Sedgefield Water Polo Club has congratulated two of its members who recently returned from Brno in the Czech Republic after representing England in the U17 EU Nations Tournament for the second time.
Ben Alderson and Ryan Griffiths (both 16) have played water polo since a very young age, training hard at club and regional level, before being selected to be part of the U19 England Junior Mens squad in 2021.
They were both selected to represent England in this tournament after competing in the same tournament last October and consistently passing subsequent rigorous tests on their game awareness, swimming, passing and shooting at their monthly squad training camps, which are held at various locations across the country.
The squad got off to a good start with a convincing 18-10 win over Luxembourg, followed by a tight 13-13 draw against tournament runners-up Lithuania.
This placed England into the 5-8 place categorisation tournament by one goal difference.
They overcame a determined 2006 age group GB squad by 12-10, before hard-fought losses to firstly 11-10 to the Czech Republic, supported by a partisan crowd, then Austria by 20-12 which left them with a final position of 7th in the tournament.
The boys found the level of polo from the European teams to be exceptionally high but thoroughly enjoyed the experience and scored a fantastic 19 goals between them during the three-day tournament.
Ben was delighted to see he was the second top goal scorer for England with 15 goals and 11th overall in the tournament.
Matches were live streamed on You Tube to allow their friends, family and other members of the water polo community to watch.
Sedgefield Water Polo Club operates from Newton Aycliffe Leisure Centre and is always looking for new members.
It offers a range of different sessions per week for ages 8 to adult. Anyone interested in getting involved can contact the club by email at sedgefieldwp@hotmail.com to receive details of the club app in order to book a free taster session.
Ferryhill & Chilton's local community newspaper.






