London Otter win the 2015 U15 Girls National Water Polo Championships

London Otter ’01s claimed the girls’ title after a thrilling day of action at the ASA National Age Group Water Polo Championships (U15) at the Manchester Aquatics Centre.

Otter entered two teams in the championships the older Otter ’01s & the younger Otter '02s. It was the first time either team had played in the Championships and it was another brilliant result for our Otter juniors, who now hold the 2015 U/15, U/17 titles, and were runners up in the U/19s age group.  

The Otter '01s opened their 2015 campaign with an immediate display of strength, a commanding 21-1 victory over last year’s champions, City of Manchester, before posting posting emphatic wins in all remaining group games, Cheltenham (23-2), Rotherham Metro (7-2), and Tyldesley (13-2), to finish top of the Group A
 
The semi-final action saw London Otter ’01s overcome Welsh Wanderers 12-5. 
Before coming up against City of Liverpool in the final. Liverpool jumped out to an advantage, scoring two quick-fire goals in the first three minutes of the final before London Otter ’01s responded quickly, equalising in less than a minute before scoring a further two goals to set the scores at 4-2 heading into the break. Despite strong attacks from City of Liverpool in the second half of the match, London Otter ’01s held their nerve & scored 3 more times sealing their U15 Girls Water Polo Championships 2015 title 7-3 with a final goal in the last 10 seconds from Drew Goold. 
 
Otter '01 captain Lily Turner was named Most Valuable player of the tournament, with Barbola Toth named best Goal Keeper. “I am delighted. I couldn’t be happier for the team,” said Lily Turner. “This is the first time we have competed here so it feels great to leave as national champions. ”Our older age group won the Under 17 championships earlier this year and I think that really spurred us on as team.”
 
The Otter 02's also performed extremely strongly, finishing 6th overall after posting wins over City of Manchester (10-1) & Cheltenham (9-1) in the 5th-9th Place Playoff Group. A brilliant result from a very young team in their first National Championships. 
 
U15 GIRLS WATER POLO CHAMPIONSHIPS 2015 OVERALL MVPS:
•    Highest Goal Scorer – Nia Sanders (Welsh Wanderers)
•    Goal Keeper – Barbola Toth (Otter ’01s)
•    Overall Most Valuable Player – Lily Turner (Otter ’01s)

Otter win two from two in Grantham

Otter won two from two this weekend in Grantham. Beating Caledonia 14-9 on Saturday before running away with a 21-2 win vs Leeds on Sunday. Both games were solid team performances, with every field player netting v Leeds.

There's a familiar look to the top women's division of BWPL again this year, with Liverpool Lizards, City of Manchester, City of Coventry and Otter all lining up for the Super 5s places - with a weekend of competition still to be played. Sheffield Sharks and City of Leeds are best placed to challenge for the final slot. 

The final rounds of Phase 1 will be played on November 14th & 15th in Matlock. Where Otter will face Coventry & Sheffield.  

Otter scorers v Caledonia:  Claudia & Izzy (3), Holly & Mhairi (2), Kate, Brooke, Peggy & Hannah (1). Otter scorers v Leeds: Lex & Holly (4), Lizi, Claudia & Izzy (2), Mhairi, Brooke, Emma, Peggy, Kathy, Hannah & Kate (1).

Holly in action, top scoring for Otters over the weekend with 6 goals over the two games. 

Hannah Patchett awarded AASE Water Polo Apprentice of the Year.

Congratulations to Otter Hannah Patchett who has been awarded the 2015 AASE (Athlete Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence) Water Polo Apprentice of the Year.

The Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence is a government-funded initiative that's been designed to help young people aged 16 to 18 combine education and sport. 
It’s aimed at athletes who have the potential of achieving excellence in their sport – and want to make a career of performing at the highest level – but who also want to continue their education. We're so proud of you Hannah and all your achievements in and out of the pool. 

More info on the award can be found here found here:http://www.swimming.org/ios/apprenticeships/aase/

Strong start for Otter in BWPL Div 1

Otter outplayed promoted West London Penguin in the opening game of the women's BWPL Division 1 season in Watford on Saturday. Otter lead from the start, winning the first quarter 3-1 before pulling away to lead 8-2 at half time, 12-2 at the end of the third quarter before winning the game 16-3. It was a solid team performance, with new Otters Claudia & Kate settling into the team quickly. It was also great to see Hannah, Izzy, Mhairi & Kathy, all who played for Lutra last year, stepping up and performaing well in their first, 1st team game. 

Otter had it tougher vs Manchester on Sunday morning. Otter recovered strongly from 8-5 down in the third quarter before narrowly falling short of snatching a draw in the final minutes of the game. Leaving Manchester to take the points with a 9-8 win. 

2 hours after the Manchester game, Otter were back in action against defending champions Liverpool who proved to strong for Otter on this occasion winning the physical encounter 14-10. 

Otter scorers V Penguins : Lex 5, Claudia 3, Emma 2, Izzy, Mhairi, Brooke, Peggy, Kathy, Hannah. 

Otter scorers v Manchester: Lex 2, Claudia 2, Emma 2, Hannah & Mhairi.

Otter scorers v Liverpool: Claudia 2, Emma 2, Kate 2, Lex, Mhairi, Brooke, Kathy.

Great start to the season for Otter Lutra

Otter Lutra kicked off their BWPL Championship 1 title defence in Ponds Forge on the 12th & 13th of September. 

