An extra date is being added to the Water Polo competition calendar with the return of ‘the asa Championships’.

The asa Technical Water Polo Committee is very pleased to announce that the Senior Men and Women’s ‘the asa Championships’ will return in 2009.

The competition, which historically dates back to the 19th Century, will be run under a new format. For the first time the Senior competition will be run as a Regional competition for men’s and women’s teams representing each of the 8 English Regions. Each Region will have the ability to determine the best way of organising their regions’ teams with the view to supplying the highest calibre representation to the competition.

This change will only apply to the Senior competition with the Age Group Championships continuing to build on the existing successful format as a club competition. It is envisaged that the competition will be staged and conclude in April 2009. More details will follow shortly.

The asa Talent Development Officer Norman Leighton said: "I am delighted with this decision as it will dovetail with the proposed Super Cup Competition to be started in March 2009 (details of which will be published in the coming weeks).

"An increase in the number of competitive games will raise the standard of play for more of our senior players so raising the bar for everyone. It will help us move water polo further towards the goals of the Long Term Athlete Development plan for water polo, based on the premise that water polo players reach their peak in their mid-twenties. This is an exciting development for our sport."

The Australian Water Polo team will shortly arrive in England to play against the British men and women’s junior teams.

The men’s junior teams will play at Cardiff International Pool over three days, Friday 15th August until Sunday 16th August. On Friday and Sunday the competition will commence at 6pm-8pm, and on Saturday 16th August the event starts at 5pm-9pm.

The women’s junior teams are set to plat at Manchester Aquatic Centre on Monday 1st September and Tuesday 2nd September, from 6pm-8pm.

Nick Hume National Performance Director for British Water Polo said, “This event is seen as preparation for European Junior Championships in September.

“The Australian team is very strong, so this will be good training for our players. They have been working very hard and had a few away trips but we will know more about their form after this event with the Australians.

“The British players will try very hard to step up to the challenge and match the ability of the Australians.”

The European Junior Championships are held in Turkey, September 7th-14th  for the men and Greece, September 14th-21st for the women.

-ends-

For further details contact British Swimming Media Assistant Natalie Hassall on 01509 632236 or natalie.hassall@swimming.org.

British Swimming is the National Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo and Open Water in Great Britain.  It is responsible internationally for the high performance representation of the sport. The members of British Swimming are the three Home Countries national governing bodies of England (Amateur Swimming Association), Scotland (Scottish Amateur Swimming Association) and Wales (Welsh Amateur Swimming Association). British Swimming seeks to enable its athletes to achieve gold medal success at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games.

About Speedo®
Synonymous with swimwear, the iconic brand celebrates 80 years of dominance creating revolutionary new technologies, designs and innovations.  In the 1920s Speedo® made history with the Racerback: the world’s first non-wool suit. In 2008 Speedo® redefines swimwear again with Fastskin® LZR RACER®  - the fastest and most technologically advanced swimsuit ever created; meanwhile designer collaborations with Comme des Garçons put Speedo® at the cutting edge of design. As the world’s leading swimwear brand, Speedo® is passionate about life in and around the water, supporting swimming from beginners through to elite level, including the phenomenal Michael Phelps.  Speedo® is owned by Pentland Brands and distributed in over 170 countries around the world; to find out more visit: www.speedo.com. SPEEDO, the ARROW device, FASTSKIN, LZR PULSE and LZR RACER are registered trademarks of Speedo Holdings B.V. The LZR RACER suit has worldwide design rights and patents pending.