It's taken Solihull just six years to rise from the bottom of the British League ladder to carrying off the men's Super 5s crown - not bad for a club which, even now, does much of its training in a shallow, 25-yard pool!
Victory at the splendid Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School pool was very special for skipper Jake Vincent who, despite his years playing top division polo for Cheltenham - plus, of course, his appearances for Great Britain in the 2012 Olympics - he is a Solihull man through and through.
Jake was seven when he learned to swim at the Solihull club before progressing to polo at 13. He played in the Solihull team which came within an ace of achieving top division status some eight or nine years ago.
"It was a team with a few older players," Jake explained. "So a decision was made to withdraw from the league for a while and build a new junior set-up comprising mainly 15 and 16 year olds.
"We always intended to return. And it was our present coach, Phil Powell, who pushed for us to enter Division 5 back in 2012. Since then, we have progressed year by year - there are three of our players who have appeared for the club in every division during that time."
Jake fulfilled a promise to return to Solihull once the club made it to Division 1 in 2016. "It reached a stage where this year we wanted to push for the title from the start," he added. "And, having gone through phase one successfully, we were confident we could do it."
Photo (Trevor Hyde): Solihull receive the Dr John Howell Trophy! Left to right: Matt Kelly, Matt Madden, Morgan Hirsch, Ian Elliot (coach), Peter Farkas (hidden behind Ian Elliot), Jordan Elliot, Jack Vincent, Ryan Padbury, Nick Beard, Pawal Wielogorski, George Davies and Jim Alton.
Victory at the splendid Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School pool was very special for skipper Jake Vincent who, despite his years playing top division polo for Cheltenham - plus, of course, his appearances for Great Britain in the 2012 Olympics - he is a Solihull man through and through.
Jake was seven when he learned to swim at the Solihull club before progressing to polo at 13. He played in the Solihull team which came within an ace of achieving top division status some eight or nine years ago.
"It was a team with a few older players," Jake explained. "So a decision was made to withdraw from the league for a while and build a new junior set-up comprising mainly 15 and 16 year olds.
"We always intended to return. And it was our present coach, Phil Powell, who pushed for us to enter Division 5 back in 2012. Since then, we have progressed year by year - there are three of our players who have appeared for the club in every division during that time."
Jake fulfilled a promise to return to Solihull once the club made it to Division 1 in 2016. "It reached a stage where this year we wanted to push for the title from the start," he added. "And, having gone through phase one successfully, we were confident we could do it."
Photo (Trevor Hyde): Solihull receive the Dr John Howell Trophy! Left to right: Matt Kelly, Matt Madden, Morgan Hirsch, Ian Elliot (coach), Peter Farkas (hidden behind Ian Elliot), Jordan Elliot, Jack Vincent, Ryan Padbury, Nick Beard, Pawal Wielogorski, George Davies and Jim Alton.
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