The future is looking bright for Tamworth water polo with the association’s under-14 boys and girls sides both finishing inside the top 20 at the National Club Championships.
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The boys were placed 16th at their championships in Canberra while playing in Albury, the girls clinched 19th spot with a thrilling one-goal win over Essendon.
Remarking that it was a great result for both sides, girls coach Sean Hofman was delighted with how his side performed.
“We improved four or five places on last year so we’re happy,” he said.
“We only missed out on going through to the final of the bowl by one goal.”
They were also only a goal off making the top 16 for the second round of pool games.
After going down to Central Coast 5-4 on Sunday morning in their bowl semi-final they turned around a two goal quarter-time deficit to beat Essendon 10-9.
Tamworth trailed at every quarter but out-scored the Melbourne side 3-1 in the final quarter to clinch the win.
Hofman said he really liked how the girls played as a team, and the way they put into practice the things they had been working on.
“Throughout the whole carnival they did exactly what we did at training with their moves,” he said.
He noted they scored off them several times.
Boys coach Tim Smith was equally proud of his side and the effort they put in.
“I was extremely happy because at the start of the tournament we were ranked 21 in Australia, so we jumped up a few spots,” Smith said.
After placing second in their group (A) the competition lifted a level for the boys as they battled for a top 10 spot.
Playing some of the top teams in the country they found it tough going. Losses to Melville Sharks, the home side and Hunter put them out of top 10 contention and into a play-off against the Sydney Uni cubs for 15th and 16th, where in a close game they went down 9-6.
Smith was particularly pleased with the attitude of the boys throughout the tournament.
“We played some top quality sides, and they were good defensive sides but the boys never gave up,” he said.
“It was that Country attitude – never say die.”
They will only lose six of the side next year, leaving a good nucleus.
