🤽🏻‍♂️🏆 ORCA LEAGUE 🤽🏆

Following the pandemic, our women’s team barely had the numbers to field a team….fast forward 3 years and we can fill a whole team sheet and still have players wanting to attend!!

As I sit at my desk on this wonderful Monday morning, I will try to adequately articulate how great the Amazons are….prepare yourselves.

We won both matches, we scored loads of goals and we played so well.

We went into the first match aiming to score the first goal and break our habit of being a bit off pace in the first quarter…..naturally our goal scorer extraordinaire, Eva stepped up and scored some wonderful goals. Our movement was excellent, Thania was amazing in goal and we swam our hearts out, going on to win 14-1.

After a little snack break and some reffing and table fun, we moved onto our second match. The aim of the game was to practice our drives and slow the game down with good quality set up and passing…..we smashed it. This game challenged us a bit more, but we still came out on top 13-5 even though we gave some of our players to the opposition to even up the field.

Everyone played so well and our scorers included: Iris, Eva, Lucy G, Lucy M, Erin, Susie and Vic. Picking an MVP was tricky, but I think Molly just edged it for her brilliant defensive display.

A massive shout out to Vic who celebrated their first outing with the Amazons with a hat trick in the second match….welcome, we are so happy to have you.

An additional thank you to Molly and Lucy M who did the table and to Thania (and Me) for refereeing.

AMA AMA AMA ZON ZON ZON 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

🤽🏻‍♂️🏆 ORCA LEAGUE 🤽🏆

*The PITs - You’re a winner, baby!*

With a dominant fourth consecutive win against Mikasa, The PITs are officially the 2023 Orca House League Champions!

For The PITs, four games played and four wins, scoring 32 goals and only conceding 22, the best defence of the tournament.

The PITs truly mastered the team spirit and commitment, consistently fielding a full roster of players and scoring multiple goals with over half of the team.

Juggling the arts of lobbing and power shooting, and with an average of two goals per game, Joe OC emerged as the top scorer for The PITs - netting 8 goals in the whole tournament.

David Hudson also stood out as the best goalie of the tournament, conceding the fewest goals and making crucial saves.

In second place, the Loosey Gooseys earned their spot with the best goal difference (+16) and the most goals scored (41).

The Gooseys were one of the hardest teams to beat and even when they lost they never gave up - only defeated by one goal in both their losses in the League.

The third step of the podium went to the resilient Deadly Sirens.

Captained by the Amazon’s backbones Jo and Eva, the Sirens got off to an unlucky start with two losses against the top two teams, but showed great determination to come back and win two matches in a row and bring home third place.

With one win, a draw and two losses, Pit-A-Bred earned the wooden spoon of fourth place.

They ended on a high, however, beating the Gooseys 10-9 after a long and tiring match that was only decided in the last 2 minutes of the match.

Mikasa Es Tu Kasa finished bottom of the league, plagued by unforeseen absences and often having to play with no subs.

Despite that, they gave everyone a hard time and brought home one point in an exciting draw against Pit-A-Bred.

Thanks to all of you who volunteered to help with tabling and refereeing.

We hope you all had a lot of fun, I certainly have anyways!! xx

🤽🏻‍♂️🏆 ORCA LEAGUE 🤽🏆

The last 3 games of the Orca League have given us a clear favourite for the title! 🔥

The Pits made it 3 out 3 wins, defeating both Pit-A-Bred and Loosey Gooseys 8-7 and taking a solitary top spot in the League table! ✈️

Deadly Sirens brought home their first win at the end of a hard-fought match with very few subs!

