Water polo talent is set to flourish at Maltby
THE best water polo players from around the region are to sharpen their skills in Maltby after it was chosen as the base for a talent centre.
Enthusiasts from as far south as Hucknall, Nottingham and Grantham and as far north as Newcastle will come to Maltby Leisure Centre twice a month for training.
The venue was selected by Swim England.
“It’s a real feather in the cap for Maltby,” said Norman Leighton, head coach and ladies coach at Rotherham Metro Water Polo Club.
"There are a few bits of criteria that have to be met and Maltby ticks all the boxes.
"We have the facilities, including access to the gym, on Friday nights and some good coaches, not just from here but others who will be coming in to help.”
All age groups will be involved at Maltby, which is one of four such centres nationally.
"It’s nice for our kids as well that they don’t have to travel all that far to do their enhanced training,” said Norman.
"It’s also good that the best players from the region get together and then two or three times a year they’ll go to a central venue – it can be Coventry but it has also been Sandwell, the new pool in Birmingham – where they compete against other regions.”
The accolade strengthens Maltby’s already strong links with water polo.
Centre manager Ben Senior said: “Water polo has always been a staple at Maltby. We consistently strive to find new opportunities to increase our sporting offering and this gives us an opportunity to do just that.
"Many of our colleagues come from water polo and competitive swimming backgrounds so it benefits us greatly in attracting our own talent for recruitment.
"It also provides a solid platform for children completing our ‘learn to swim’ program me and gives a clear direction as to where to head after – we see many of our swim school graduates move into Rotherham Metro Swimming Club, Maltby Water Polo club and Maltby Diving Club.”
He added: “Maltby is an incredibly sporty village. We are proud to offer our facility as a springboard to sporting greatness and I cannot explain how excited I am to see where this takes us.”
The news comes in what are good times for water polo in Rotherham.
More than 70 kids train at Maltby every Sunday and last month Metro hosted a water polo Mini Olympics involving dozens of kids from across the North East. The club now has squads for Mini Metros aged six-ten years old and a juniors and a new academy squad.
Added Norman: “Our ‘seniors are doing OK and the junior programme is absolutely buzzing with the head coach, Matt Birch, and Richard, my son, as is assistant.
"The numbers are amazing. We had a fantastic summer camp when we had 25 attending on a regular basis and we always happy to welcome more into the club.”
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