Latest / The PCR Sports Show / The PCR Sports Show - Friday 19th December 2025 - with Mark Le Sage from the Spalding Waterpolo Club

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The PCR Sports Show - Friday 19th December 2025 - with Mark Le Sage from the Spalding Waterpolo Club · The PCR Sports Show

0:16
Welcome to PCR Sports. Good evening and welcome to the
0:20
PCR Sport show with myself, Dipam and Nilesh this week.
0:23
Thanks for tuning in, Hope you've got all your Christmas
0:25
preparation, presents bought and everything sorted.
0:29
If not, you've got a few days left to sort that out.
0:32
But thanks for joining us. We've got a cracking show lined
0:34
up this evening. We're joined by Mark Lesage from
0:38
the Spalding Water Polo Club. We'll be talking about all
0:41
things at the club, how long it's been around, what it stands
0:43
for and some exciting news. They've recently launched a
0:46
women's team as well. So we've got a lot to look
0:49
forward to and a lot to discuss with Mark further in the show.
0:52
But as always, let's start the show with this week's headlines
0:55
and Nilesh Shazam for us. Thank you very much.
0:57
Yeah, all good, Thank you. Right, let's start with a little
1:00
bit of football. 1st and Peterborough Sports delivered a
1:02
spirited display in their National League North game at
1:06
promotion chasing South Shields on Tuesday evening, but they
1:09
went down to 1 to remain in the relegation zone ahead of a game
1:13
against Scarborough Athletic which takes place at Pym's Park
1:17
on Saturday. In a three PM kick off, Sports
1:19
fell behind in the 5th minute to a Paul Blacklett goal on
1:23
Tyneside but in form forward Luca Miller equalised 4 minutes
1:26
later with a fine individual goal.
1:28
Sports created chances to take the lead but instead the home
1:31
side struck again with a deflected shot from Ollie
1:34
Bainbridge from the edge of the penalty area in the 45th minute
1:38
to secure the 2 on win in. Cricket and Warrington have hit
1:43
the top of the Hunts Indoor Cricket League ahead of the
1:46
festive break. The City side have never won the
1:49
competition but are in pole position after a dramatic Sunday
1:52
afternoon of action at Bushfield Sports Centre.
1:56
The set of matches, sorry this set of matches started with four
1:59
teams tied on points at the top. Reigning champions AK11 were on
2:04
top and stayed there for two hours after beating Packers at
2:07
by 11 runs. But Warrington's 37 run win over
2:11
Ufford Park in a low scoring game sent them to the summit and
2:14
they will stay there if they win their final two matches.
2:18
The next round of matches takes place on Sunday the 11th of
2:22
January in ice hockey and Peterborough Phantoms will
2:26
attack a run of six matches in 15 days in good spirits.
2:30
A42 win over rock bottom Solway Sharks at Planet Ice in their
2:35
only National League fixture of the week at the City side in a
2:38
healthy 4th place. It's a competitive division and
2:42
there is no let up over the festive season.
2:45
Phantoms now head into a double headed weekends against Romford
2:50
Raiders this weekend the 20th and the 21st and then MK
2:54
Lightning over the weekend of 27th and the 28th before
2:58
travelling to Basingstoke on January the third.
3:01
They then host leaders Swindon on January the 4th.
3:04
Phantoms are at home to Romford this Saturday in a 7:00 PM face
3:08
off before travelling S the following afternoon which is a
3:12
515 face off. Phantoms have lost their
3:15
previous two games with the Raiders this season.
3:18
A little bit of Running for you and the local Frostbite League.
3:23
The next race in the popular series is set for Sunday,
3:26
January the 11th at Elm Sports Field.
3:28
In March it's the fourth leg of six with races also scheduled
3:33
for King's Lynn on February the 1st and Huntingdon on March the
3:36
1st. Yaxley Runners are leading the
3:39
local challenge in the senior team event.
3:41
They're currently third behind Cambridge in Coleridge and Hunts
3:45
AC staying with Yaxley Runners and a quartet of Yaxley Runners
3:50
travelled to Shropshire to run the Telford 10K on what is
3:54
considered to be the fastest 10K road course in the United
3:58
Kingdom. Yaxley Ross Lutit stole the
4:02
show, winning the Over 60s Ladies category in a time of
4:06
4231. Lutit's daughter Rhiannon was
4:10
the 172nd lady home in a time of 4758, while Ellie Picover
4:16
finished 84th in 4155. The 4th Yaxley member Jordan but
4:24
also took over a minute of his personal best, finishing 263rd
4:29
in a time of 34 minutes and 7 seconds.
