Sat 19th January saw all three of Penrith’s main teams playing in 3 different leagues, showing the depth and breadth of participation that has now been developed at the club, but also causing some logistical problems!
The A team travelled to Stockport to play in the first Regional Div 2 tournament of the season (The first tournament was postponed due to problems with the swimming pool).
More logistical problems ensued, as 2 players broke down on the M60 on the way there. A third player drove back to pick them up, meaning we had to start the first game against Liverpool Cobourg with 4 players (5 in a team).
However, they arrived by half time, when we were only 1-0 down. Back up to 5 players and 2 subs, we scored to draw 1-1. Because of delaying the first game, we then had to play back to back games, but this worked in our favour as we were warmed up and played well as a team, to beat FOA from Liverpool, 6-3.
The 3rd game against Viking, from Derby, was a tight, well fought game, but Viking just won 2-1. The final game saw Penrith completely overpower Liverpool Brunswick 6-0 until in the last 2 seconds, they scored a long shot from the centre restart, making it 6-1. Great to finish on a high. Penrith felt they played much better as a team than last week in the national league and are therefore feeling confident for the rest of the season.
The B team travelled to York to play in their second tournament in National Division 4, which they are leading after the first tournament back in december. In their first game against a local York University side, they won 5-1. A great start to the tournament.
They then proceeded to beat Manvers, from the north east, 4-2. Up next were Pennine C. An interesting start to the game as both sides scored a penalty. They eventually drew 2-2. Penrith then beat Manchester Wildcatz 2-0 and Kingston from Hull, 2-0. Both these are well established canoe polo clubs, so it was an impressive performance from the B team, preserving their deserved position at the top of the league. Most of the goals in the competition came from Luke Farley and Morven Fox.
The C team travelled down to Stoke to play in the Regional Division 4. This was a very new Penrith team, with several players never having played in an open tournament before and they hadn’t even played together as a team before.
To their credit, they drew with Birmingham University, 2-2 , then were narrowly beaten by FOA from Liverpool, 3-4. Sheffield University couldn’t field a team, so they won that game by default, but instead played a friendly against a Bangor University team, which they narrowly lost in a high scoring game. All the players enjoyed the experience and are keen to build their skills and play in more tournaments.
A great weekend of canoe polo, which is a fast, skilful team game played locally, regionally and nationally (& internationally!) at a lot of levels. If you want to get involved there are 3 sessions every Mon evening in Penrith pool, all of different ability levels from 8pm onwards. Some of these team players started at the club as complete beginners, so why not come along and try it?
