Water Polo

Water Polo has a long history in Bridport dating back over 100 years. The move from the Harbour at West Bay to indoor games at the Bridport Leisure Centre (BLC), which opened in 1994, brought the modern game into the town where it has been a regular activity ever since.

Linking closely with the BLC the Club provides opportunities for ages from 7 years to well in excess of 50! Whilst the BLC operates a 2 hour, weekly session on Monday evenings for youngsters from 7-15yrs, the Club runs a later 1.5 hr session for seniors and for older Juniors.

The Club is responsible for various junior and senior boys and girls teams that compete in the Dorset League and the ASA South West Inter-Club Championships. Juniors have further opportunities to advance their skills with the Regional Training Centre, County Development Sessions and County and Regional teams. In the summer, the Club plays several friendly matches at our historic home in the Harbour at West Bay.

The purpose of the weekly sessions is to encourage players to develop their technique and fitness and to learn the rules and tactics of the sport. As Juniors advance within the sport they are encouraged to develop their own skills and become involved with coaching their younger colleagues in a friendly environment.

We welcome new players, both male and female of all ages and abilities.

Barracudas Coaching Team

The Bridport Barracudas Head Water Polo Coach is Fred Fowler who has been coaching since 1997 and who has been involved with Water Polo at the BLC since it opened in 1994. Fred encourages a friendly, disciplined and competitive environment and believes that the purpose of the Club sessions is to develop life skills as well as to provide youngsters with the opportunity, knowledge and support to take their water polo careers as far as they would wish.
 
The Barracudas have a dedicated coaching team who assist the Head Coach, Swimming, with the various squads. All our coaching and teaching staff and the appropriate committee members have been CRB checked.

Introducing the Coaching Team

Fred Fowler	Head Coach, Level 1 Water Polo Coach
Maria Bowen-Ashwin	Head Teacher, Level 1 Water Polo Coach, Level 2 Swimming Coach, Level 2 Swimming Teacher

If you are interested in Water Polo please call the BLC on 01308 427464 or Fred Fowler on 07917 105919, or send him an email today.

 

 

June 2011 Update

Competition - Past

ASA Inter-Regional Championships 2011 - South West Academy Boys Team

These championships took place on 25/26th June in Essex, with Bridport player Billy Uppard representing the South West. Scoring 6 goals in the tournament, the South West beat Wales 26-1, Scotland 23-0, West Midlands 10-8, South East 14-4, and North West B 17-0 in the Group Matches. A 7- 4 victory over the North East in the Semi Final led to a final against the strongest region resulting in a very close 6-5 defeat to the North West A team.

ASASW Inter-Club 18&U Male Championships

This competition took place on 25th June at Exeter with a very strong field of clubs entering - Cheltenham, Exeter, Barnstaple, Christchurch and ourselves. Unfortunately a couple of our stronger players were unable to make the fixture, however Rhys Kirkpatrick, Matt Cracknell, and Oli & Will Bowen-Ashwin, all represented the club in a competition that was at least two years and in Will's case, four years above his age group. We lost every match however the positives were that in three of the four games we only had a maximum 2 goal deficit at half time. Unfortunately we went on to concede more heavily in the second half in three matches, but the players will have gained invaluable experience.

West Bay Summer Matches

This year's summer fixtures are nearly complete, with the following arranged so far:-

• Saturday, 16th July - Start Time 7.45pm v UWIC
• Saturday, 13th August - Start Time 7.00pm (TBA)
• Sunday, 14th August - Start Time 7.30pm v Christchurch
• Saturday, 27th August - Start Time 5.30pm v Weston-Super-Mare
• Sunday, 28th August - Start Time 6.30pm (TBA)
  
  

Water Polo Awards Evening

This year's awards evening is being held on Monday, 11th July at 7pm in the poolside seating area at the Leisure Centre. We welcome any committee members who would like to attend.

Fred Fowler
Bridport Barracudas Head Water Polo Coach

 

May 2011 Update

Recent competitions


ASASW Inter-County 16&U Female Championships

This competition took place at Millfield last weekend with three Bridport players representing Dorset - Clare Scarborough, Zoe Robertson, and Holly Anderson. The girls got off to an amazing start. After losing by more than 20 goals last year, Dorset beat Gloucestershire 4-1 in their first match, the first female victory for a Dorset team in the Regional Championships in more than 50 years!


The form continued into the second match with a 12-2 victory in the second match against Somerset.

The final match was a winner takes all fixture. Unfortunately it was a match too far, and although Clare scored, Dorset lost the fixture 6-1 to take silver medals, leaving Dorset with a clean sweep of Silver medals in all regional inter-county junior competitions. All of the girls played a significant part in the matches.


ASASW Inter-Club Senior Mens Championships

This competition also took place at Millfield last weekend involving eight teams in two groups. This was the first time the competition had taken place for several years and the first time Bridport has entered. The first match against Weston-Super-Mare was a tough fixture which we lost convincingly.

The second match against eventual finalists Barnstaple was more competitive.

Bridport were only 5-3 down at half time, however the Barnstaple team pulled away in the second half. The final match against Exeter University was a much more competitive match which we should have won, and were winning with one minute to go. A series of mistakes resulted in conceding two goals and we eventually lost 6-5.

The match however did provide a great experience for the club and I have nodoubt we will enter a team next year, hopefully with a full strength team.


Future Competitions

ASA Inter-Regional Championships 2011 - South West Academy Squad

These championships take place on 25/26th June in Essex and Billy Uppard is working hard to prepare for his place in the team.


ASASW Inter-Club 18&U Male Championships

This competition takes place on 25th June at Exeter and we have a team entered. Rhys Kirkpatrick, George Sparks, Oli Bowen-Ashwin, and Richard Middleton and Matt Cracknell will all play for the Bridport team, with several other players dual registering to make a full team.

Fred Fowler
Bridport Barracudas Head Water Polo Coach