Sports
Meet the teams for the U17s Female National Age Group Championships
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 penultimate preview, we take a look at the U17 female 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’s female teams entered the National Age Group Championships for the first time last year and came away with fourth place in both the U17 and U19 event.
One year on and they’ll be hoping that a medal in on the cards after they were only team with a 100% record in qualification.
They overcame Exeter, City of Manchester and Beckenham at Ponds Forge in March to reach the finals, where they’ll take on Liverpool in the opening match of the weekend.
Led by Great Britain’s U18 stars Amelia Cook and Elsie Graves, the South East club will be looking to make history for the club this weekend and Head Coach Lauren Hand says that the team have been working hard in preparation for the competition.
She said: “We were very pleased to top a competitive group in the U17 qualifying round at Sheffield where the girls put in some strong performances against tough opposition.
“We are excited to compete in the final round in Coventry and have been training hard to prepare for this event.
“Most of the squad have been playing together for a while so we are looking forward to developing further as a team, building on our previous success, as well as giving our newer players some valuable experience.
“They’re all looking forward to the opportunity and we hope that we play as well as we possibly can and, most importantly, enjoy the experience.”
Squad: Amelia Cook, Airlia Philippidis, Ashlin Fraser, Jess Fleming, Skye Priede, Scarlett Dore, Elsie Graves, Maia Middleton, Melita Grigaliunaite, Aimee Fleming, Florrie Cooper. Head Coach: Lauren Hand. Assistant Coach: Alastair Roberts. Team Manager: Jen Woodworth.
City of Liverpool
City of Liverpool were the champions in this age group two years ago, claiming the clubs first-ever female U15 title with an 11-6 win against West London Penguin.
In 2025, much of that side return to the National Age Group Championships with goalkeeper of the tournament Isobella Taylor amongst those looking to impress once again in Coventry.
Penguin managed to get somewhat of their revenge to edge out Liverpool for top spot in Group B in the Qualification Round but Liverpool will be hoping that they can come out on top when it matter this weekend.
Ahead of the competition, Liverpool’s captain Abbie Evans shared her excitement of competing on the national stage this weekend.
She said: “We’re super excited to defend our title after winning gold at the U15 National Age Group Championships in 2023!
“We’ve been getting ready with some really tough and competitive National Conference League games, which have been such a great experience for us and so much fun!”
Squad: Jenna Binks, Holly Bromwell, Poppy Clarke, Abbie Evans (C), Nieve Folkes Sophie Freeman, Francesca Horrobin, Francesca Lucas, Tillie McGeehan, Sianna Tamlin, Isobella Taylor, Ataliah Taylor-Potts, Caitlin Wainwright, Lily Watson. Head Coach: Alice Byrne. Assistant Coach: Joanne Mountfield. Team Manager: Jon McGeehan.
After finishing runners-up last year, West London Penguin will be looking to add to their success at the National Age Group Championships in Coventry this weekend.
Both the clubs U15 Open and Female sides came out on top at the Championships in November and this team will be looking to build on that momentum when the club return to the Midlands.
A slow start in last year’s final saw Penguin come up short in Gloucester with the City of Manchester managing to hold on to a 10-8 victory.
A number of the Penguin squad from 12 months ago, including the competition’s reigning top goalkeeper in Kalia Saltman, and they’ll all be desperate to go one better this time around.
A penalty shootout victory over the City of Liverpool saw them top Group B in the Qualification Round and Head Coach Rumen Kurtev is hoping that his side enjoy the experience this weekend.
He said: “We are very pleased to qualify for the finals and appreciate the opportunity to play some good quality games this weekend and gain some fantastic experience.”
Squad list: Kaila Saltman, Darya Kakari, Aneira Barrett, Anjelea Gallagher-Padayachy, Greta Perkins, Manpreet Gill, Alice Norwell, Florence Mauri Boulogne, Emily Barea, Lydia Tsiberopoulos, Nikhita Shown-Keen, Romilly Clarke, Iskra Clarke Patel, Mila Champney, Maria Kozel. Head Coach: Rumen Kurtev. Assistant Coach: Ian Grimwood. Team Manager: Parmjit Gill
Exeter
After coming through both the Preliminary and Qualification Rounds in second place, Exeter come into finals weekend looking to win the clubs first Female National Age Group Championship.
They recorded seven wins out of nine in their run to making the finals, only losing to fellow semi-finalists Worthing and City of Liverpool.
The highlight of that run was their victory over the City of Manchester at the qualification stage, which essentially saw them eliminate the reigning champions from the competition.
That result will no doubt fill them with confidence on the long drive up to Coventry where they’ll be looking to avenge one of their earlier defeats in the final should they get past West London Penguin on Saturday morning.
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.