4:34
We'll finish with a little bit of Peterborough Roller Hockey
4:37
News And Peterborough roared back from their disappointing
4:40
defeat last week to ECU with a resounding 73V over the Invicta
4:46
team from Herne Bay in Kent. Peterborough took the lead after
4:51
just 22 seconds of the match, starting when Luca Oakley burst
4:55
through to find the net with his accurate flick shot.
4:59
From this moment on they never look back.
5:01
Playing their trademark fast moving, exciting hockey, they
5:05
treated the large crowd to some excellent moves that secured
5:08
them the seven goals. With having such a young fast
5:12
skating group the Peterborough team showed great confidence in
5:15
taking hold of the game and taking the initiative against
5:18
their more experienced opponents.
5:21
Peterborough's goal scorers were you and Can who got one and
5:26
there were two apiece from Luca Oakley, Jake Reed, Harry Hillam
5:31
got the to make up the seven goals.
5:33
Peterborough play again tomorrow afternoon such as the 20th of
5:36
December at Bushfield's Leisure Centre against Herne Bay United
5:40
with a start time of 5:30 PM. And those are your sporting
5:44
headlines this week day, Pam. Thank you, there's lots going on
5:47
as always. Suppose as we enter the busy
5:49
Christmas and festive period a lot of the grassroots sports
5:52
will perhaps take a break but fixtures come thick and fast for
5:56
Posh and First Peter of Sports. So Posh both clubs obviously
6:00
need in desperate need of points.
6:02
Posh, how do you feel things have gone since Luke Williams
6:04
took over? Started well, four straight wins
6:07
and four straight defeats and now we've picked back up again
6:10
with two straight wins and two crucial wins as well.
6:14
One at Reading and then at home to Northampton in the Neen Derby
6:17
last Saturday afternoon. And yeah, we travel to the why
6:21
don't we go tomorrow? Port Vale, Sorry, Port Vale
6:24
tomorrow afternoon. And that's another crucial
6:27
match, bearing in mind that Port Vale are in the bottom 4
6:30
currently. Which then leads us into a a
6:33
busy period of four games in about 10 days, starting on
6:36
Boxing Day and finishing on January the 4th.
6:38
So yeah, busy time, Christmas, certainly in terms of football
6:41
fixtures. Absolutely, and nothing like a
6:44
win against a local rival to get a bit of momentum and certainly
6:47
local pride. Indeed, yeah, it wasn't the
6:49
greatest of performance in the last 1520 minutes or so, but
6:53
quite rightly the fans can enjoy that win and have bragging
6:56
rights. Whereas I'm sure Luke Williams
6:58
had a word or two to say to his side but credited the way they
7:02
played the previous 70 minutes to go 2 nil up and control the
7:05
game against ten men. And yeah, boost that confidence,
7:09
as I say, going into the Boxing Day, certainly tomorrow's
7:11
fixture against Port Vale and then the Boxing Day fixture at
7:15
home to Leyton Orient. Yeah.
7:16
And it sounds like, I mean they say maybe mixed results of late,
7:19
but certainly the the general feeling is it's an upward
7:22
trajectory and and posture a bit more firmer to play against now,
7:26
aren't they? Yeah, certainly.
7:27
Yeah, certainly there's more positive vibe, shall we say.
7:30
You know, that run of four defeats was a little bit
7:33
disappointing, bearing in mind the four wins we'd had previous
7:36
to that. But yeah, there's still work to
7:39
be done and I'm sure Luke Williams is, you know, striving
7:43
to pick up as many points as possible over the Christmas
7:45
period. Now and obviously January
7:47
transfer window, see what happens during that as well I
7:49
guess. Yeah, I think that's a yeah, a
7:51
question in itself that will no doubt will approach come the
7:55
first couple of weeks in January on the show.
7:57
Watch this space. Right?
7:58
Brilliant. Thanks, Alesh.
