A young Junior (born 2005 or later) water polo team recently represented Bolton School in the ManUp six-a-side club tournament at Nantwich Lido, an open air swimming pool. The team of eight comprised Ellis Matthews in Year 11, Year 10s Joe Carolan, William Littlefair and Jayden Luhar, and Year 9s Robert Bentham, Charlie Darbyshire, Sam Jackson and James Logan. Notable changes to the rules were no ‘centres’ after a goal was scored: play started immediately with a goalkeeper’s throw.
Bolton School lost their first two fixtures to strong Northampton and Sedgefield teams. They then defeated City of Liverpool and Tyldesley before narrowly losing their last group match against City of Birmingham. The team finished fourth in their group of six and then played off for 7th/8th place. This match against Solihull ended in a draw and went to a penalty shoot out. The game was still tied after the three penalties so then went to ‘sudden death’, which Bolton won after the fifth set of penalties.
