Water Polo Championships
Australian Schools' Water Polo UK Tour
We are very pleased to announce that the Australian Schools Water Polo boys and girls teams will be visiting the UK from 5th December for an action packed 11 day tour, organised by the English Schools Swimming Association (ESSA) working closely with Water Polo England and all its Regions.
During their time in England, the Aussies will be traveling the length of the country competing against a whole host of Regional, Club and School select teams.
One of the highlights of their tour will take place in Manchester at the East Manchester Leisure Centre and the Jason Kenny Centre in Bolton over 3 days, Friday 7th December to Sunday 9th December, when the Australians will be joined by the England 2002 Boys and Girls teams, and the Romanian Boys team for an International tournament.
Given the history of Australian success on the international stage this will be a stern test for the England 2002 teams as they build towards their LEN European Competitions in 2019.
The tour will conclude in London where the Australian teams will play their final fixtures against the England 2001 Boys and girls teams at Whitgift School, Croydon.
To help you plan when and where to watch our visitors in action please see the schedule (download link below).
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.
Duke of Cambridge Cup is a one-day tournament for the best 39 boys and best 39 girls, nominated by schools and England Water Polo, 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 Duke of Cambridge Cup one-day tournament. Since 2015 International teams have represented the ESSA at tournaments in Malta.
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ESSA 2018/19 Finals Dates and Venues
| Saturday 2nd March 2019 |
warm-up TBA | U18 Boys ESSA National Championship |
| (6 Teams) | ||
| Venue | TBA | |
| Monday 4th March 2019 | 11.00am warm-up | U15 Boys/Mixed ESSA National Plate Final |
| (6 Teams) | ||
| 2.30pm warm-up | U15 Boys/Mixed ESSA National Bowl Final | |
| (4 Teams) | ||
| Venue | Northampton Boys School, Billing Road, Northampton NN1 5RT | |
| Tuesday 5th March 2019 |
12.15pm warm-up | U15 Boys/Mixed ESSA National Championship |
| (6 Teams) | ||
| Venue | Northampton Boys School, Billing Road, Northampton NN1 5RT | |
| Thursday 7th March 2019 | 11.00am warm-up | U18 Boys ESSA National Plate Final |
| (6 Teams) | ||
| 2.30pm warm-up | U18 Boys ESSA National Bowl Final | |
| (4 Teams) | ||
| Venue | Northampton Boys School, Billing Road, Northampton NN1 5RT | |
| Thursday 14th March 2019 | 9.15am warm-up | U15 Girls ESSA National Championship Final |
| (6 Teams) | ||
| 12.30pm warm-up | U18 Girls ESSA National Championship Final | |
| (6 Teams) | ||
| Venue | Northampton Boys School, Billing Road, Northampton NN1 5RT | |
| Tuesday 30th April 2019 | 12.15pm warm-up | U13 Girls ESSA National Championship Final |
| (6 Teams) | ||
| Venue | Northampton Boys School, Billing Road, Northampton NN1 5RT | |
| Tuesday 7th May 2019 | 12.15pm warm-up | U13 Boys/Mixed ESSA National Championship Final |
| (6 Teams) | ||
| Venue | Northampton Boys School, Billing Road, Northampton NN1 5RT |
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