Here’s the current League standings:

1️⃣ The Pits - 9pt (GD: +7)

2️⃣ Loosey Gooseys - 6pt (GD: +17)

3️⃣ Deadly Sirens - 3pt (GD: -13)

4️⃣ Pit-A-Bred - 1pt (GD: -1)

5️⃣ Mikasa Es Tu Kasa - 1pt (GD: -10)

Only three matches left!! 🗓️

TUE 05/12: *Pit-A-Bred vs Deadly Sirens*

THU 07/12: *Mikasa Es Tu Kasa vs The Pits* & *Pit-A-Bred vs Loosey Gooseys*

Will Mikasa bring home their first win and stop The Pits’ title charge? Will the Loosey Gooseys’ big goal difference make any difference in the end? 🏆🤽🏻‍♂️

Match Report

Impressive progression from the Bs, playing better each quarter despite having only 2 subs! 😮‍💨

Shout out to @⁨~Jake Evans⁩ our only 2 goal scorer!! 💪

Amazing goaltending and field play from @⁨~David H⁩ @⁨~D⁩ . 🏋️‍♂️🏋️‍♂️

Capn David said was the best game of the season, and every team member took some shots, tried some drives, and really helped cover back on defence. @⁨~Claudio⁩ @⁨~Johnny Allain-Labon⁩ @⁨~Felix⁩ @⁨~Charles Lambert⁩ @⁨Kelvin Hall OTS⁩

Thanks to @⁨~Paddy Murphy⁩ for the match report on our last match of this season. There’s a vicious rumour we didn’t come top with goal points 🙂But my thanks to every Orca mens B player that travelled near and far to compete this season. Your consistency, effort and determination never wavered, which makes you winners indeed and a credit to Orca.

London Orcas take Blue Marlins by storm in 9-6 away win

Under the rains of storm Ciarán, a quality-over-quantity team of eight took the win for London Orca at the Hampton Outdoor Pool against Blue Marlins.

The Orcas started their Winter League campaign with the right foot, bringing to end a streak of losses at Blue Marlin’s home.

The Marlins started the match well by winning in the first quarter 1-2, as the Orca still needed to find the reference points for shooting in an outdoor pool, but as we warmed up and settled into a rhythm we caught up and took over ending the second quarter 3-2 for the Orcas.

The third quarter was the key to our victory – we knew they were getting tired and we also knew we needed to put a bit of a margin to prevent a comeback when eventually we’d start getting tired too.

We won the quarter 5-0, with some beautiful goals from Freddie, Matt and Fesey.

Michael played in goal and delivered a performance for the ages – saving goals left, right and centre, and giving us security and guidance in defence.

Lance also had a great evening, displaying a terrific defensive performance. Starting from the bench, he came in in quarter 2 and 4, dropping on pit with confidence and stealing quite a few crucial balls from the attack.

A year ago, we lost this game 13-14, conceding too much and always chasing the result. Last night we won with confidence, leading most of the game and controlling the score with intelligence – a testament to our growth this year as a team.

The Pits soar past Deadly Sirens with 8-3 win

In a thrilling match, The Pits came back from an initial first-quarter deficit to beat the Deadly Sirens 8-3.

Joe OC scored 3 fantastic goals, none of which a lob - surprisingly! And Siren's goalie, Dídac, stole the spotlight with some phenomenal saves, including 2 penalties!

With this win, The Pits join the Loosey Gooseys at the league's summit, both on 3 points.

All the best shots here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jrk8zqLUwMi2FRBQAQGKr577fbh5AKBn

Pit-A-Bred make their debut with 7-7 draw against Mikasa Es Tu Kasa

In a riveting debut match, Pit-A-Bred secured a dramatic 7-7 tie against Mikasa Es Tu Kasa.

David Gleeson kicked off the action with Pit-A-Bred's opening goal. A swift response from Mikasa with Captain Matt on penalty and Erin on a counter made it 2-1. Walid then levelled it 2-2 before the end of the first quarter.

Mikasa took command in the second quarter, going up 4-2 before another of Walid's buzzer-beaters narrowed the gap to 4-3.

The third segment was pure madness – Pit-A-Bred scored three consecutive goals, claiming a 4-6 lead with Claudio and Martin both netting a goal each past Aymen.

