Sports
Meet the challengers for the 2025 U19 Open National Age Group title
May 1, 2025 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 […]
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 first of our four previews we take a look at the U19 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.
After finishing as runners-up for the past two years, Cheltenham come into this year’s event looking to go one better in Coventry.
And with defending champions Worthing narrowly missing out on finals weekend, they’ll be hopeful of their chances this weekend.
In the Qualification Round they finished second in Group B, one point behind a Manchester side who narrowly defeated them in Matlock. However, two impressive wins over Caledonia and Beckenham secured their spot back at finals weekend where they’ll face West London Penguin.
Speaking on the competition, Head Coach Stu Mckie is excited to see his side continue their development.
He said: “We were delighted to qualify from Matlock with some great teams on show there. Quality polo in all matches with strong performances from our senior players.
“This is a developing squad with about 75% being eligible for next year’s competition so we are excited about getting to Coventry and doing what we love to do – play water polo, have fun and keep getting better!
“They’re a great bunch of boys who can’t wait to get going. I’m extremely proud of what they’re all currently achieving.”
West London Penguin return to the National Age Group Championships finals in this age group for the first time in three years.
Their strong side went undefeated in the Qualification Round, earning three wins from three to top Group A.
That included some impressive victories, including a 12-9 victory over defending champions Worthing and a 16-8 win against fellow national finalists Watford.
Those victories showed the class that this team possesses, and they’ll be confident that they can continue that form in Coventry.
Ahead of the competition, Head Coach Mehdi Nesaei shared the clubs pride in the group heading to the Alan Higgs Centre.
“It’s a pleasure to lead this Penguin squad to the finals,” Nesaei said.
“This group has trained hard and really come together in a tough year for the club and fought to earn our first U19 finals place since 2022.”
Squad: Riaz Garnie, Shai Saltman, Max Walton, Henry Anjala, Sidney Gruber, Matteo Antonelli, Leonard Stocker, Victor Laslop, Michelangelo Antonelli, Rafe Pool, Francesco Bernini, Leonardo Guidi, Jack Benson.
After missing out on finals weekend last year, City of Manchester are back at finals weekend and looking to add to clubs illustrious list of honours.
They come into this one in good form, both in the Qualification Round and in the Junior Men’s National Conference Water Polo League.
They topped that league with an unbeaten record but missed out on the trophy in the finals, where Saturday’s opponents Watford went on to lift the trophy.
Securing their place at finals weekend by topping Group B with seven points from nine will have boosted their confidence coming into this one and Head Coach Charles Booth is looking forward to a great weekend of water polo.
He said: “We’re so happy to be back in the finals after missing out on a top four spot last year. We’ve had a really strong season in the U18 National Conference Water Polo League, unbeaten in the group stages only to miss out at the finals.
“Our first match this weekend is a semi-final rematch against Watford where we’re looking to reverse the result of the conference semis.”
Squad: George Billington, Charlie Chadwick, Freddie Dean, Tobias Khawar, Miles Kinloch, Will McGeehan, Otis McKelvey, Joseph Roxburgh, Lucas Roxburgh, Oliver Salimbeni, Yaroslav Shemanov, Andrew Stephenson, Eli Wass. Head Coach: Charles Booth. Assistant Coach: Steve Kinloch. Team Manager: Jon McGeehan.
Watford return to the finals in this event for the first time since 2019 where they narrowly missed out on a medal.
Six years on and they will be desperate to make the podium this time around after coming through both the Preliminary and Qualification rounds.
They boast some quality players amongst their ranks, including the likes of Ed Carpenter, Bailey Sapsed and captain Dusan Crompton who are all part of Great Britain’s U18s Junior Men’s squad.
They will no doubt be key as they look to reverse the result they had against Manchester in the preliminary round where they lost out by just a single goal in a 10-9 defeat.
For coach Paul Dix however, this weekend is all about demonstrating their team values each time they enter the pool.
He said: “Discipline, hard work and humility have been the team’s focus for this year. We are looking forward to competing against some very strong teams and demonstrating our values.”
Squad: Keeyan Shah, Edward Carpenter, Dusan Crompton (C), Bertie Dix, Niko Obradovic, Bailey Sapsed, Samuel Wood, Ilija Crompton, Rishi Patel, Owen Dorrington, Dinil Rodrigo, Michael Barrett, Gethin Dorrington. Head Coach: Paul Dix. Assistant Coach: Adam Page. Team Manager: James Crompton.
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.