The Bolton School Girls’ Division U13 water polo team are national champions! The girls’ team, coached by Mr Teasdale and assisted by Miss Compton, has been together since Junior School days and through skill and dedication has worked its way up the national rankings, drawing inspiration from the Boys’ Division who have dominated on the national stage across age groups in recent years.
Mr Teasdale said: “The attitude of this group of girls makes them a pleasure to coach. They work very hard; we train at 07:30 every Friday morning, they are always there on time and never miss a session. They arrive to every session ready to learn and they seem to really enjoy the training. Their success is in no small part down to this excellent attitude.
It is amazing that we won the competition when this is the first year we have entered. We were lucky to be able to take many of the girls away on a tour to Hungary over the Easter holidays and I think this really helped them to develop their understanding of the sport. Although the majority of the team are year 7 I’ve coached many of the team last year too when they were in junior school. This wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the heads of the junior schools Mrs Laverick and Mrs Faulkner; I would like to thank them for this. I would also like to thank Miss Compton for all her help and hard work; there is no way we would be national champions without her!”
In the national final, held at Northampton School, the girls overcame St Bede’s and St Joseph’s Catholic College 4-3 in a close decider, having beaten Bedford Modern School 5-3 in the semi-final. Earlier, the girls had opened the day with a convincing 5-0 win against Alleyn’s School before losing 4-3 to King’s. However, their superior goal difference saw them top out the group.
Over the Easter vacation, the girls’ team had joined the U13s’ boys team in warm-up games and training in Hungary. Earlier, in the regional qualifiers, they beat St Edwards 6-1, drew 3-3 with St Bede's Bradford and beat Manchester High School for Girls 15-0.