On Saturday 7th, the U14s team travelled far to East Manchester for the annual Northern League tournament.
There were five teams, three familiar opponents from the Wakefield & District league and Tyldesley.
We faced off against the unknown first, playing Tyldesley, and pulled out a narrow win, 5-4.
Next up, Rotherham, which was a nail-biting game, to be honest. It was 5-5 with a few minutes to go, then they pulled ahead to beat us 6-5. If we had removed a few minor mistakes, the game would have been ours. We are working out how to play them now, and are ready for Sunday's league match.
Next up was Morley. We felt confident going into this match, and therefore, our entire bench started and played most of that match. The opponent was grateful that we balanced the teams a little more than the other clubs did.
Finally, we played the strongest team, Sheffield. Admittedly, my pep talk was a tad negative, preparing the players for an almost certain defeat, 'managing expectations'. This was due to Sheffield bringing almost all of the North East Inter Regional/Talent centre team, including top ringers from three other clubs. Then Grantham pulled an astonishing 10-6 loss out of the bag, which is a very respectable scoreline all things considered.

I am very proud of the effort put in by every player. Many visibly developing aspects of their game as the day progressed, learning essential new skills, and removing flaws in their decision-making. i.e. not spinning onto their back before shooting.

Special thanks to Alun Yewlett for Team Managing in his first outing with the clipboard.

Full league results are in the link.
https://northernwaterpololeague.leaguerepublic.com/index.html