The opening match of the event and our first of the day was against Paignton.  The Cheltenham team did look at little shaky in the initial minutes of the game, but soon got into their stride, attacking with vigour and winning 15-5.  Next up were Exeter, this game promised to be the toughest of the tournament, Cheltenham were narrowly beaten in their last match against this side and didn’t want a repeat performance.  Exeter delivered a strong start attacking well, but the Cheltenham teams superior expertise was clear Cheltenham soon romped ahead winning 20-5.  The third match of the tournament was against Devonport, who were completely dominated by Cheltenham and didn’t manage to score until the final minutes of the game, resulting in another win for Cheltenham 15-3.  Finally Cheltenham played Barnstable, despite this being the end of a very long day, everyone performed well.   Barnstable were tough opposition, but the Cheltenham team kept their heads and delivered a fantastic performance winning 10-6.

Cheltenham Under 14’s were crowned South West Champions, the team showed great promise with everyone, apart from the goal keeper, contributing at least one goal throughout the 4 matches played and Nick Armitage-Bond, scoring 20 goals, to make him the top goal scorer of the tournament.

Photo :

Back row l-r : Joshua Purcell, Jake Ward, Nick Armitage-Bond, John Spicer (Coach), Joseph Berry, Dan Atkins, Henry Redman, Sam Berry

Front row l-r : Archie Bayliss, Matt Witcomb, Seb Francis, James Durham

This weekend saw a mixed bag of results. First up we went down 18-8 to long term local rivals Bristol Central. Having gone 3-2 up in the first quarter we then let the game get snatched away from us losing the second quarter 5-0, after which we never recovered. Scorers Jack Arthur 1, Mark Banwell 1, Will Middleton 2, Adam Legge 3, Dave Taylor 1.

The second game saw a massive improvement in Cheltenham’s performance. A fantastic start saw Cheltenham 5-1 up at the end of the first quarter and then put the game out of reach of penguin with a 7-2 score in the second quarter putting Cheltenham 12-3 up! Scorers M. Banwell 7, D. Taylor 3, W. Middleton 3, Joel Thomas 3, Mike Thomas 2 and David Edwards, Jerry Birmingham, Bernat Jakupovic, Guive Shafie all 1.

Cheltenham were drawn in Group A which meant matches versus Bournemouth, Newton Abbott and Weston Super Mare. This first match was rather an unknown quantity as Bournemouth do not compete in the same league as Cheltenham. Cheltenham’s tactics were clear from the onset with a full press utilised to pressurize the opposing team into making mistakes enabling Cheltenham to utilise their speed to counter and score quick games. Bournemouth didn’t know how to deal with the full press and were left chasing white water on their way to a 17-5 defeat at our hands. Top scorer for Cheltenham in this game was Bernard Jakupovic (Bear) with 6 goals. Next up were Newton Abbott a side Cheltenham were much more familiar with due to previous meetings in the Bristol and West League. The same tactics were employed and a similar result achieved with Cheltenham running out 15-5 winners. This time the scorers were very even with all but one of the outfield players contributing goals. This final group game was against the bottom team in the group Weston-Super-Mare which gave Cheltenham the chance to play a lot of the second seven players for the majority of the game. The final score was 16-4 with Mark Taylor (Chubba) top scoring with 5 goals.

The semi final saw Cheltenham drawn against the group B runners up Newquay. Newquay were a much older side that tried to out muscle the far younger Cheltenham side with reasonable success. Fortunately they couldn’t handle the constant pressure on their offence and Cheltenham were able to force turnovers and score quick counter goals. Cheltenham seemed to be cruising to a comfortable victory with half an hour gone and the scored standing at 15-9 however some of Newquay’s physicality went too far and drew a reaction from one of the junior players leading to a brutality exclusion which would mean Cheltenham having to play man down for the next four minutes of the match. Newquay used their extra man to great affect and chipped away at the Cheltenham lead getting to just 15-13 before Cheltenham were able to sub a player back in to the game. With the teams even again Newquay were found wanting and Cheltenham kept them at bay for the final minutes winning the match 15-13. Top scorers for Cheltenham in this game were Chubba with 4 and vice captain Adam Hayter with 3.

Cheltenham would then meet Exeter in the final who had themselves come through a thrilling semi final with Newton Abbott eventually winning on penalties. Ironically Cheltenham had played Exeter a day earlier in the league and lost 18-14 however they were missing a few of their senior players including Chubba and Hayter and hoped that this time the result could be reversed. Cheltenham again pressed hard and some fantastic defending from Jake Polster and Mike Blackwell on the Exeter national league pitman had them struggling for answers. Cheltenham jumped to an early lead thanks to a couple of pit goals and some great counter goals for Jonny Hatton. It was 5-1 at half time and Cheltenham were in full control. The remainder of the final saw Cheltenham rotating through the entire team and maintaining their lead comfortably. The final score was 11-6 to Cheltenham and we were crowned champions!

The whole team were a real credit to CSWPC and all played well as a team working for each other throughout the tournament. This was especially pleasing against some weaker teams where in the past some players would look to score goals to the detriment of the team. By maintaining the tactics set out at the start of the tournament by the time the final came about Cheltenham were unbeatable. A lot of that came down to player fitness too with all of the extra training being carried out by the players really starting to pay off. A special mention also to the junior keeper Jack Simcox who had an outstanding tournament and should be considered Cheltenham’s player of the tournament!!

• Here is a picture of the victorious team

• Mini Polo 16:00 – 16:45 & 16:45 – 17:30 at Pittville
• - email cheltsynchrowaterpolo@live.co.uk
• Intermediate and Senior at Pitville 20:45 – 22:00

• Development Squad 19:00 – 20:00 at Dean Close
• Intermediate/Women’s 20:00 – 21:00 at Dean Close

• Intermediate squad 19:00 – 20:45 at Pittville
• Senior squad 20:45 – 22:15 at Pitville

• South West Regional Training Centre at GL1 19:00 – 21:00
• - email louise.thorogood@sky.com

• Intermediate and senior squad 17:00 – 18:30 at Pitville

I hope that you have had an enjoyable “summer” and have managed to find some sun somewhere during the last month or so. I am writing to you as the annual club membership fees are now due for the period September 1st 2012 to August 31st 2013. I have attached an annual renewal form to this email and I would be grateful if you could complete it and submit your cheque payment, as per the guidelines in the form. It would be very helpful if you could write a breakdown of members on the back of your cheque, as inevitably the forms sometimes get separated from the cheques.

Although all aspects of club activities from pool hire charges through to individual ASA membership costs have increased during the year, a combination of administration savings and fund raising have allowed us to keep membership and training fees charges at the same level as last year. I would like to say a big thank you to all club members who have been involved in any fund raising activity this year – it really has made an enormous difference to our financial position.

Please note that those new members that joined the club after June 1st of this year are exempt from paying an annual membership fee until September 2013. Although you will receive this email, I have already recorded that no membership fee is required.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me  via the contact us page 

I have also attached a summary of training fees for your information.

With best wishes

Dickie Middleton

Cheltenham Swimming & Water Polo Club

Treasurer and ASA Registrations Secretary