Autumn half term signalled the return of the annual water polo tournament, a larger number of teams than in recent years competing for the coveted Tisbury Trophy. While of course being delighted to welcome all the teams, a special welcome was given to Basildon Water Polo Club, who hadn’t played in the tournament for a while but had reformed with the team that competed 10 years ago. The significance of this was that their team mainstay Dave Warriner died 10 years ago, a big figure both in their club and in the region.

Our team was the youngest for many years; so much so that only two OS were over 40 and thus qualified to swim for the Tisbury trophy. Sadly, both qualifying codgers had previously managed to injure themselves, and so we must wait another year for a new winner!

We started well, with OS scoring the first goal of the tournament! Goalie Nick Reynolds saved two penalties during the day, but even he could not avoid us coming a narrow second in all our matches. Probably the closest matches were against City of Cambridge (2-7) and University of Cambridge (2-8). It soon became apparent that Ipswich and Basildon were the teams to watch, Ipswich winning the crunch game between them (5-2)

The games played were as follows:

Final tournament table:

So, Ipswich won the Tisbury trophy, with a massive 32 goal difference. Last years winners Enfield could only manage third place, behind the reformed Basildon team. The first three teams were presented with a trophy to keep. Cleanest team were also Ipswich, who also produced the top goal scorer. Best goalie went to Basildon; trophies were presented for all these achievements.

Many thanks to the School for allowing us the use of their fantastic facilities, and to Ashley Bygraves, Head of Aquatics, who not only made sure all the facilities were perfect but also played for us! Thanks also to Jennifer from the School’s Development Team for the marketing, collecting the food on the day and for taking team photographs. Lastly, thanks to Nick Reynolds for the huge amount of work in getting the event off the ground.

OS Squad 2023:

Matteo Alessandri (MJH, SH, 07-16)
Toby Brown (WH, HH,11-20)
Ashley Bygraves (Head of Aquatics)
James Catton (WH, SH, 09-16)
Tom Olley (WH, SH, 08-16)
Ben Porteous (GH, HH, 09-20)
Nick Reynolds (HH, 08-12)
Markus Webb (WH, SuH, 13-23)

Written by Steve Ross (GH, SHa 65-72)