulations to Liverpool who overcame City of Coventry 6-2 to win the final. 

London Otter defend Girls’ U17 National Age Group title

Otter U17s retained their title at the National Age Group Championships at the Manchester Aquatics Centre. Led by captain Sasha Tinkler Davies, Otter beat Liverpool 13-7 in the semi final before going on to over come tournament favourites Manchester 9-7. 

It was the first time in the competition that Otter had beaten Manchester, having  lost 9-4 & 17-9 in the preliminary qualification rounds. Otter's tops goal scorer Dani Brazier was name MVP of the tournament & will be making her senior debut for Otter at the British Champs. 

Congratulations girls on a brilliant result. We're so proud of you all. 

Otter U19s finish 2nd at the National Age Group Championships

The Otter U19s went one better than last year finishing second in the 2015 National Age Group Championships. Otter beat Crawley 10-8 in the semi final, before loosing a tense battle with Manchester in the final 10-8. Captain Hannah Patchett, who is in the GB U19s squad for the 2015 World Championships in Mexico, was Otter's stop scorer for the weekend.  Congratulations girls on a brilliant result. 

Otter U17 & U19 qualify for the National Age Group Championship Finals

The Otter U/19s have qualified in second place for this year's National Age Group Water Polo Championship Finals after strong preformances in the Girls' U/19 Qualification Group.

Otter drew with Liverpool 7 all. Lost to Manchester 4-11, posted the largest victory of the weekend with a 24-1 win over City of Leeds, and defeated Crawley 11-7.

It will be the same four finalists in the Girls' U/19 Championships as 12 months ago. Last years runners up Manchester progressed in first with Crawley third, and defending champions City of Liverpool fourth.

The Otter U/17s also qualified for the U/17 National Age Group finals. The seeding for the U/17s will come down to goal difference with Otter, City of Liverpool & Exeter all defeating each other to tie on two overall points. 

The finals are being held in Manchester on the 25th & 26th April. Good luck girls.

GB U-17 Girls qualify for Baku 2015 European GamesA

Congrats to London Otters successful GB U17 coach Nick Buller, captain Izzy Dean, Mhairi Nurthen and Kathy Rogers who were celebrating in the south of France on Sunday after qualifying for this summer’s Baku 2015 European Games.

Great Britain was one of six countries that locked up their spots at the Baku 2015 European Games Under-17 women's Water Polo competition.

Hosts France went undefeated on 12 points to top Group A in Nice while Great Britain wound up battling Czech Republic for second place. Great Britain and the Czechs had tied 8-8 in the teams' second match of the tournament, meaning goal difference would decide second place if they finished even on points. That ended up being the case as France beat the Czechs 14-7 to leave Czech Republic with a +10 goal difference. Great Britain meanwhile rolled up a 30-0 victory over Switzerland on the last day to finish with a +52 goal difference - and a spot at Baku 2015. Otters Kathy Rogers, & Izzy Dean were amongst the top goal scorers for the GB side with 11 & 9 goals respectively.

France, Great Britain, Slovakia, Israel, Germany and Serbia will join the already qualified Greece, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Hungary and hosts Azerbaijan at the women's Baku 2015 tournament.

Group A Result: 

Thursday, 12 March 2015: 18:00 Portugal 3-26 Great Britain

Friday, 13 March 2015: 10:15 Czech Republic 8-8 Great Britian & 19:15 France 13-12 Great Britian 

Sunday, 15 March 2015: 09:00 Switzerland 0-30 Great Britian

Otters represent GB U/17s

Last week Otters Mhairi Nurthern, Kathy Rogers, Izzy Dean & Anna Szysko travelled to Germany with the GB Under 17 team for a training camp with SC Chemnitz & the German under 17s squad. 

Good luck to Izzy, Mhairi& Kathy who have been selected to represent the GB U17s at a 4 nation tournament in Slovakia next week (5-8 March), and then at the qualification tournament for the Baku 2015 European Games 11-15 March) in Nice, France. 

The GB U/17s are in Group A, along with Portugal, France, Switzerland & the Czech Republic. GB must finish first or second in the group to qualify for the European games. Best of luck girls.

Otter 4th in the country

The Otter first team has finished the 2014/2015 seasons in 4th place. It is the 5th consecutive top 4 finish for Otter, and sees the team qualify for the 2015 British Champs for the 5th year in a row. Peggy Etiebet, making her Otter come back after a year off playing professionally in Hungary was the teams top goal scorer for phase 2 with 15 goals.