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