Twelve months on after the reintroduction of West Midlands Girls Only Training the regions girls
are going from strength to strength. They have out performed past age groups at Inter Regions
and placed highly in outside tournaments.
Girls only training invites female players from all around the region, whatever their age, whatever
their ability to come and train for 2 hours once a month in a female only environment. Being a
minority in water polo it can be intimidating for the girls to attend club training that is dominated
by boys. This training was set up to alleviate that feeling, teach the girls the basics and improve
their ability and confidence.
Headed by Level 2 coach Lottie Martin from Worcester Crocodiles the sessions look at water polo
fundamentals. Assisted by Ian Jolly (Solihull), Mike Aish (Coventry) and Nick Beard (Solihull) the
sessions can deal with multiple abilities from absolute beginners, to older, less experienced
players by dividing into smaller groups giving them adapted training for their requirements.
The improvement in the regions U14’s girls is very apparent after topping their group at December
2023’s Inter Regional Competition. The team then went on to come a credible 4th place after a
closely fought bronze medal match. This is the highest a West Midlands girls team have ever
come at U14’s and the first time they have ever topped a table at group stage.
Success continued into 2024 with the same team recently returning from the City of Manchester
WPC Winter Festival under the banner of City of Birmingham where again they did themselves
proud coming second, beaten only by Liverpool.
If you would like more detail on the programme contact Catherine Martin on
[email protected].