7:59
Right, let's take a break and we'll be speaking to Mark from
8:02
the Spalding Water Polo Club after the break, so stay tuned.
8:06
You're listening to PCR sports. Welcome back to the PCR Sports
8:21
Show with myself and Nilesh this evening.
8:23
Thanks for joining us as always. You can't listen to us in many,
8:26
many ways, obviously, good old fashioned Radio One O 3.2 FM.
8:30
If you've got a digital device, tune it in for DAB and you can
8:33
listen to us that way. Or ask a smart speaker to play
8:36
PCR FM and it should oblige. And finally, if not, download
8:40
our app or go to our website, pcrfm.co.uk and listen in that
8:44
way so you'll never miss a show ever again, no matter where you
8:46
are in the entire world. Back to tonight and this
8:50
evening's guest, Mark Massage. He's here with us from the
8:52
Spalding Water Polo Club, a sport that we've never featured
8:56
before, so we're excited to hear from him and about the club and
8:59
the sport itself. Mark, good evening.
9:00
Good evening. How are you?
9:02
Very well. Thank you, Sir.
9:02
How are you? Oh, not too bad, thanks very
9:04
much. Thank you for joining us this
9:05
evening. More than welcome.
9:06
Brilliant, forward to it. Yeah, excellent.
9:07
Good to good that you're here and you can tell us more about
9:10
the club and the sport itself. So firstly, tell us a little bit
9:13
about your own journey in the sport.
9:15
You know what's led you to where you are now.
9:17
Obviously you're a member of the Spalding water Polo.
9:20
I've been playing water polo since I'm 14, so quite a long
9:24
time now. The club's been around for over
9:27
60 years. There was an outdoor pool in
9:30
Spalding and then that was replaced by the Castle Sports
9:33
Swimming Club swimming pool and we've been playing there on a
9:37
Tuesday night between 8:00 and 10:00 PM every every Tuesday.
9:43
That's what I know. I mean, I just know that
9:44
Tuesdays are water polo nights and I'm very lucky to be part of
9:48
that club because it's more like a a water polo family than than
9:52
a Sports Club. It really is a very inclusive
9:57
club that just encourages everybody to enjoy swimming and
10:01
enjoy polo, which is a quite a unique sport.
10:05
There's not many clubs around here anymore.
10:06
In fact, Spalding is the the shining light in the area for
10:10
water polo. Yeah, it's, it is a unique sport
10:13
because I guess there's a multitude of skills you've got
10:15
to learn because we, we, we had sports on before where skating
10:19
is, well, with his ice, a roller.
10:21
There were, you know, hockey type stuff.
10:23
And then therefore you're learning to discipline.
10:24
And I guess water polo's similar where, hey, you've got to learn
10:27
to swim for starters. Yeah, be comfortably the water
10:29
strong. Swimmer, you must be able to
10:30
swim at least 10 lengths without stopping minimum.
10:33
And because of course, you've got to tread water as well.
10:35
Yeah, a lot of the clubs now playing a a double deep pool,
10:38
whereas Spalding's got a fixed bottom, so you've got a shallow
10:41
end and a a deep end. So in the deep end, you've got
10:44
to tread water and it's quite an exhausting sport as well.
10:49
You've got to be reasonably fit and very fit to play, you know.
10:52
And we really encourage young people to get in.
10:56
I started, I started from the age of 14.
10:58
We have a, a junior section. They start 8 till 9:00 and then
11:02
we've got the senior team from 9:00 to 10:00.
11:04
But then what we do is we encourage the juniors to stay on
11:07
if they can. Obviously they've got school and
11:10
stuff like that. So we try to get them to, to
11:12
stay as long as they can, which within, you know, homework
11:15
limits and join in because that's how we started out.
11:19
I mean, I was really was technically thrown in at the
11:21
deep end because there were, I think there were only eight
11:24
members of the club at the time. A couple of my mates joined and
11:29
then dragged me along. And within a couple of weeks I
11:32
was actually playing in the senior team at at 14, which was
11:35
a baptism of fire I have to say. And it's it's been voted the
11:40
roughest and toughest sport over rugby on many, many occasions
11:44
because it's a non contact sport.
