Water Polo

Water Polo Secretary : Neil Green

Contact Neil

ESSA Water Polo

The ESSA has been providing an opportunity for all schools in England to actively engage in competitive water polo since 1976. Water polo has become increasingly popular within schools for boys, and now girls since 2003, and there are now a significant number of competitions that reflect this.

Both boys’ and girls’ groups compete at U18, U15 and U13 age groups. The first phase of preliminary competitions is mostly regionalised.
Following this preliminary phase the U18 and U15 age groups split into three levels;
- the ‘Championship’, where the elite schools compete for the national title,
- the ‘Plate’ where the intermediate schools compete for their national title, and
- the ‘Bowl’ where the developing schools compete for their national title.
All schools enter the ‘Championship’ competition in the preliminary phase and it is then hoped that subsequent phases are a ‘standard appropriate’ level of competition for all competing schools. The U13 ‘Championship’ competition for both boys and girls is regionalised during the preliminary phase of competition.
The second phase of this competition takes into consideration the results from the preliminary phase, whilst still providing an opportunity for all competing schools to qualify for the ‘Championship’ final and compete for the national title.

Cadet competitions aim to attract new players into competitive water polo and to retain them. A school cannot enter a Championship team, and also a Cadet team, with the same pupils that have already competed in the Championship competition. There are now two age groups for the Cadet competition – U11 (Year 6 and below) and U13 (Year 8 and below). Teams can be single sex or mixed.

The Prince of Wales Cup (formerly the Duke of Cambridge Cup) is a one-day tournament for the best 60 boys and best 60 girls, nominated by schools and The Swim England Water Polo Talent Centres, from a specific age group (identified as at the start of the academic year by the ESSA Council). To be considered for this competition a pupil must attend School in England.

International honours can be achieved following selection by the ESSA Head Coach, usually at the Prince of Wales Cup (formerly the Duke of Cambridge Cup) one-day tournament and with support from the Swim England Talent Centre pathway.
Since 2015 International teams have represented the ESSA at tournaments in Malta, Hungary and in 2018 we welcomed Australia and Romania to England for a Home International tournament.

Senior Male/Open Water Polo Championship  
The Mike Glover Trophy Winners 2026 
Whitgift School, London Division

Senior Female Water Polo Championship
The Jim Caulfield Trophy Winners 2026
Notting Hill & Ealing High School, London Division

ESSA Water Polo 2025/26 Championships and Competitions

Entry information for the championships are now available below:
Entry this year is through on-line forms.

Male/Open and Mixed      https://forms.office.com/e/UhVGxxGJbh Entry deadline Friday 27th June 2025

Female  https://forms.office.com/e/GYutaBUfDH Entry deadline Friday 27th June 2025

Cadet     https://forms.office.com/e/BfgWGx2gig Entry deadline Friday 6th March 2026

ESSA 2025/26 Finals Dates and Venues 

Results