We were excited to hear that Year 12 Jaspreet G was selected to play for England U18s  at the EU Nations Cup in Brno, Czechia. Not only that, Jaspreet’s team came away with the gold medal with a 16-9 victory over the host nation!

We asked Jaspreet about her experience playing for England for the first time.

How did it feel to represent your country on such a big stage?

– It was an amazing experience. To see and play teams that are put together from the best athletes in the country is outstanding and the level of Water Polo that was played was beyond anything I have seen. Hopefully, this is not a once in a lifetime but it was an overall great experience.

How did you feel before the competition?

– Honestly, I was really quite nervous as this was my first international tournament played with Great Britain. It was also my first time playing a full international tournament with my team (from all around the UK) and I was quite apprehensive about playing tougher countries. But, saying all that, I had so much support from friends, staff and my family, that most of my nervous were somewhat calmed before the tournament.

 What did you learn from the experience?

– I learnt so much from this trip and met so many incredible people. While I was watching and playing the matches, the style of Polo played was unique to every country which kept my team and I always on our toes. This differs to when we play in England as all the teams in England use very similar techniques in the pool. I learnt and adapted to the matches and way of playing and that in itself was a huge learning curve for me.

How did you get into water polo? 

– There were 2 main ways that I got into Water Polo. Firstly, before I played Polo, I used to swim at Ealing Swimming Club. Every Saturday, after my training session, a Water Polo coach would come to me and ask me to stay for the Water Polo session which happened after the swimming session. I had a vague idea of what Water Polo was about because Mr Bent had introduced me to Water Polo at the end of Year 6. I kept saying no until one day, he had asked me so many times that I said yes. When I started playing, from that day onwards, I fell in love with the sport and I have played ever since. 

When did you start playing?

– My first time I had ever “played” water polo, and by that I mean, touch a Water Polo ball and swim around a bit, was at the end of Year 6. I was meaning to join a Water Polo club at the beginning of Year 7, however, I was delayed due to the COVID pandemic. So I properly started at a club In September of Year 8.

How often do you train and which club do you compete for?

– I currently play for West London Penguin Water Polo Club and this club has been life changing for me. I started at Ealing Sharks and then my coach, Rumen, took me over to the West London Penguin Training session and I have trained there ever since. My training started with 1 or 2 times a week however, starting from last year, I have been training everyday for 2 – 2.5 hours. I also compete for Middlesex, London Region and was previously apart of the England Talent Centre.

You played netball to county level before – are there similarities between water polo and netball?

– Honestly, I loved netball and I used to play for London Pulse and also Middlesex. In Year 10, when school work increased for GCSEs, I had to make a choice between water polo and netball. It was a really tough decision because they both helped each other. Netball really helped my hand-to-eye coordination and gave me the ball skills needed for water polo. Equally, Water Polo was beneficial to Netball because it gave me the power in my passes. In the end, it came to the smaller details, like injuries, and water polo won for me.

What is your next aim?

– My next aim is to prepare for the European Championships in August. This will be tougher than this tournament so we will need to continue to train strong and hopefully we will get far.

A fantastic start to #GoodNewsTues 🤽🏼‍♀️

A huge congratulations to @nhehs Jaspreet (Y12) who won 🥇with @ENGWaterPolo U18 team at the EU Nations Cup after a sensational 16-9 victory against Czechia 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

A fantastic achievement! 👏🏼#NHEHSsport #Waterpolo #England pic.twitter.com/x40H7bmVgq

— NHEHS Sport (@nhehs_sport) November 26, 2024