Mikasa, however, mounted a fierce comeback, bringing the score back in their favour (7-6) at the third buzzer.

As exhaustion loomed over the field in the last quarter, the match remained neck and neck. In a nail-biting finale, Captain Susie took charge to slam in the last goal of the match and secure a sensational 7-7 tie.

Pics to come soon… 👀

Loosey Gooseys secure second win against Deadly Sirens

Despite the 13-3 final score, Matchday 4 proved to be an entertaining and closely contested game, particularly in the first half.

The Gooseys found goals with multiple players including Fesey (5), Lucy M (3), James H (2), Freddie (1), Charlotte (1).

The Sirens displayed a commendable defence making the first half of the match a very low scoring game, but as fatigue kicked in, the Gooseys just seemed to have a little more fuel.

Captain Redshaw netted 2 beautiful goals for them and Chris found a first-post dunk-in on a counter.

Special thanks to all our table volunteers and refs for ensuring smooth and professional match operations.

It’s back-to-back matches this week, so don’t forget Thursday’s fixtures: *The Pits v Pit-A-Bred* and *Deadly Sirens v Mikasa Es Tu Kasa*.

Winning streak comes to an end as Orcas defeated 8-17 by Beckenham

The Orcas took a cold shower as a physically and tactically superior Beckenham took home the win, 8-17, at LAC last night.

After three consecutive wins for the A team, it was a sobering loss against the third force of Division 2, but still a learning experience.

The first two quarters were relatively close – ending 5-8 for the away team. But as fatigue settled in for the Orcas, Beckenham truly got into their grove and scored a ton in the last two quarters.

And as we struggled more and more to drop in defence, we also had a hard time finding our feet in attack.

Nevertheless, we practiced new movements in attack – like a double pit – and continued to work on our man-up tactics, which now work really well.

By public demand – and by public, I mean our lovely table volunteers @⁨~Jake Evans⁩, @⁨~Lucy⁩ and @⁨~Jo⁩ – @⁨~Matt Rosenfeld⁩ wins goal of the day thanks to a beautiful quick shot coming from nowhere. A stylish goal that one of our table officials even dared to call “magikkkkkhhh” (can you guess who?)

Despite the defeat, it was an enjoyable evening of polo with lots to learn from and sweetened by the thought that we’ll be back playing with this team next year.

London Orca secure safety in Division 2 after 5-10 win against Otters

The Orcas are officially safe from relegation after their third win on the trot!

In the Monday night fixture, home-team, Otters 1869, gave in to an all-round superior London Orca, 5-10, after a hard-fought, but well-managed performance.

The Otters’ high-press initially forced us to play very distant from the goal, making it harder for us to find the way to goal.

Because of this, the first three quarters were very low-scoring, ending 0-2, 2-4 and 3-5 to the Orcas.

But in the last quarter, we finally broke down their defence, scoring 5 goals and bringing home the win.

An outstanding performance from Dídac in goal saved us many times and gave us the solidity and peace of mind in defence that we hadn’t had in the home game against Otter - lost 8-9.

With two games left to play, the Orcas are now equal on points with Otter for fifth place, with four wins in the last five games.

Orcas make two in a row with 9-12 away win against Reading

A “small-but-very-dynamic” team of Orca As travelled all the way down to Eton College last night to set the record _gay_ against Reading, winning 9-12 and dominating the entire match.

After losing to Reading in our first encounter at LAC, 8-9, the Orcas came into the match at Eton with a new-found determination and confidence, riding high on the enthusiasm of the win at Kingston last week.

The Orcas – with a team of only 9 against their 13 – outplayed Reading fair and square, thanks to an excellent drop in defence that neutralised their pit players, and a compact team-play in attack.

Several goals were scored thanks to our growing team awareness and vision – such as Joe OC’s beautiful catch-n-shoot on man-up from position 1 after the team executed the tactic to perfection.

Aymen was phenomenal in goal, saving good shots from the arc and getting more and more vocal as our defence leader, which as a result helped us be more organised and in control in defence.

