Worthing water polo success

AFTER a break of a few years the ASA decided to re-introduce an inter-regional championship for the junior age group (boys born 1991 and younger).The Worthing junior team has dominated competitions within London and the south-east at this age group for the past few years and seven of its players were selected in a squad of 12 that represented the region.

Congratulations should go to Sam Abbott, Joel Abbott, Dominic Cranford, Alastair Hardinge, Scott Martin, Robert Osborne and Ziggy Tate who all played a significant part in an exciting tournament.

The south-east eventually finished as runners-up to a very strong north-west team but they played some excellent water polo through-out.

On the Saturday the team started with a satisfactory win against the east-midlands before losing by the narrowest of margins to Scotland.

Sunday saw the team play well against the north-west but missing too many chances cost them the chance of victory. In the final match the boys managed to turn the tables on Scots to win by a single goal margin which secured the runners-up position.

Joel Abbott was joint top goal scorer in the competition which is a remarkable achievement for a player who has only just started concentrating on playing outfield rather than his original position in goal.

To finish as runners-up in this competition is a good result for the region and the selection of 7 Worthing players is a remarkable achievement for the club.

The team was coached by Paul Phillpott, also of Worthing SC, who worked hard with the squad at various sessions in the build up to the competition.