Who will take home the U17 Open National Age Group Championship?

The GoCardless Swim England Water Polo National Age Group Championships 2025 (U17/U19) take place at the Alan Higgs Sports Centre in Coventry this weekend.

In the build up to the competition, we’re taking a closer look at each of the sides that are looking to become national champions in the Midlands on Sunday.

Here, in the second of our four previews we take a look at the U17 open teams that have qualified for finals weekend.

Each of the previews for the event will be posted on the Swim England website within the water polo hub, whilst those who haven’t had the chance to get their tickets in advance can purchase them on venue, subject to availability.

Worthing

Three years ago, Worthing’s U17 Open side took gold in this event with a team that went on to take U19 gold in both 2023 and 2024.

This time around, the clubs’ latest group of talented players will be hopeful of continuing the clubs impressive streak of national medals.

Coming into this one as the South East side finished second behind Watford in Group A of the qualification round, defeating both Caledonia and defending champions West London Penguin to reach this stage.

They’ll take on City of Manchester in a repeat of that final from three years ago where they’ll be desperate to repeat the same result on Saturday.

Their Head Coach Alastair Roberts is hoping that each of his players enjoys the opportunity and experience in Coventry this weekend.

He said: “It’s been a tough road to the finals in Coventry for our under 17 boys. We are really pleased to have come through the preliminary round at Haberdashers and then the qualifying round at Sheffield to take a place in the final four.

“Several of the squad have previous experience of playing in the finals but for some of the boys this will be the first opportunity to play in this prestigious type of event.

“All the squad are looking forward to playing at Coventry and they have been training well in the build up to the competition.

“We are obviously hoping that we play well at the weekend but it’s equally important that everyone involved enjoys the opportunity and benefits from the experience.”

Squad: Ryan Cutting, Aiden McArragher, Sammy Smith, Matthew Collier, Ricardo Pianta, Harvey Tester, Leon Wudarczyk, Piaras Donnelly, Aston Bennett, Tom Greenyer, Cameron McArragher, Ben Loffler, Adam Hacker, Herbie Graves. Head Coach: Alastair Roberts. Assistant Coach: Lauren Hand. Team Managers: Naomi Collier and Helen Smith.

City of Manchester

The bronze medallists from 12 months ago are back in the final four and looking to reach the top step of the podium this time around.

The 2018 champions come into this one after securing a 100% record in the Qualification Round to top Group B ahead of fellow semi-finalists Exeter.

Strong performances against the Devon based side (16-11), Cheltenham (17-11) and Sutton and Cheam (17-11) secured their spot in the Midlands where after three years of podium finishes without victory, they’ll be hungrier than ever to take the gold in Coventry this weekend.

Ahead of the competition, Team Manager Catherine Stephenson said: “The boys are really looking forward to the U17 National Age Group Championships this year.

“Last year we came third, but we felt we could have done better and that’s really driven the lads on this year as many of the team are the same.

“The squad’s had a great build-up with plenty of training and a brilliant experience playing in Finland last weekend in the U16 Nordic League.

“We’re feeling ready for the challenge ahead, starting with a tough semi-final against Worthing – it should be a great game!”

Squad: Lucas Bishop, Jude Eagling, Jimmy Elliott, Sam Giles, Caelan Mathewson, Logan Mathewson, Otis McKelvey, Carter McMillan Ethan Mellor, Oscar Pate, Joseph Roxburgh, Yaroslav Shemenov, Andrew Stephenson.

Watford

Watford were arguably the most impressive team in the qualification stage, winning three matches from in both the Preliminary and Qualification rounds.

They topped their group in both and have already defeated two of their fellow semi-finalists on route to making it to finals weekend.

That includes their opponents on Saturday in Exeter, who they defeated 9-6 in the Qualification Round at Haberdashers, and they’ll know that a repeat of that result will guarantee them a medal in Coventry.

Watford’s Head Coach Adam Page admits that his team are looking forward to the challenge ahead and are taking it one game at a time.

“We look forward to the challenge that we have ahead,” he said.

“Obviously like every team there we have aspirations of winning the tournament but it’s one game at a time, and we play a strong Exeter side in the Semi-Finals that can cause us many problems.

“It’s going to be tough but hopefully will be fun to watch for everyone involved.”

Squad: Vuk Guzijan, David Guzijan, Rishi Patel, Khian Chandaria, Malek Graeber, Ilija Crompton, Adam Mealey, Theodoros Katsaris, Thomas Akerman, Joe Kaye, Aryan Govender, Luka Guzijan, Gethin Dorrington (C). Head Coach: Adam Page. Assistant Coach: Josh Pender. Team Manager: Alun Dorrington.

Exeter

Exeter have endured a tough run to reach the finals, but they’ll be hoping to right the wrongs of that defeat to Watford when the two sides meet again on Saturday.

Their close contest in the Preliminary Round meant that Exeter had to settle for second despite coming away with two strong victories against North London (11-9) and Sedgefield (16-1).

They showed their character once again at the qualification stage, bouncing back from a defeat to City of Manchester to overcome Cheltenham to guarantee their spot in the finals.

A 14-7 victory against the Gloucestershire side put them out of reach of Sutton and Cheam to take second spot on six points out of nine.

They’ll come into this one as the underdogs after their loss earlier in the competition but will be hopeful of coming together to help the club secure their first national title since their U19 Open side took gold in 2016.

You can keep up with all the action from the weekend by following our live scoreboard, whilst the Swim England website and social media channels will be providing regular updates on everything happening in Coventry.

Swim England’s official event’s photographer, Will Johnston Photography, will also be on hand throughout the weekend and the full gallery will be available here.