Fesey – wearing his lucky number 3 cap – has been growing as a pit player and last night was an asset in attack, drawing exclusions and scoring three goals.

A special mention must be given to the absolute screamer of a goal Pietro scored on man-up. A no-look, top-right-corner sniper shot from 2 metres that made all jaws drop.

The Orcas led and controlled the game for its entirety – up 2-4, 5-6, 8-11 and 9-12 at the end of each quarter.

We showed consistency and adaptability, as Reading tried to change tactics to draw away our drop, we adjusted our defence and neutralised their attempts.

As fatigue settled in during the last quarter, we successfully killed the game by slowing down the pace in attack and saving energies for the defence. We simply outplayed them with intelligence and togetherness.

Their table officials even flattered us with comments such as – “Such a small team, but yet so dynamic” – might just have found our new slogan.

With three more games to go, safety from relegation is looking more and more likely – one final push!

Amazons shine despite defeat against Penguins

The Amazons put up an excellent fight in the cross-league friendly match against West London Penguin, only letting grip slip in the last quarter.

The Division-one leaders started the match strong going up 0-2, but a strong comeback in the second half of the first quarter from the Amazons settled the scored on 2-2.

Captain Jo started in goal and made some beautiful saves, while at the front Charlotte, Georgie and Molly led the Amazons’ charge.

The second quarter played out similarly, with Penguins making the most of counters to go up 2-5, but the Amazons once again pulled it back to 4-5 with two late goals.

While the quarter started with some defensive wobbles, our defence grew into the game and our strong pit defence forced the opposing team to rely solely on counters to get goals.

In the last two quarters, fatigue started to kick in for the Amazons, but nevertheless they pushed on always looking for that free pass and taking plenty of shots.

“The game went really well, we were up against a strong team, and we knew going in that it would have been a bit of a struggle,” says Jo.

“But actually, we managed to keep them close to us for most of the game. It was pretty amazing, I’m really happy with it!”

It was also the first outing for a few of our 2023 beginners – Gaia, Katherine and Anita – who made their debut for the Amazons and Jo even picked them as the match MVPs.

“I’m really proud of them, they performed so well. They had some really good passes into pit, they were always in the right position, I was so impressed.”

Orcas stun Kingston with historic last-quarter comeback win

In what was possibly the most exciting match of 2023, the Orcas won their relegation head-to-head against Kingston, 13-12, thanks to a phenomenal comeback in the last quarter and a late goal with 7s left of the game to play.

Away at Kingston, all odds seemed against the Orcas who, on top of playing in a shallow-end pool, also lost their goalie to injury within the first 3 minutes of the first quarter.

In the unfortunate event, Jeremy bravely swam out of goal to save a counter and got hit in the eye during a collision with the attacker.

Michael thankfully stepped in as goalie for two quarters while Jezza tried to recover – he came back for the last two quarters and finished the game as our defence leader.

Despite that, the Orcas ended the first quarter leading 5-4, thanks to the initial advantage of attacking in the deep end.

The second and third quarter were a real struggle as we hadn’t quite figured out how to attack in the shallow end, and Kingston were on a roll in the deep.

And so, the third quarter finished 8-11 for the home team.

In the last quarter, the Orcas had to recover a big deficit while also attacking the shallow. But in the hardest of times, we see the true quality of a team. The Orcas knuckled down, determined not to leave the pool without another W on the scoresheet.

We pulled together as one, digging deep in defence to drop on pit, block every shot that came our way, and then swimming up the pool for the attack, like real-life orcas after their prey.

One save after the other, one steal after the other, and one goal after another, the Orcas levelled and then took over Kingston and at 0’27” the score stood at 12-11 for us – the home team having scored no goals in the quarter.

At that exact moment, a penalty for the home team is called and the goal that followed balanced the game once more with one attack left in the game.

We set up for the final attack and immediately conquered an extra player – the clock ticks 0’18”.

