Great Britain water polo squad selected for U17 European Championships

A squad of 13 players have been selected to represent Great Britain at the U17 Women’s European Championships in Manisa, Turkey.

The competition takes place at the Manisa Olympic Pool from July 29 – August 6 where the British team will get the opportunity to compete at a highest level of European competition for their age.

Great Britain have been drawn in Group D alongside Ireland, Serbia, Ukraine and hosts Turkey where they will face all four nations in the first three days.

LEN have changed the format of the Championships for 2023 meaning that Great Britain’s group doesn’t include any of the teams that are seeded in the top eight of the 17 nations heading to Turkey.

The top seeds, decided from the previous Championships, make up two separate groups of four (Groups A and B) where the top two will directly qualify for the quarter-finals.

For Great Britain to make the last eight they’ll need to finish in the top two of their closely matched group and then defeat one of the remaining top seeds to progress.

An important experience

The British team have been training together for the past two years and have been preparing for the event with two overseas training camps in 2023.

A trip to Holland in January was followed up by last week’s camp in Barcelona which has provided the chance to see how the players cope with travel, staying away as well as getting them ready to compete against strong opposition.

Ahead of the event, Swim England Water Polo Programme Lead and the team’s head coach, Craig Figes, says the group are looking forward to the challenge.

“This squad has worked really hard in recent months so I’m delighted that they will get the opportunity to compete at an international event.” He said.

“This age group missed some key milestones in their development due to Covid and this competition will give them the experience they need to continue their growth.

“We have some tough opposition in our group but we have a talented squad who made it very difficult for us to select a final 13.

“The team have been looking forward to the challenge of the competition and I know each and every one of them will give their absolute best out in Turkey.”

Information on how to follow the Championships in Manisa will be on the LEN website closer to the event.