Canoe Polo

Well it's that time of year again. For those of you who don't know, I was selected last year to represent Great Britain at Canoe Polo. This year I had decided to go for GB selection again. Having heard nothing for a couple of months I was starting to get a little discouraged. Then I received a letter inviting me to be on the team this year. Due to financial difficulties they were not going to have a selection weekend as they had done in previous years, the team had been already been picked and only 10 women were going to be invited. As expected this came as a surprise to me, but I quickly sent my acceptance form back. My first training weekend is next weekend, which I am fairly nervous about but it should hopefully go OK.

I will be going to Essen in Germany, Mechelen and Leper in Belgium this year, as well as many training weekends. I have started training again, but I seem to be slightly lacking in motivation to go for a paddle in my lunch hour at work, especially when it's raining. But I suppose it will get easier when it gets sunnier. It doesn't help that on my first training session, when it was freezing cold I managed to fall into the canal - I wasn't even in my boat at the time!!!

Last year the GB squad did extremely well at all the competitions we went to, most importantly the women's A team beat the current world champions at the European Championships. This bodes well for our chances at the Worlds later on this year.

My own team, the Old Speckled Hens, did really well last year. We came second in the National Championships in July. This year we are doing very well in our leagues - standing a good chance of getting promoted into Yorkshire and Humberside Division 1, this would be really good as we are the only all female team in the league. But the season is only half way through, so we will have to wait and see what happens.

Thanks to the SOC committee for giving me £250 towards a new polo boat (these cost £750 new) this has made such a difference to my paddling and my game play. I will try and keep you updated as much as I can about what is happening with GB polo.

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	Swaledale Outdoor Club

Canoe Polo

Ellie Bridgstock