11:47
Officially. Allegedly, and I saw I mentioned
11:50
to be on Tuesday night about the dark arts of water parlay
11:54
whereby there's a bit of grabbing and a bit of holding
11:56
and a bit of, you know, partial drowning involved in trying to
12:00
score the goal against your opposition.
12:03
So yeah, it's very interesting and very hard.
12:06
Played well for sport, but you play hard.
12:09
But we also enjoy the social side of it.
12:11
It's really, really important to us.
12:14
And when I first joined, really it was a a social club with a
12:18
bit of water polo. And now it's definitely a water
12:19
Polo Club, but with a very good and very active social side to
12:23
it. And it's great to see everybody
12:26
supporting each other say that. So it's just a wonderful
12:28
environment for the for the sport and the young people
12:31
coming through to, to to grow. Yeah, it's fantastic.
12:34
You touched on obviously a little bit there about treading
12:38
water and that. So presumably part of the rules
12:40
are that you you can't play in a pool where your tipped feet can
12:42
touch the bottom. Well, we can you.
12:44
Well, we, we have to play. That's the facility that we have
12:47
been Spalding is a is a fixed bottom pool.
12:50
So you've got a shallow end at 1.2 meters and then deep end at
12:53
sort of 180, whatever it is. And that's the new, we're very
12:57
fortunate. We've got a new pool coming
12:58
along that's also going to have a fixed, fixed bottom.
13:03
You're not supposed to not supposed to touch the bottom of
13:06
the pool. It's a bit hard when you're like
13:08
6 foot like myself. A lot of the other players are
13:11
taller and you know, you do your best and the the refs are
13:16
looking out for the fact that you you might be too.
13:18
You can't literally dive like a leaping salmon and catch the
13:20
ball. So you've got to do what you can
13:23
to try and make sure that you don't touch the bottom in the
13:25
shallow end. But it's unavoidable sometimes.
13:28
Yeah, you do what you can, but in the deep end, you certainly
13:30
are treading water. So in the rules of the game
13:32
itself, there isn't anything that specified that you should
13:34
or shouldn't or. No, you can't touch the ball.
13:36
You can't take it. You should not be touching the
13:39
bottom, right. But it's difficult in a pool
13:40
with a fixed bottom. Yeah, like you can't sort of end
13:43
because. I guess touching you do.
13:45
Touching the bottom gives you an extra bit of ability to
13:48
springboard, doesn't it? Exactly.
13:49
So you've just got to, you know, do your best and try not to.
13:53
It can't be helped sometimes. But for example, with pools that
13:57
have double deep pool, but it's 2 meters all the way across,
14:00
you've got no, no choice. So we're playing at Grantham,
14:04
for example. We suddenly realized that
14:06
actually maybe I got a bit of a rest when I was playing in
14:08
Spalding. And remember, in the shallow
14:10
end, I was actually, you know, taking a bit of a brief because
14:12
you got to trade water all the time.
14:13
Because that's difficult itself to tread.
14:15
Water the energy that and effort that must take.
14:16
Yeah, just to stay afloat. So you use and use what they
14:19
call an egg beater leg kick. So it's kind of like a whisk
14:23
site kind of motion. And and you know, it's hard
14:27
work, but we we are very supportive.
14:29
We like new players coming along.
14:32
And as I mentioned, we're so excited that we've had our after
14:36
10 years being able to have a women's team who played their
14:39
first game against Cambridge not that long ago.
14:42
And actually, we're very successful and, and, and beat a,
14:47
a, a, a team of women who've been playing for quite some time
14:51
say yeah. Very, very fortunate.
14:53
Yeah. We'll talk about the women's
14:55
team in detail in a little while anyway.
14:56
But in terms of the the game itself, tell us a little bit
15:00
about the rules itself. Obviously you've touched me
15:01
there about the, the touch of the bottom or not and I think we
15:06
spoke on the on the on the sort of lead up the show and that
15:09
some people in the world think the horses are involved.
15:11
Well, that's, you know, that's always one of the big joke is
15:13
like, you know, where do you put the horses?
15:15
But so really you've got a goal at either end.
15:19
You can only use one hand to pick the ball up and pass the
15:23
ball and you can only score within, you can't be within the
15:27
2m zone to collect the ball and score.
15:30
You've got to be outside of that.
15:32
But really it's scoring a goal using your hands.
