Name:  Bernice Cowton
Age: 44 (Ouch! I don’t feel it)
Height: 165cm
Weight: 57kg
Home base: Sheffield   
Club: City of Sheffield Water Polo Club
Also played for:  City of Coventry and City of Manchester

I started playing in around 1990 for Rotherham Metro. I was part of the swimming club there and had an opportunity to join one of Norman’s sessions at a time when they were trying to develop a ladies’ team. I moved to Sheffield Water Polo in 1991 where I played for seven years and gained my first junior and senior GB caps. Post-graduation, I moved to London to work and switched to play for City of Coventry between 1998-2001 but migrated back north, returning to Sheffield for the 2001/2002 season.

In the following years we had the most successful period in the club’s history, winning successive league and cup titles, and competing in the European trophies. I retired from international polo in 2007 to prioritise my career but continued to play domestically.

In 2010 I intended on retiring completely, but a summer tour to Holland resulted in me joining Manchester to play with some old friends. This ended up lasting for three seasons but re-familiarised me with the fun that can be had from playing, albeit still wanting to win! Following this I came back to Sheffield in 2013 with the intention of playing a season to help the team that was being rebuilt at this time, back up into Div 1. I’m still here!

Representative honours:  155 International caps.  2 Commonwealths (1 bronze), 1 Europeans As, 3 European Bs (2 golds and 1 silver), 1 World Champs. 

Best player played with: Jenny Davies (Braddock). You never needed to fear taking the opportunity for an early counter attack with Jenny in goal behind you. She was like a wall, with fantastic distribution. I had the pleasure of playing with Jenny both in my time at Coventry and at GB.

Best player played against:  Irene, the Hungarian centre-forward.  If Jenny was a brick wall, Irene was a boulder! Jeez, she was solid.

Most influential coach:  Well, that would be hard to say without running the risk of offending someone.  It goes without saying that whilst some coaches have been better than others, they all have some good points. However, I will always be grateful to Ted Motley for spotting some talent in me as a young player and providing the opportunity to gain national squad selection.

Most memorable match/incident:  It has to be the club cup finals – ASA National Champs it was then (now British Champs). We ended up at the finals weekend with eight players due to injuries, sickness and lame excuses! To manage to finish a game without being man-down was going to be a challenge in itself, never mind actually winning any.  However, the results just demonstrated the strength and bond of our team at that time, as we beat Manchester 8-7 in the Saturday semi-final and then Liverpool in the Sunday final, 5-4.  I still have the Swimming Times article to this day!

Any other thoughts? I have been lucky in so many ways - a long polo career, some good coaches to learn from and witnessed the true grit and desire of a team of full amateurs that played for the love of the game.

I benefited from the early investment in the build up to London 2012, with the change in mentality that came with this. Visited more countries than I can recall. Had great success with my club sides, and some also as England and GB. Plus of course made some great friends for life.

I have been guilty of looking back and wondering what higher level or better player I may have been if, in my early career, I had the support, funding, facilities and opportunities that players had towards the end of the last decade. However, had that been the case, I may not have been still enjoying the sport now. 

It does feel like there is a gap in the ladies’ game of a whole generation of players. I do believe it aids the strength of a sport to keep these role models in the game for younger players to follow and to ensure players have to work for their position and earn representative honours. 

This also leads me to the huge praise for the set-up of the English Roses a number of years ago.  Whilst at the other end of the spectrum, this is a fabulous forum for older players to still enjoy the game and competitiveness. All credit to those that have invested so much time getting that club up and running and continue to do so. Having that full spectrum of ages, fitness, ability, talent across the league is a really pleasing situation for the sport.

Today, we begin a regular series of BWPL player profiles. Appropriately, we start with one of GB's successful 2012 Olympians, goalkeeper Matt Holland (Photo: Trevor Hyde).

MATT HOLLAND
AGE: 30
HEIGHT: 6’4
WEIGHT: 100kg
LIVES IN: LONDON
CLUB: Sutton & Cheam

Also played for: As guest for Manchester/Bristol/Cheltenham in British Champs. PSV Eindhoven (NED), Pays D’Aix Natation (FRA), Navarra (SPA) and Reims Natation (FRA).

International honours: First cap at European Qualifiers, Dubrovnik, 2008 and last at EU Nations 2018, Prague. Major comps: European Bs, Lugano 2009 (4th), World League 2011/12 (Groups), Olympics 2012 (Groups), Commonwealths 2014 (1st).

Best player played with: Rob Parker with GB and Petar Tomasevic, Pay’s D’Aix Natation.

Best player against: Revaz Chomakhidze – ridiculous how good he was back playing for Georgia, pushing 40. Ed Scott and I have an ‘Old Boats’ VII, comprised of the best old boys we have played against, and he certainly takes the centre-forward position.

Best coach: Andrei Iosep, GB coach, 2013/14, who managed to get the most out of a predominantly part-time squad resulting in great wins v Netherlands/Malta/Slovakia/South Africa/New Zealand as well as good results vs France/Russia/Romania/Hungary, culminating in winning the 2014 Commonwealths. His leaving was a great loss to GB water polo.  

Hardest shot faced: Tom Curwen – in his prime one of the best shots in the world and still not too shabby. His not going to the Olympics shows that, even when we did have decent funding, we didn’t necessarily know as a sport what to do with it.
Other sports: Used to play cricket, football and basketball.

Parents: Chris and Tracey. Always travelled to games with the other parents and gave great support. Dad has represented GB masters in Triathlon.

Siblings: Olly. The ‘better’ Holland as the lads used to say. Came to lots of games/tournaments and helped organise the post-match bonding.

