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.

2021 Championships

The date and venue has been confirmed for this year’s U15 National Age Group Championships:

Further event information, including the Championships Conditions, will be published in due course.

About the National Age Group Championships

The 2019 U15 titles went to Sedgefield in the boys’ event and Otter in the girls’ competition.

• Click here to read a report from the Boys’ U15 Championships 2019.
• Click here to read a report from the Girls’ U15 Championships 2019.

The 2019 U17 and U19 titles went to Newton Abbot, London Otter, West London Penguin and City of Sheffield respectively.

• View reports and results from 2019 events on our Champs News pages

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.