Lutra started the 2015/2016 competition with a 4-4 draw vs Hucknall. Helena, Lindsey, Gari & Bugsy finding the back of the net in the low scoring first game that was dominated by solid defense from both teams.

Lutra hit their stride in the second match of the weekend rolling Manchester Coments 14-5. Helena & Lindsey top scored for Lutra with 4 goals each. Gary added 3, with Yedden, Anna & Izzy added 1 a piece. 

The win & a draw see Otter sitting second on the table with 3 points behind Mid Sussex Marlins. For full results, scorecards & the standings please see check out the BWPL website. 

Lutra will be back in action on Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th of October at Malborough College, where they will face Mid Sussex Marlins, Tyldesley & Liverpool Liverbirds. 

Otter 1/4 Mile

Otter's ventured to Parliament Hill Lido for the annual 1/4 mile race on Saturday 15 August, the last open water event of the clubs season.

After a fresh dip, swimmers enjoyed a friendly match of water polo, with bragging rights to boot! Otter black came out victorious on the day, unfortunately there were no black eyes to report. In true Otter style, festivities continued into the evening.

We had another great turn up at this event, which is a nice taste of “open water”swimming & Water Polo for beginners and masters alike. Congratulations to our 2015 winner, James Third (well done Foxcatcher!) Honourable mentions to our podium finishers Pip Bennett in second and Chris Sutton in third - a tightly fought final turn proved the difference on the day. With Emma Skhurka the best placed lady in the handicap.

Massive thank you to Parliament Hill Lido for hosting us again, and to Shurks & Traey Allen for organizing the event. Brilliant job ladies! 

World Masters Swimming Championships 2015 Kazan, Russia

In an exciting move and for the very first time, FINA arranged for the World Masters Championships 2015 to take place at the same venue as the full World Championships with some overlap of events.  Hence, Masters athletes who went out early to prepare for the open water or long distance pool swimming were able to gain some inspiration by watching the elite athletes compete on the world stage.

This year, two Otters competed at the event - Wade Rimbach and Pip Bennett. The latter arrived very early in Kazan as he had the open water event held on a similar, albeit shorter, course as the elite swimmers. Pip finished 5th in the 30-34 age group winning a sprint finish over an Argentinian athlete by a mere 0.1 seconds. He was very pleased with this result as last year he finished 12th.

Wade (also 30-34) arrived a few days later and the two of them set out to compete in the fantastic ‘Aquatics Palace’ facility. This held two 50m pools, a diving pit and superb results systems - evidence that being linked to the main championships was beneficial. Numbers at this event were lower than the last two editions in Montreal and Riccione, but at the sharp end of the competition the standard was exactly as expected at the World Championships level. The lower numbers meant that warming up for swimming events was much easier and less like the people-soup that has been a feature of some competitions.

Otter Handicap Dates

The Otter handicap competition continues in the pool this week with the 150 Free. The dates for the remainder of the handicap event are provisionally as below, each to be held during a Thursday QMSC session as above, where there are two events in the same evening this will obviously take slightly longer.

Thu 20 Aug 2015: 150 Free

Thu 24 Sep 2015: 200 Free

Thu 15 Oct 2015: 100 Free

Thu 19 Nov 2015: 125 Free & Vets 50 Free

Thu 17 Dec 2015: 50 Free & 400 IM

Otters Triumphant at Open Water Nationals

On August 2nd, the Otters went to a sunny and blustery Rother Valley Country Park near Sheffield for the ASA Open Water National Championships. It is a pleasing indicator about the way the sport is going that there needed to be two waves in the Men's 3km race to accommodate all the entries. Despite the warm water and hints of sun through threathening clouds one half of the course was quite taxing with rough water blown up by the wind.

Not to be deterred, Pip Bennett (30-34) and Dan Bullock (45-49) went on to become National Champions in their age groups and also were 2nd and 4th overall, only beaten by a 20 year old who had recently represented the country. In the women's race the weather continued to deteriorate but Jess Trevellick (25-29) and Michelle Senecal dealt with the conditions well to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively in their own age-groups.

Next year we aim to take a bigger team and bring even more medals home.

Buller appointed GB U19 coach for 2016 season

Nick Buller and Tim Dunsbee have been appointed as head coaches of the England women’s and men’s U19 water polo squads respectively for the 2016 season.

Both teams will be aiming to qualify for the European U19 Water Polo Championships with the women’s event taking place in Gouda (women’s) and Alphen (men’s) in the Netherlands next summer.

Buller guided the Great Britain 1998 women’s squad through qualification for the inaugural European Games and to an 11th place finish at the Games in Baku.

“I’m pleased to have been given the opportunity to show what this squad can achieve,” said Buller. “This is an exciting time to be involved with the national team as the level of players is improving all the time. The Baku European Games was a good starting point and future teams will only learn and build from that experience. I’ll be looking closely at not only those who went to Baku and those going to Greece for the Under 20 World Championships in August, but also the many emerging talents coming through and the players who maybe only just missed out on selection previously. Our goal is to build a strong outfit and perform well at next year’s Championships, and with the talent available I’m confident we can achieve that.”

Buller will appoint the remainder of his coaching team in the next few weeks in conjunction with Water Polo Management Group performance lead Phil Winstanley and England Water Polo manager Ian Elliot.