About the Swim England Water Polo National Age Group Championships

The Swim England Water Polo National Age Group Championships are the premiere competition for young water polo players in Great Britain.

The Championships are contested in three different age groups: U15, U17 and U19.

The U17 and U19 Championships are usually held at the start of the year and the U15 Championships in the autumn.

What can I expect from the NAG Water Polo Champs?

The same that you would expect from any water polo competition! There will be fierce rivalries, blood (not literally we hope!), guts, tears, and drama in and out of the water.

It’s known as the most brutal aquatics sport for good reason!

The U17 and U19 Championships start with prelims and qualifiers before the top four teams in each age group progress to the finals weekend.

The 2019 titles went to Newton Abbot, London Otter, West London Penguin and City of Sheffield respectively.

• View reports and results from last year’s events on our 2019 Champs News pages

The U15 Championships take place over one weekend usually with group stages, then semi-finals and a final.

The 2018 titles went to Worthing in the boys’ event and City of Sheffield in the girls’ competition.

• Click here to read a report from the Boys’ U15 Championships 2018.
• Click here to read a report from the Girls’ U15 Championships 2018.

What is the format of the competition?

Each team will have seven players on the pitch at one time – six outfield players and one goalkeeper – and a squad of up to 13 to rotate from (including two goalkeepers).

The aim is to score more goals than the opposition and each team has 30 seconds of possession to do this in. If they fail to shoot in that time, play passes to the other team.

The sport is very physical and there are a number of different fouls which are classed as ‘major’ or ‘minor’. A player is excluded from the field of play for 20 seconds every time they commit a ‘major’ foul.

And if one player commits three majors, they cannot be substituted back into play after serving their 20 second penalty.

• Click here to take a closer look at the rules of the game.