The ball passes around from Fesey to Joe and then back to Fesey. He moves in dummying and shifting the defence – 0’13” – one more dummy and then Filippos calls for the ball on the left.

A quick pass and an immediate shot to the back of the net catches the defence off guard. The clock says 0’7”, the Orcas are back up, 13-12.

On the re-start, Kingston tries a shot from the mid-field, but Joe blocks it and it’s the end.

We won away, against all odds, like a true team. I could cry.

Love you all xx

Tough battle leaves Orcas short of glory by just one goal

At the end of a hard-fought match at LAC last night, the Men’s A Orcas lost their home match against Reading, 8-9.

Plagued with high-brow absences, the Orcas put in a truly team-work display and delivered on the game plan with excellent defensive play and extra player conversions in attack.

In defence the Orcas’ double drop on pit worked a treat to avoid goals and most importantly only conceding 3 extra player plays to the opposing team.

At the front, it was _The Tonight Show starring Ryan Goto_ for the first half of the match, with the driver scoring 3 goals from 5 metres just in the second quarter.

Tom and Fesey worked really well in pit attack to conquer several exclusions and give the extra player advantage to the team.

The Orcas produced one of the best extra player attack performances of the season.

We concluded the match with a 59% conversion rate on man-up, scoring 7 times out of 12 plays.

It was an unlucky evening on even play for the Orcas who missed a couple of goals on counters and a pen which could have given us a different game in hand.

Reading played a fair and fun game, taking advantage of their strong pit players and a couple of well-calibrated top corner shots to bring home the win.

Nevertheless, the Orcas impressed for their grit and team play, continuing to show they deserve their spot in Division Two.

Next week we travel to Kingston for a relegation-battle match that promises plenty of entertainment.

Thanks to the fantastic team on table – @⁨Kelvin Hall OTS⁩, @⁨~Richard⁩, @⁨~Chris Storey⁩ and @⁨~Jake Evans⁩ – for a perfectly smooth-running game on the scoreboard and shot clocks.

And finally, a special thanks to our poolside coach, @⁨~Jezza⁩, for his wisdom and calming tones during the match.

Ducklings make debut in Orca B league friendly match

On Wednesday night a handful of keen beginners popped their cherry in their first London League friendly match against Blue Marlin.

The ducklings crew – @⁨~Alex Byron⁩ @⁨~Claudio⁩, and @⁨~Felix⁩ – travelled down to Walton-on-Thames, led by Captain @⁨~David H⁩ and B veteran @⁨~Jake Evans⁩ to play in their first London League match.

The game was played as a friendly with the purpose of gaining more experience in a competitive match setting.

Everyone played really well and grew in confidence and game awareness as the match went on.

Alex and Claudio scored their first goals on extra player from post, using good technique to come out of the water, catch and shoot past the goalie.

Felix and Jake showed excellent game awareness and movement in the water to create space and organise the team in both attack and defence.

Captain David directed the team from goal giving advice to everyone and saving many shots, including one with his left tit – that must have hurt!

The Marlins lent us some of their experienced players who also joined in to give the team advice and help improve our game.

Great vibes all round – we swam a lot and had a lot of fun, and definitely earned the kebab we got on the way back!

Here’s to seeing all our ducklings in many more matches, scoring goals and having a fab time.

Orca vs Orca vs Orca vs Orca: IGLA here we come!

In the unfortunate, or as it turned out very lucky aftermath of an Orca B match cancellation, our lovely B Captain @⁨~David H⁩ organised an evening of intra-Orcas polo fun – and boy was it a success!

To begin, Orca B played a full match conditions game against the Amazons – fully equipped with a professional whistle (@jeremy) and @⁨~Bill H⁩ and myself on flags, horns and match sheet duties (apologies for the chaotic scribbles).

The Orcas and Amazons played a fun and exciting match  with plenty of goals, saves and steals – plus the added bonus of friendly and encouraging vibes on both sides.

