Prior to the start, coach David’s team talk included the importance, with each game lasting only 2 halves of 7 minutes, of making shots count as games in these tournaments are won and lost often by a single goal; this would prove to be prophetic.

First up was a game against Sheffield. With an already strong team, further bolstered by the inclusion of two of Hucknall’s best players, Sheffield were clearly determined to win the tournament at all costs. Unfortunately, despite a robust performance by the Grantham team, Sheffield went onto win this one 12 goals to 5, a similar score line Sheffield were to repeat against the remaining teams.

Next up were Rotherham whom Grantham had narrowly beaten recently in a league game. Indeed, a strong display by Grantham kept Rotherham off the score sheet with Grantham winning 4 goals to 0.

Grantham’s third game was against an impressive looking Leeds side. Unfortunately for Grantham, 11 missed shots, 5 against the woodwork, proved costly as Leeds took this one 7 goals to 6, with their winner being a long range shot in the last seconds of the game. Despite this, Grantham put in another excellent team performance.

The final game was against Sedgefield, who had narrowly lost to Leeds earlier in the tournament. A hard fought game had Grantham chasing Sedgefield throughout the 14 mins but were narrowly pipped by 5 goals to 4 to Sedgefield.

To David’s team talk point, the narrow losses to Leeds and Sedgefield meant the difference between 2nd and 4th in the tournament. However, this was a great set of team performances in all the games. Every player gave their all and fought hard for the full 14 mins in every game. Sam Bellamy was Grantham’s top scorer for the tournament with 10 goals. Special mention should go to Ethan Corless in goal, he had an excellent debut for the under 16s, pulling off some wonderful saves throughout the tournament.

East Manchester Leisure Centre was quite a trek, so a big thankyou to all the parents and players who made the journey, especially to David Lord and Alex Bellamy for stepping in to coach the U16s team. Also a big thankyou to Michelle Tasker for working the table and to Gemma Wand for working with me to TM the team.

Well done everyone, some great water polo.