"Fantastic weekend of water polo" at first Talent Games event of 2024

Coventry’s Alan Higgs Centre hosted the first Swim England Water Polo Talent Games of 2024 at the end of April.

The event in the Midlands – which took place on the weekend of Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 April – invited athletes and coaches from each of the five water polo talent centres for two days of development and education.

As well as matches between each of the centres there were workshops throughout the weekend for athletes, coaches and parents.

There were two workshops for players – a lifestyle workshop with Swim England DiSE (Diploma in Sporting Excellence) Kerrie Slevin and a Q&A with Open/Male U19 players Henry Jackson and Pierre Rivet as well as team manager James Jackson.

Both sessions provided valuable information for the young athletes with Kerrie explaining how to balance school and sport – which is particularly important as we approach the exam period – whilst the Q&A provided a view of the next step on the talent pathway for the young players.

Both Henry and Pierre have just finished their U19 programme following their European Championship qualifiers in March and were able to share their experiences and what it’s like to compete for Great Britain.

Parents and coaches both had separate workshops on safeguarding delivered by Swim England’s national talent and events welfare officer Rebecca Wood and the Games also hosted a tables officials course where seven new officials gained their qualification to further boost the sports volunteer workforce.

Development of both athletes and coaches

Summarising the event, Swim England Water Polo talent and inclusion officer, Andy McGinty, said: “It was a fantastic weekend of water polo for our first talent games of the year.

“We are really pleased to see how much that the athletes and coaches are developing and to see the new athletes experience a talent games event for the first time.

“The weekend displayed everything that the Talent Games are about, with a lot of interesting workshops and a number of improving performances in the pool.

“Thank you to all the volunteers and officials that supported the event and to all those that have helped bring the Games together.”

The next Talent Games event takes place on 6-7 July where this year’s Talent Centre champions will be crowned.

The competition for this year’s title got underway in Coventry last weekend with 20 matches taking place across the two days.

You can see all the results from the weekend below.