England and British teams to gain ‘invaluable’ international experience

Teams from England and Great Britain will be looking to gain ‘invaluable’ international experience at the 2022 EU Nations Junior Men Water Polo Tournament in the Czech Republic.

The competition takes place in Brno between 15-17 April with 12 teams playing round robin matches in four groups.

England are in Group C against Luxembourg and Lithuania, while Great Britain face hosts Czech Republic and Ireland in Group B.

Three groups will then be formed to help decide the final placings via a further set of round robin matches.

The group winners will go into Group E, the runners-up in Group F and the third-placed team making up Group G.

For the England team, it is the second time they have played in the competition, while GB’s squad are competing in their first international tournament.

England head coach Trevor Down said: “This tournament is a great opportunity to build on the experience the 2005s had at last year’s competition in October.  

Looking forward to challenge

“This year, the 2005s are playing in their own age group and will hopefully, using the experience gained last year, be more competitive.  

“The current team have developed from last year with some new players who will add to the team both in and out of the pool.  

“The team are a close group which is important when competing internationally.  

“Opportunities like the EU Nations tournament are invaluable in the development of the players in their preparation for the European qualifiers in two years’ time and the team are really looking forward to the challenge of another international competition.”

Joe Leveridge, GB head coach, added: “The 2006 boys squad have a fantastic development opportunity competing in their first international tournament.

“The main objectives for this squad who are competing a year down are to win as many matches as possible and have a clear understanding of current level of performance versus other nations.

“We’ll also be looking to inform both individual and team development plans for the next phase of our preparation for the European 2023 qualification stages.”