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Connor Bennett
BBC News, East of England
Jamie Niblock/BBC
Christina English trains three times a week, often against the senior men’s side
A water polo player who will represent Team GB has voiced her frustration at her sport being almost entirely self-funded.
Christina English, 17, from Ipswich, is a goalkeeper and trains at Colchester Swimming and Water Polo Club.
She is representing her country at the European Aquatics Under-18 Water Polo Championships in Malta this week, following training at a sports camp in Hungary.
Despite some funding from Swim England, which is split between the squad, the teenager said it was “sad” that her family had to front the costs of training and competing.
“They’ve always been driving me around everywhere, all at the weekends, supporting me, doing everything,” she said.
“I’m really thankful for them.”
Swim England said it was working with Aquatics GB and other stakeholders to “explore all options in moving the sport to a more sustainable position”.
Jamie Niblock/BBC
English hopes to compete at the next Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028
Ms English initially took up the sport as a youngster as an outfield player, but soon found a passion playing in goal.
“I found that I liked it better than swimming up and down on the pitch,” she continued.
“It is hard. You’ve got to tread water a lot and you’ve got to be brave enough to not duck away from the ball.”
She said her Team GB selection was “what I’d been hoping for, and training for, for years”.
English trains three times a week, works as a lifeguard, and is studying for her A-level exams and university applications.
She said the daily juggle was normal to her.
Jamie Niblock/BBC
Ms English was initially an outfield player, but eventually found her way between the goalpost
“Since day one, she has always been very focused, competitive and wanted to be first of everything, at school, against her brother,” her father Rob said.
“She is aiming for the next Olympics and anything is possible, as long as there is some funding to help her get there.
“We spend a lot of time in the car driving, to and from events across the UK, but it does make it worth it with a Team GB call up.”
Jamie Niblock/BBC
Martin Vinter described English as a “inspiration” to the rest of the Colchester club
Martin Vinter is one of the senior players and coaches at the Colchester club.
“It’s fantastic for Christina, but also an incredible achievement for the club – to have somebody of Christina’s stature in it,” he said.
“It’s an aspiration for everybody in the club, to get to that level.”
A spokesperson for Swim England said it had “consistently stepped in to provide significant financial backing” to ensure that talented water polo athletes could compete at the “highest level”.
“It has to be acknowledged that the player contribution made to enable the sport to operate at a talent/performance level is considerable and we fully appreciate the financial burden this places on players and understand the challenges it creates,” they added.
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