FLOWSTATE Issue 1

IRISH CANOE POLO GOES TO... LITHUANIA
Time to Compete
The next morning, it was up and at it early, for
the start of the competition. The competition
began at 8am and ran through until 6pm each
day, with each team playing 2 to 3 games per
day.
Over the next 3 days, we worked through the
league rounds of the competition. Our under
14s had a tough few games to start but pulled
through at the end with a cliff hanger game
against Lithuanian Team Traku KKSC to get
into the play offs, which as it turned out was
well rewarded.
Bringing Home the Boat
The competition was extremely well run and
our efforts were rewarded with some great
prizes. Kilcock Under 14s were delighted to
make 4th place and for their efforts came
home with a brand new composite Canoe Polo
Boat.
But it wasn’t all Canoe Polo, we got to
celebrate the birthday of one young player
with a traditional Lithuanian honey Cake, and
also celebrated Lithuania’s 100 year
independence anniversary. On the last day,
when the competition was all over, a bunch of
tired players, coaches and leaders headed to
the nearby Druskininkai Aquapark– a world
class indoor waterpark, where they spent time
unwinding, splashing, sliding and smiling.
For most of our players this was their first
International competition and now they’re
hooked ! … Its going to be hard to top that one
- Thanks Alytus SRC, we’ll be back.
Both Under 17 teams players did well in all
games winning some games, drawing some
and all games were close. GKC and Kilcock
just missed out on the play offs, and ended up
playing each other in a high tension 5th/6th
place play off, which Galway won by one goal in
the last minute. (Yes, Galway and Kilcock
travelled 3000km to play each other !).
After we finished all our games, we got to
watch the Division 1 final, where senior players
from local Alytus team and Russia's national
team battled it out in an epic final, with Russia
just pulling ahead for the win.
Its mid February. Its cold. Time to head to the airport and get away from the Irish Winter Weather.
So where better to go than… Lithuania! With temperatures as low as –20 degrees Celsius , for some
crazy reason, it seemed like the perfect place to go.
CANOE POLO
JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
That crazy reason was the attraction of a good
Canoe Polo competition in the beautiful
Lithuanian city of Alytus.
And so on a mid February morning, began a five
day trip for three teams of young Irish Canoe
Polo players. 20 Juniors aged between 12 and
16 from Kilcock Canoe Polo Club and Galway
Kayak Club set off from Dublin for the ‘Alytus
Cup’ - an international competition, featuring
teams from Lithuania, Poland, Russia,
Ukraine, and now Ireland.
Alytus is a city of about 60,000 people in
Southern Lithuania, lying on the banks of the
Nemunas river. But there was to be no river
kayaking on this trip – this competition was
strictly Canoe Polo and strictly indoors -
taking place in the city’s impressive Sports
and Recreation Center, a multi-sport facility
including a 50m indoor swimming pool, indoor
running track and an 8000-seater arena.
Galway Kayak Club entered their “Three Tribes”
team in the Division 2/Womens division.
Kilcock fielded a team of younger players in
Division 3 and a second team of Under 17s in
the Division 2 competition.
Cold Weather, Warm Welcome
With an early start, the group met at Dublin
airport and made the 3 hour flight to snowy
Vilnius. Our hosts could not have been more
welcoming and helped organise everything for
us. On arrival we jumped on our waiting coach
to make the one hour drive to Alytus. We took
over a small hotel, located on the riverside
about 10 minutes from the centre of the city,
and made it our home for the next few days.
Before the competition began we took a tour
of the town, led by our tour guide and Kilcock
Polo Coach, Rimvidas Insoda (Reno). Reno
grew up in Alytus before coming to Ireland, so
knew all the good spots - He took the group on
a walking tour of the city and we got to walk
across the frozen lake where Polo is played
during the summer, but serves as a skating
rink during the winter.
Canoe Polo is the “odd one out” in kayaking
disciplines. It’s the only team-sport in kayaking
and it’s played on flat-water. Two teams with five
players on the pitch at a time, plus up to three
substitutes, play against each other. The aim of
the game is to score goals against the opposing
team over 20 minutes of play.
The game begins with a sprint, where one player
from each team paddles fast to the ball (which
the referee throws into the middle of the pitch).
The sprinter who gets hold of the ball first can
then pass the ball to their team.
And so the game begins…You can pass to your
teammates using your hands or your paddles. In
order, to score a player from your team has to
shoot into a goal which is suspended two metres
above the water.
In addition to building great boat skills (agility,
fast turning and maneuvering is key to playing
the game), the sport is inherently social and a
great way to build communication skills,
leadership ability and game strategy. It is also a
great way to make friends, and participate in the
many national and international competitions
that Irish Polo players are involved in.
The National Junior Development programme
brings young players from clubs around the
country together once a month to learn and play
polo.
This year, the programme has two groups each
with their own coach - a beginners/Under 14s
group and a group for Under 18s and advanced
players.
Our most recent day in Kilcock was a great
success with 40 players from Galway, Kilkenny,
Laois, Tullamore, Kilcock and Wild Water Kayak
Club meeting up for a days training and game
play.
Both groups engage in a structured day of
learning new boat skills, ball skills and game
tactics. Most of the coaching is done on the
water, with some land exercises and also use of
video analysis to watch back over games and
point out opportunities for improvement.
And of course, after the serious business of
learning and playing competitive games, there’s
time to let the hair (and paddles) down and have
some informal fun… At the end of our most
recent session, our Under 14s group played a
game of ‘Rolo’ (which is Canoe Polo without
paddles or rules) – ditch the paddles, forget the
rules and hand paddle around the pitch towards
victory.
These monthly development days are open to
anyone with basic kayaking skills aged between
10 and 18. If you’d like to get involved as a player
or as a club please email develop@canoepolo.ie.
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