Kent Water Polo lifted the Swim England Club Network of the Year award and manager Ben McDonald admitted: “It’s a great achievement.”
The network is made up of six clubs – Bexley Water Polo Club, Faversham Water Polo Club, Hythe Water Polo Club, Invicta Water Polo Club, RTW Monson Water Polo Club and Sevenoaks Water Polo Club – and is responsible for developing water polo and ensuring the future of the sport in Kent.
The group came about through a combined desire to improve the grassroots of the game in the county. Many junior squads across the county were unable to field full teams and were struggling to produce county level players.
McDonald added: “This is a great achievement for the network and credit must be given to all the clubs in Kent and all the young volunteers in the whole team that have worked towards this. Thank you and well done.”
McDonald is also the head coach of the Sevenoaks Water Polo Club and the national award by Swim England is a huge achievement for him and the club, which is part of Sevenoaks Swimming Club.
McDonald has been the head of Sevenoaks Water Polo since 2015 where they now boast 32 juniors, five of which are currently in the Kent County team. In addition, the club have also had a Sevenoaks player selected this year for the South East regional team. McDonald and his team also look at developing further links with schools in Sevenoaks.
As Manager of the Kent Water Polo Network, McDonald’s role is to share good practice across all clubs and be a point of contact. He and his team run nine different water polo tournaments each year and monthly Kent training sessions.
