Olympian Craig Figes appointed to Swim England Water Polo Leadership Group

The captain of the Great Britain men’s water polo team at the London 2012 Olympic Games has joined the Swim England Water Polo Leadership Group.

Craig Figes, who made his England and GB U20 international debut in 1992 at the age of 13, is taking on the role of coaching representative after Sean King had to stand down due to increased work commitments.

As well as being a senior England and GB player from 1993 to 2013, Craig competed in several European Championships and World League competitions, and was a medallist in the 2002 Commonwealth Water Polo Championships.

He has played professionally in many countries, including in Australia, Spain and Italy.

Since 2012, Craig has been head coach at City of Bristol water polo, where he has spent time rebuilding the junior and ladies’ squads, and increasing participation throughout the club.

Toby King, the Water Polo Leadership Group chairman, said he was delighted by Craig’s decision to join the group.

“We are really pleased to welcome Craig, who has such a wealth of experience and understands the pressures facing the sport at both club and national and international level,” said Toby.

“I feel sure he will help us to create a coherent coaching set-up throughout water polo and to achieve higher level performance in the future.”

Thanks to Sean

Toby also thanked Craig’s predecessor, Sean, for the huge contribution he had made as part of the WPLG.

“Sean was a great sounding board for our initial plans and worked tirelessly, setting up a large number of coaching forums and communicating with clubs during lockdown,” said Toby.

“He also helped Rachel Bayley, Swim England’s head of performance operations for water polo, put in place better processes, such as the objective selection policies.

“I am hugely grateful for everything Sean did and I am confident Craig will take us even further forward.”