15:37
But when you're swimming, you know most people who swim all
15:40
the time, they swim with their head down.
15:42
Well, you can't do that. So you've got to swim with your
15:44
with your head up. So it's quite a high swimming
15:46
action and then you've got to keep the ball in front of you.
15:49
At the same time you've got to be looking out for who's
15:51
available to pass team. So it's kind of a bit like
15:54
football I suppose for a want of a better word with the different
15:58
zones and things like that. Same as rugby you know.
16:01
And then you just pass the ball to hopefully someone who's free,
16:04
who's got the opportunity to score.
16:06
You've got the different points where we have what we call the
16:08
arc and then you basically and you've got people on the goal
16:12
posts defending and you've got a goalie, so you've got 7 players,
16:16
one of those is a goalkeeper, so six players out.
16:19
So it's normally though, six players attack, six players
16:23
defend, OK, you know, if bit slower like me, it's five
16:27
players attacking 1. Person.
16:29
Hanging back a little bit, but yeah, it's, but it's a
16:31
fantastic, very friendly, very sociable sport.
16:35
We really do encourage people to get involved.
16:38
So. So is it more akin to like the
16:39
what you call the handball sport that is normally played inside
16:42
the gym or sports all type? Yeah, you've got to be able.
16:46
So you have to remember in the deep end you've got to try and
16:48
catch the ball. Stay at the ball.
16:51
Stay afloat, be looking out for what's going on around you,
16:55
looking for people to pass to. And, and you know, we, we chat
16:59
for the ball, we call for the ball, we wait for the ball.
17:02
And but it's, it's a really very fast sport as well.
17:06
I mean, it can turn around in, you know, goals are scored in
17:08
seconds and it really is. And, and some of the guys, I
17:13
mean, they're so fast when they Sprint off the ball.
17:16
And it really is a very, very fit, very active game.
17:20
So do do people who play water polo, do they do other sports in
17:24
Pool like that? They're swimming?
17:25
They're just straight up swimming.
17:26
Do they do? A lot of them are former
17:28
swimmers, so they've got that speed.
17:30
But like I say, it's a completely different style with
17:33
swimming with your head up with your arms high, trying to keep
17:35
the ball in front of your face when you're moving forward.
17:38
You can't swim with your head down.
17:40
And also, if you are swimming with your head down, how do you
17:41
know who's passing to you? You know you've got to keep your
17:44
wits about you. So it is a completely different
17:47
skill. But certainly being a a good
17:49
strong swimmer is a very good starting.
17:51
Point and what's the duration of a of a match?
17:53
So we have 7 minutes actual time playing.
17:58
So the ref will stop the match for a foul or what have you and
18:01
then the time keeper will stop that till you get to the 7
18:05
minutes. Or you can have 7 minutes
18:08
running clock and you just just keep going running clock.
18:11
So yeah, it's, there's various different ways of playing it,
18:13
but you certainly know if you've played 7 minutes of actual water
18:17
polo, it couldn't be over 11 minutes per quarter.
18:21
So you've got four quarters. You change ends each time.
18:24
Of course, that's more beneficial when you've got the
18:26
shallow deep end situation like we have in Spalding, because
18:29
then everybody has a crack at the whip of being in the deep
18:32
end and it doesn't make too much difference when you're in a
18:36
double deep pool or such, apart from if you've got the sun in
18:38
your eyes. Of course, depending on where
18:40
the pool is actually built and that can happen.
18:42
Wow. Yeah, so 11, so 7 minutes is the
18:46
entire game was 7 minutes. 7 minutes before the.
18:49
Quarter. Yeah, so 7 minutes actual,
18:52
actual playing time rather than yeah, or you just do 7 minutes
18:55
1:00 or 9 minutes one. O'clock so total game time is 28
18:58
minutes, but it. Can be a lot.
19:00
Could it be a lot longer? It's going to be a lot longer in
19:02
the pool, yes. So it'll take, it'll take you
19:04
almost an hour to do a 28 minute match.
19:07
Wow. So yeah, because that must be
19:09
quite exhausting, I might say. Absolutely.
19:10
And then of course, you've got your warm up before then, so you
19:13
don't want to get in the in the pool without having warmed up
19:16
because that's when you're going to get torn muscles and cramps.