Biography: Started swimming with Sutton aged 10, which coincided with club legend Charlie Thurley taking over the junior water polo section. I went along and as the biggest and most willing I was put in goal. The southern counties team started weekly training a couple of years later and the strength and commitment of this team helped push on our development. Jack Waller, Sean King and myself from that team all went to the Olympics and many others played for GB juniors.

I went to University in Leeds and starting training with the senior team in Manchester, making the drive across with Ed Scott four times a week. We also trained together in Leeds and I was able to learn a lot from him as he had been trained by Theo in Manchester and was already the GB no 1.

After University, I went to Eindhoven with Ric Lawlor, Ciaran James and Mike Bourne to play for PSV. We trained hard, worked hard stacking shelves in a local supermarket and played hard at a bar owned by a 3rd team player who gave us 1 euro beers. On a pre-season tour to Croatia I learnt an enormous amount on specific technique and conditioning drills from their crazy goalkeeper coach and used this as my basis for training that year, improving massively. This allowed me to get more game time for GB and then a professional contract with Pay’s D’Aix Natation in France.

I played three seasons in Aix en Provence during which I went to the Olympics in 2012 and Commonwealths in 2014. These were brilliant years of my life, living in the South of France playing with some great people and at the same time playing for the national team with my mates and getting good results. Ed Scott and I had a good relationship and worked well together as the two goalkeepers. I think it’s a real benefit for a coach to have two keepers at the same level who play a different way. Ed was technically better and rock solid whereas I was a bit attacking and used some more guesswork and mind games to unsettle things!

I then moved on to Spain to play for Navarra, a team Sean King and GB coach Andrei used to player for, based in Pamplona. I had an enjoyable year playing in a tough league and being coached by ex-Spanish goalkeeper and legend of the game Manel Silvestre. After, I moved back to France to play for Reims in the 2nd division. We only trained once a day and therefore I could work as a teacher and coach at the same time. It was hard work at times but we won the league and again I played with some good guys. The coach Frank Missy used to coach the national team and knew how to assemble and mentor a winning team.

Since then I have moved back to London and play for and coach Sutton. We are playing in the 1st division now after nine years and have won the London league three years out of the last four. I was assistant coach to Tim Dunsbee at the Student Games in 2017 where we finished in the top eight, a massive achievement for the lads. A big part of that was the Peter Pickford’s performance in goal vs Canada to win 8-7. With Peter, Dylan Green and Tom Manley there are certainly some talented young keepers in the UK. Just need a national team for them to play in.

Junior photo (below): This remarkable photo was taken in 2002 and shows a Sutton & Cheam junior team with their coach, the late Charlie Thurley. Matt, aged 13, is easy to spot – he’s next to Charlie and already proudly wearing the red goalkeeper’s hat. He’s not the only player still active at the club. These include two more current BWPL regulars, Stephen Bayles (back row, far left) and Dicken Maclean (back row, far right). Others still turning out in local league matches are Ollie Holland, Matt’s brother (back row, second left); Andrew Lawrence (back row, fourth left); Dave Smithson (front row, second left); and Rob Worland (front row, fourth left).
 ​

Every effort is made to ensure that British League weekends run as smoothly as possible. Their success depends so much on often-unheralded work by those volunteers who fill the absolutely vital role of - Event Manager!
 
Here, League chairman Dave Andrews offers an insight into what’s involved, based on experiences at one of our busiest events. He writes:
 
I tend to event manage the key Ponds Forge weekends, so will explain what happens. This is typical of what all our Event Managers are required to do.
 
A week before the event:

• Confirm which officials are coming and liaise with Treasurer to manage hotel bookings. Cancel/book extra as required.
• Arrange, order and pay for all poolside catering: sandwiches, teas, coffees and snacks etc.
• Liaise with lead table official and delegate group regarding appointments and create schedules.
• Print off all match sheets, expense sheets and other paperwork including blank team sheets (just in case teams forget theirs!).
• Arrange for all the kit to arrive – electronics, balls and kit bags.

 
On Saturday morning:

• I try to be at the pool for 9am to carry everything into pool, supervise the pool set-up and get the officials’ room ready – includes setting up tea and coffee making facilities.
• Ensure all kit present and correct and electronics charged.
• Set up tables with required equipment and sweets.
• Post officials rotas in officials’ room.
• Distribute BWPL coffee mugs and drinks bottles to anyone who hasn’t been allocated previously.

 
During the event:

• Ensure team sheets are delivered and match sheets completed. Usually I ask one of the ladies to do this - their writing is so much neater!
• Allocate hotel rooms to officials as they arrive
• Confirm numbers for evening meal – we have a buffet at the Jury’s Inn – arranged by the Treasurer and great value at £15 per head.
• Enter match sheets and results onto the BWPL system immediately after each match.

• Make sure officials complete the expenses form accurately.
• Make sure BWPL match balls are correctly inflated and distributed to the team benches.
• Lay out spare hats on poolside ready for immediate deployment during a match.
• Erect BWPL banners.
• Check and resolve any registration queries.
• Keep the event running to time.
• Liaise with lifeguards and fill in the Incident Logbook if an injury or accident occurs.

• Saturday after matches – tidy up and check kit and put all electronics on charge.
• Arrive first Sunday morning and at least an hour before the teams to make sure all still set up and electronics have charged up fully.

 
At the end of the weekend:

• The event manager is invariably the last to leave and makes sure the equipment is present and correct and is taken by the right person to deliver to the next event.
• Collect all match and team sheets and other weekend paperwork

 
On Monday:

• Send completed expense summary form to the Treasurer for payment. We aim for these payments to be in officials’ accounts on the Monday.
• Complete EM expense summary and send to Treasurer for payment – includes all necessary invoices etc.
• Check all sheets on website are clear and legible.
• Write report on weekend if anything out of the ordinary happens.