Under the expert guide of Captain David, the Orcas B(est) worked effectively on setting up their attack and passing to pit to gain exclusions and shots. The game was close and the Orcas showed commitment to play it out till the very end. In defence, the team went full-press chasing after the speedy Amazons. Hats off to @⁨~D⁩ too, who brought the defence together with some excellent saves in goal.

The Ama-ama-ama-zons-zons-zons, at the other end, played an offensive game with lots of drives and good serves into pit, testing the B keepers in plenty of occasions. Plus, as a testimony to the great work of development that’s gone into the Amazons project, the 14-strong team smoothly subbed in and out of water regularly giving everyone a chance, while also staying loyal to their game plan.

After this first match, teams mixed up a bit and some of our newbies got a chance at playing the Amazons too. It was great to see our recently graduated put into practice some of the wisdom imparted by @⁨~Joe OC⁩ and @⁨Joe Palmer OTS⁩. This was the first time our ducklings got to play in a full-match conditions game and they did AMAZING! 🎉

We ended a wholesome evening in true Orca style, with tons of laughs and a pint at the pub.

TIP 2023 waterpolo report: Beginner victory en Paris!

Ten Orcas crossed the channel last weekend for this years Tournoi International - including eight fresh faced newbies from the January intake! Despite us having full confidence in winning the tournament in a team of 80% beginners, to show solidarity with our European friends we agreed to divide across teams from our fabulous and gracious hosts Paris Outsiders and Aquatique.

Many games were played, shots taken and goals scored by your teammates hungry to impress their new petite amis and not appear fatigué, the technical details of which your correspondent is not in a position to recall following the traditional post tournament champagne celebration - which the learned members present ensured those new to international gay waterpolo were introduced to (and something the shower bar some attended a previous night was missing, it could be said).

At the end of a hard day of diplomacy in and out the water, and many compliments on how well our new members were playing, le Petit Sirenes claimed the crown in great part due to the valour of our own *Claudio and Harriet!* As we all learned being shouted at in French and not understanding at all is a great way to win at water polo.

Match report: Orca Amazons vs Beckenham

The refreshed and coronated Amazons went back to the Flamingo town aka Croydon!

We were expecting a tough game and came prepared for the endless pinching, pulling, grabbing and speed from the 15-20 year old Beckenhams!

Amazons started very dynamically and our own French exchange Lucy G. scored one of her first goals, handed by and assist from Elise! Although we earned and set up four lovely man ups, and fired countless more shots at goal, we just weren’t quite getting them in and ended the first quarter 1-1

But after that we took very confident control of the game! We were aided in huge part by Thania who didn’t let a single goal in that quarter and rallied us from her stance in goal! For some insane reason Beckenham thought that Kate was one to be dropped off and they scored 2 goals in the second quarter, including a cheeky lob as the shot clock counted down. Nikita scored a great goal from the perimeter as the clock ticked down… keeping us leading on the score board at the end of quarter 2!

The game built from there. We focussed on staying calm, and covering the pit (shout outs to Morgan, Erin, Molly and Julia who ensured no goals came from there).  We also stayed active, with shout out to Monica, Nikita, Charlotte and Elise for getting up quickly and covering drives - our swim fitness really showed up!

Over the course of the game, Lucy G built on her first quarter and scored 2 more goals, with great assists from Lucy M. and Kate. Another shot from Kate in pit, off a lovely assist from Erin. The game ended on a penalty scored by Kate just as time would down and we finished by winning 8-4!

Huge congrats to Monica and Erin on their first appearances with the Amazons at London league!

Well done to all!!!

Lucy and Thania

Orca Women back in force

Our London Orca women’s water polo team were back in force this weekend gone! It was so much fun to play these matches and feels like a huge milestone for the Women’s team with so many new faces, it being our first league matches in over two years!

First match - Orca vs Watford

Sometimes in life the scorelines aren’t everything....especially when the opposition bring their National League side along.