19:18
Yeah, fantastic. Right.
19:20
Let's take a our first break there and the second break
19:23
you'll say and we're back in a few minutes.
19:25
Speak to Mark again and we'll touch on the the recent news
19:28
that they've launched the ladies team.
19:30
So stay tuned, it's PCR FM. You're listening to PCR sports.
19:50
Welcome back to the PCR sports show with myself, Dipam and
19:52
Nilesh This week a quick reminder about our social media
19:55
handles. If you want to keep in touch
19:57
with us throughout the week on Facebook search for PCR sports.
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We have a YouTube channel as well PCR sports on there too and
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on X we are at sports PCR and then your PCR FM on Instagram.
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So do keep in touch any news or updates you have throughout the
20:12
week or indeed if you are a sporting organization or a
20:15
person and. May want to or may fancy being a
20:18
guest on our show, then give us a shout and we'll see if we can
20:21
make it happen. And back to this evenings guest,
20:23
Mark Lesage from the Spalding Water Polo Club.
20:26
I've been speaking to him in the first part of the show about the
20:30
club itself, the rules of the rules of the sport and how it
20:34
all works. Some exciting news of late, Mark
20:38
at the club. You say it's been the club's
20:39
been around 60 years, but there's been a launch of a
20:42
ladies team, hasn't it? Yeah, we've.
20:43
Got the women's team and that is fantastic news because we've
20:47
been trying for the last, certainly for the last 10 years
20:49
to get enough female players to be able to have a women's team
20:53
and it's amazing that they've all come along so much because
20:59
we actually do field a mixed team quite often, OK?
21:02
So that was even prior to the setting of.
21:04
That yeah, it's a new rule that's coming.
21:06
It used to be separate, but now we are.
21:09
The Swim England have allowed us to have women and men competing
21:14
together against each other, which is fantastic because it
21:17
just means that more people can get involved.
21:20
And the women's team is a really friendly and inclusive
21:24
environment with a lot of people who love to have fun and enjoy
21:28
the sport. We are and they say a great team
21:32
to get involved with it. And everyone is lovely smiley
21:36
and we we're there to encourage you, you know, and, and that's
21:39
The thing is that we encourage each other to get involved and
21:43
to train. I mean, it's very important.
21:45
We now do have our trainers and our coaches.
21:48
And we're very, very lucky with the trainers and coaches that
21:51
we've got very, very supportive of everybody.
21:54
And even when they're playing a match, they played the match the
21:57
other day, they'll stop and just say we could have done this, we
22:02
could have done that, but it might have been an idea.
22:03
If you tried this and just have a look over your shoulder, you'd
22:06
have realized that that they were available for the past.
22:09
And again, it's just about when it comes to their actual league
22:12
games, the more you practice, the more you get involved, the
22:15
more you're going to be able to be on the ball and see what's
22:18
needed when it comes to to winning.
22:20
Because of course, it's all about putting more ball, more
22:23
goals in the back of the net than the opposition.
22:25
So. Brilliant.
22:27
You said obviously you've been trying for 10 years.
22:28
So what's that journey been like?
22:30
What's been the challenges and the challenges?
22:32
Are getting getting people interested in play and we are,
22:38
like I said, we we're only the very small town with a massive
22:42
water polo family. But Peterborough used to have a
22:45
team that's gone. Lincoln used to have a team
22:47
that's gone Wisbech, March and Whittlesey.
22:51
These people all used to have teams around here.
22:53
So now Kettering, Bedford, Leicester, Cambridge, they all
22:59
used to have two teams. They just have one team now.
23:01
So it's about getting people involved and encouraging people
23:05
to come along to try the sport. You know.
23:07
I mean, we've just been announced as E Midlands Club of
23:12
the Year. It's fantastic.
23:14
Very small town. Thank you very much.
23:16
And we then we were in the top seven invited to the Nationals
23:21
and we came second to the London Penguins.
23:27
So for a team from Spalding to be able to, to hold a heads up
23:32
and it was just a fantastic achievement.
23:34
When you got a City team like the Penguins who've beaten us, I
23:38
mean, that's just amazing. We're so, so proud to be able to
23:42
hold our heads up high and go look, you know, here we are from
23:45
South Lincolnshire. We've got guys that come from
23:47
Sleaford, Bourne all around around the area and so we're
23:50
just really, really happy that we're able to be this shining
23:56
light, this beach for water polo in the area.
