National Championships
With a new venue up in Teeside and an unbeaten title to defend both myself and my club Team Viking were looking forward to the competition and the end of the domestic season. We progress through the early rounds, playing some great attacking polo, and looking to win the ball back at very chance. The final came around quickly and was to be against Meridian for the crown of National Champions. We started the game well, and as team had numerous chances to take the lead, having probably nearly 10 shots on goal without converting! The meridian keeper was having a stormer, and the goal posts seemed huge with the ball pinging off them far too many times! Then it all went wrong, Meridian Broke and scored, we were one down at half time. We pushed 5 in the second half, and a man was lost and we were 2-0 down, was it going to be one of those days?? As a team we still had belief and personally I was determined to make amends for taking so many unconverted shots in the first half! We scored our first and kept the pressure on, winning the ball back, I found myself in space received the ball and dummied before scoring! We were back level, with not long on the clock. We kept the attacking pressure on, and got a corner with 10seconds on the clock, the corner was taken and 3 passes down the line I was a speed running down the middle, I took the shot to score with 1 second left!! We had won! What a final, both to play in and for the spectators!
London International
The London International has been going from strength to strength over the years and this year was a highlight. With the world champs pending a number of national teams has chosen to play, alongside some of the best club teams in Europe, plus what can only be described as an international all-stars team on the play list meant for some exciting competition. I was playing for my Viking team and we collectively were looking forward to pitch ourselves against a few national sides and take some scalps! It was a great competition, as a club we made our way to the final beating Liblar and New Zealand along the way. Personally I felt I was playing well and as a team things were dropping into place. We were looking forward to a show down with the all-stars team, with national team players from the Netherlands, Italy and France. It was at first a close final with both teams having chances, but the all-stars came out on top with a win at the final whistle. Personally I felt I had played well, but was disappointed not to have made a bigger impact on the game. Something I wanted to rectify come the next competition, De paddle.
De Paddel
High on the success of London both myself and my club side Viking went into De Paddel with confidence, and I wanted to make a bigger impact on key games. We cruised through the first round, something we had struggled with in the past. Topping the group and in a good position to progress to the final. We came against the French U21 side who were playing well and beat them with a very strong performance. We then played Agen one of the top French club teams, and lost to them in a scrappy game with players loosing their heads and getting cards. However as we had won all our games to this point it meant we had another chance to progress to the final in a ladder system. But this meant beating the French national team. It was poised to be a tough game. After a tough 19 minutes the score was levelled at 1-1 and with 20 seconds remaining we pushed hard and I scored the winner with 7 seconds on the clock to take us to the final! We won the final against Agen comfortably in the end. It had been a tough weekend, but we all left very happy. We had been playing well as a team, with communication and understanding on the pitch being excellent. I was also very happy as I felt I was beginning to make an impact on games, one of my targets for the year. I also felt comfortable and at home in my boat, and felt it might just all be coming together…….. all this was very positive with the worlds coming up??
The World Championships, Milan
This was one of the best, if not the best major competition I have attended. It was well organised, had great weather, had good viewing for spectators of which large numbers came to watch, plus TV coverage on a major Italian TV channel. All this meant that there was a brilliant vibe around the competition. I was looking forward and confident, but was also a little nervous before the competition got started. Things got off to a good start, qualifying second in our first group, however due to a number of shock and strange results this meant we were in the aptly named group of death with the Dutch, Germans, Spanish, Switzerland and Belgium. The competition has defiantly raised its game in the men’s category, and again some shock results and a number of teams having draws meant the group was wide open. Unfortunately as a team after the early rounds where we felt we had played well but had more to deliver, and felt we had potential for better performances be couldn’t quite seem to find that edge, or click as a group meant we didn’t make it through to the semi finals. This seemed to be a problem for a number of nations, with the Dutch and Spanish also being knocked out!! Unlike the previous year at the Europeans where we played a tight defensive game (successfully to a bronze medal) this year we had opted to play a more attacking and expansive game, trying to win the ball back at every chance. We wanted to play, we felt we were a better team and wanted to play good free flowing canoe polo. Maybe this was a bad choice? Who knows? Food for thought? On a personal level, I wasn’t too disappointed with my performances, but I was disappointed as I felt I didn’t make an impact on games, one of my key aims for the year??!! Coming away from a week with such expectation and not fulfilling is a strange one…??? But after a few days I found myself back in the gym and in the boat as I have the European club champs, back with Viking and hoping to round off what has been a long season off on a positive note!!