Following an extended warm up (the 1st quarter) Jules broke our goal silence with a powerful shot in the 2nd quarter. In the 3rd quarter, we found our feet and by the 4th, Lucy M was retaliating with a beautiful shot from outside 6. Shout out to the whole team for our sublime man up setups, which were so slick and earned us a goal (nearly two) from Elise, our left-handed Assassin. In classic Orca style, we just needed a little warming up!

Orca vs Penguins 4-8

Round two - We’d got our positioning nailed and knew our strengths by this point. Orca were brilliant from the get go with Elise sinking the first goal with such conviction the goalie didn’t stand a chance. It was a super close match and our 2nd quarter was electric thanks to Jo’s expertly positioned lob and Jules' two perfectly timed goals!

Special mentions to both Thania and Kate who were fantastic in goal and in the field with some epic saves and great set up play. We were neck and neck going into the 3rd quarter, we had so many shots on goal but couldn’t quite get them in. It ended 4-8 to Penguins, we gave it our all but they managed to outswim us in the end. To quote one of the Penguin players "You gave us a real run for our money".

A big shout out too to McKenzie and Lucy who worked tirelessly to stop the relentless counterattacks from both teams and to Nisha and Grace who were constantly swimming and pressing players, ever willing to keep going despite Nisha being whacked in the throat at one point.

Finally, a big thank you to our coaches and cheerleaders for the day, Joe OC and Fesey. Your enthusiasm, top tips and team talks were so appreciated and thank you so much for stepping in as referee for the other game, James! Well done also to our freshman captain Georgies for rallying our troops together

Well done on your Orca debuts! Can’t wait to see what this team does next! 💙

4 teams of Orcas taking silver and bronze at EuroGames Rome 2019

Just short of 2 weeks ago, 43 Orca’s had travelled to Rome to compete in the Rome EuroGames.

Unsure of what to expect of this tournament, due to the tumultuous lead up, we trekked an hour outside of Central Rome out to the seaside of Ostia. Thankfully (a big sigh from me) the facilities and the tournament were great!

All four teams put on a fabulous effort, both in and out of the water. The camaraderie for the other Orca teams playing and the friendship with all the other clubs was on display all throughout the tournament and the subsequent nights out.

It is always such a lovely feeling when you’re playing a match and you hear your teammates cheering for you on the sidelines and this was consistent throughout both days, a hard task at one stage when it was two Orca teams playing each other! I was screaming for a draw and really feel this is where I lost the majority of my voice!

In another show of just how well last year’s beginners have moulded into Orca’s, we had 11 join us in Rome! A truly great effort from them, both in and out of the water.

Seasoned Orca’s mixed fluidly with the newbies and all were friendly with our in the pool enemies / outside the pool besties! It really was a great tournament!

Whilst all teams played their hearts out, we had two teams that very excitedly medalled!

Orcinus Maximus won a well fought bronze in the Recreational League!! Their Captain Freddie’s accountant eyes noticing a scoring error the night beforehand, meaning they had a 9am game on the Saturday, which they were originally cursing him for! But it all worked out well in the end & they were rightfully so overjoyed with their win!

The Okurrrrr’s (tongue pop! & don’t even bother trying to get me to say our team name!) played in the Competitive Grand Final against Amsterdam and won silver!

It was a hard fought game and tournament for my team. Whilst everyone wants the gold, honestly, we were beyond stoked with how we played as a team and taking silver.
It was then perfectly topped off with celebrations with the rest of our Orca’s, both poolside and on the beach.
A perfect way to end the tournament!

I said it out loud and now I’m putting it to paper - Orca A - bronze in Amsterdam, silver in Rome. Brussels - watch out, we are coming for you!

Thanks again to all the Orca’s who made this such a great tournament!
I always finish the tournament wondering if this recent one was my best one yet and once again this was the case, never a dull or down moment.

Another one for the memory books and now onto the next one!

Captain Mik