ENGLAND CONTINUE COMMONWEALTH PREPARATION
England's squads will continue their preparation for this
month's Commonwealth Water Polo Championships in Perth when
they compete for the Southern Cross Cup in New Zealand.
The two young outfits travel to Auckland this week where
they will feature in one of New Zealand's premier tournaments
(16th to 19th) before beginning their Commonwealth campaigns
(23rd to 29th January).
Emerging talents dominate both teams with only three of the
players selected to the men's squad (Figes, Thresher and Williams)
having collected bronze at the inaugural championships in
Manchester in 2002.
Eight of the 13 members of the women's squad, who also took
bronze four years ago, are relative newcomers with all but
four of them based at the Manchester High Performance Centre
where they have spent the past year laying solid foundations
as water polo looks to London 2012.
National Performance Director Nick Hume is looking forward
to watching the young teams in action as they continue their
development.
"Both squads are very young with the majority of athletes
aged 20 or under," said Hume.
"The Commonwealth tournament has been identified as
a development springboard towards the Olympics in 2012 and
subsequent European Championships.
"It's going to be good experience for us in terms of
international competition. It will be an uphill battle if
you look at the calibre of the teams competing with Canada,
Australia, New Zealand and South Africa all having played
at last year's world championships."
The Commonwealth Championships with feature 14 teams with
England, hosts Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Singapore
and Canada sending both men's and women's teams while Wales
and Scotland will also contest the women's tournament.
Competition for honours will be fierce with Canada, bronze
medallists at last year's World Championships in Montreal,
and Australia, 2005 World League bronze medallists, providing
the sternest tests in the women's event.
"England will find it very demanding because they'll
be playing teams with much more international experience,"
explained Hume, "but we will be looking for consistency
and improved performances as the tournament progresses.
"We want to make sure the hard work both squads have
undertaken over the past 12 months is paying off."
The squads are as follows:
England Men's Team
1. Andy Crawford (Bristol) (GK)
2. Mark Banwell (Cheltenham)
3. Scott Carpenter (Lancaster)
4. Thomas Curwen (Lancaster)
5. Craig Figes (Bristol)
6. Richard Leighton (Rotherham)
7. Alex Parsonage (Strasburg/Cheltenham)
8. Adam Scholefield (Rotherham)
9. Edward Scott (Manchester) (GK)
10. Andrew Squires (Lancaster)
11. David Taylor (Cheltenham)
12. Matthew Thresher (Bristol)
13. Daniel Williams (Bristol)
England Women's Team
1. Tara Smith (City of Sheffield) (GK)
2. Kate Lewis (City of Manchester)
3. Bernice Cowton (City of Sheffield)
4. Sarah Pimblett (City of Manchester)
5. Fiona McCaan (City of Liverpool)
6. Francis Leighton (City of Sheffield)
7. Angela Winstanley-Smith (Bordeaux, France)
8. Carol Mohan (City of Sheffield)
9. Aine Hoy (City of Manchester)
10. Hannah Wilde (City of Liverpool)
11. Chloe Wilcox (City of Sheffield)
12. Larissa Davies (City of Sheffield)
13. Rosie Morris (City of Liverpool)
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