Home of Water Polo in Scotland

Under 14s off to a fine start at Stirling Development Tournament

The latest installment of the under 14s had those born 2001 and younger playing today in 5-a-sides in Stirling.   The slighly more experienced group saw the following results: Dunfermline 3- 1 Stirling Wallaces, Warrender 5-0 Menzieshill, Dunfermline 6-1 Menzieshill, Warrender 5-2 Stirling Wallaces, Dunfermline 1-9 Warrender, Stirling Wallaces 5-5 Menzieshill.    The less experienced group included many first timers and Under 12s and played with a mini ball: Falkirk Aces 7- 0 Falkirk Zebras, Stirling Saltires 1-5 Dunfermline Minis, Falkirk Aces 3-3 Stirling Saltires, Falkirk Zebras 2 -8 Dunfermline Minis, Falkirk Zebras 5-4 Stirling Saltires, Falkirk Aces 1-6 Dunfermline Minis

Scottish Women just short at Nordic Championships

The Scottish Ladies tuned-up for the Commonwealths at the Nordic Championships in Odense Denmark last weekend taking on both Denmark and Sweden's top club Jarfalla twice each.   "While we wanted to win, we were also allowing less experienced players to get plenty of playing time as we wanted to see how they did against International Competition at the Senior Level" says Coach Neal Rayner.  "We went through every game with plenty of chances to win and it clarifies for us what to work on before Commonwealths"   It was the first opportunity for a number of players to play for Scotland at the senior level including Jess Ivy, Fran Collings, Alison Tate and Hannah Edwards.  

The first game Friday night was an interesting challenge as one of the vans had followed road signs at the airport which accidentally put them on a bridge to Sweden, so the ladies started with 9 including keeper Sara Thomson in the field.   Amazingly, they managed to keep it very close despite not being able to contain Denmark's star (Champions league 2012 winner with Sabadell) Emma Hansen who scored 7.   In the end despite chaos, Scotland succumbed 8-9.  The morning's game was against Sweden's Jarfalla, the team that contains nearly all of their national squad and despite getting an early lead on a penalty drawn and scored by Julia Mackay it was a game of trying to catch up seemingly always one or two goals down until the final buzzer read 10-12.   Only a short while later the ladies again took on Denmark playing an interesting strategy with two groups of 6 players subbing subbing en masse with totally different tactics.   For the first half it seemed to work as the ladies dominated the game, yet missed plenty of scoring opportunities they created and ended up 3-3 at half.   After that fatigue seemed to set in and they lost 6-9.    Coaches had some concern with the looming 3rd game in only 5 hours against the slightly stronger Sweden could go wrong, but the Scottish ladies fought it out to the last keeping it tied or within 2 goals the whole game again succumbing 11-13 as they were unable to contain Swedish/American star Hazell Louise who scored 7, with 5 in the final half.    Scorers for the tournament were Nic Tate 8, Fiona Greer 5, Holly Campbell 4, Louise Fox 4, Julia Mackay 4, Laura Fox 3, Vicky Witko 2, Hannah Edwards 1, Alison Tate 1, Susan Johnston 1, Gael Logan 1.

Scotland ready to welcome the elite of water polo

Scotland is getting ready to welcome the elite of water polo in 2014!
As part of the Homecoming 2014 celebrations the competition will feature eight nations competing in Scotland, where water polo originated in the late 19th Century.
Aberdeen to host the third Commonwealth Water Polo Championships from 5 – 12 April 2014

The Commonwealth Water Polo Championships 2014 will be held in Aberdeen from Saturday 5 until Saturday 12 April 2014. As part of the Homecoming 2014 celebrations the competition will feature eight nations competing in Scotland, where water polo originated in the late 19th Century. Seven men’s and six women’s teams will compete at the new Aquatics Centre at Aberdeen Sports Village, Scotland’s newest world-class aquatics facility, ahead of its opening in Spring 2014. More information about the event can be found online at www.scottishswimming.com/cwpc2014.

Full Scottish Swimming Media Release here

Scottish Junior team for BRNO

Congratulations to the following players who have been selected to represent Scotland Juniors (98+) to compete in the Eight Nations competition which will be held in Brno, Czech Republic from 18-20 April 2014.