English Schools Swimming Association

Water Polo Secretary : Neil Green

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 and in 2018 we welcomed Australia and Romania to England for a Home International tournament.

Australian Schools' Water Polo UK Tour 2018

Following a hugely successful trip to the UK from Australian Schools Water Polo teams please take time to read the ‘Report and Results’ (see 'Results' section at the bottom of this page) from the 10 days of competition around the country. The action packed tour was organised by the English Schools Swimming Association (ESSA) working closely with Water Polo England and all its Regions; it involved no less than 356 players from across the country with 58 boys and girls (born 2002 and 2001) gaining full International experience from the fixtures against Australia and Romania following their selection for the 4 ESSA England teams.

ESSA 2018/19 Finals Dates and Venues

Saturday 2nd March 2019	3.00pm warm-up	U18 Boys ESSA National Championship
		(6 Teams)
	Venue	University of Nottingham Sport, David Ross Sports Village, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD
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

           Technical Partner

Results