23:58
So I mean, obviously you mentioned there was a number of
24:01
clubs in this region that now don't no longer exist.
24:04
Is water polo kind of taking that little bit of a breather in
24:06
terms and then they'll be kind of, do you think they feel
24:08
there'll be another sort of surge of clubs again?
24:11
I think it's all about a lot of these clubs revolve around one
24:15
or two people, yeah. And when those one or two people
24:18
go or retire, whatever it would be, then other people maybe
24:22
don't want to take on that mantle.
24:24
And we are very, very lucky in Spalding to have what's known as
24:28
the Polo think tank, the fantastic committee and Nick who
24:34
is our or known as the gatekeeper, He, he's been
24:39
looking after the secretarial role in the finances for a very,
24:42
very long time. And it's not a job that
24:44
everybody wants to do, but he's done it and he's fantastic at
24:48
it. And it's people like Nick and
24:50
like John James, who's the captain, people who are
24:54
enthusiastic and encourage other people.
24:56
And they really want to get people going and get people
25:00
involved with the club. And, you know, we go over to
25:03
Holland now. We, we, it's, I think it's gonna
25:06
be the fourth trip over to Holland next year to take part
25:09
in the big water polo tournament over there, which takes place in
25:12
some fantastic outdoor lakes. I mean, that's, that's amazing.
25:15
Yeah. Oh, fantastic.
25:16
Really. That's.
25:17
That's doubly deep, isn't it? Yeah.
25:19
Well, that's a bit sandy in some places, I have to say actually.
25:22
But again, it's fantastic. Great opportunity.
25:25
They have mixed teams over there.
25:27
It's it's just a wonderful opportunity for everybody to get
25:29
involved. And again, yeah, the polo's
25:32
great, but the social side is fantastic as well.
25:34
And it's just lovely to get involved with so many different
25:37
people, so many different cultures, and it's just a
25:40
wonderful opportunity to shout out about this amazing, unique
25:44
sport that not a lot of people have.
25:46
No, absolutely. And I think we, we, we have many
25:49
sports clubs that come on this show and, and especially at
25:51
grassroots level and or semi professional.
25:53
And it, a lot of it revolves around volunteers like you've
25:56
just mentioned, people who have that enthusiasm and passion for
25:59
the sport itself and the community to be able to drive
26:01
that forward and continue with that, that good work that they
26:04
do. Exactly without without the the
26:06
Toms and the Nathans and the Knicks and the Johns and the
26:09
Dave Lords, the people who make the team by giving up their time
26:15
continuously week after week to support new players coming in
26:20
the team that you just wouldn't be that.
26:22
So we are so, so lucky to have this this tight knit group who
26:27
really want to see Spalding grow.
26:29
I mean, that's why we've now been looking for corporate
26:32
sponsorship to try and get some money into the club because our
26:36
costs go up. You know, it's, it's really
26:38
difficult to start and paying for pool time.
26:43
You know, the Nets that we, the goal posts and everything that
26:45
we have to have there, they have to float.
26:47
I mean, then you know, you can't just hammer them into the get a
26:52
little bit miffed. So, you know, these things are
26:55
very expensive, you know, because they're bespoke, they're
26:58
made for us to fit into that pool size, you know, the balls,
27:02
the hats, everything, the trunks.
27:04
And you have to wear these sort of tight fitting trunks.
27:07
You can't be wearing anything that's loose because you're
27:08
going to get grabbed and pulled around and stuff.
27:11
And so, yeah, we, we have started looking for a corporate
27:15
sponsorship to help us on our way.
27:17
And next time, let's see if we can get that top spot and take
27:21
the Penguins out. Absolutely.
27:22
Good luck with that. And then especially, like I
27:24
said, now you've got the ladies team that as a club you're
27:28
offering a more complete package, aren't you, to a
27:30
corporate sponsor, for example. And also we'd like to have a a
27:33
junior team as well. So we're just a few short of
27:35
that at the moment, but it'd be great to have a junior team.
27:40
We've had two senior teams at one point.
27:42
We're not quite there at the moment, but we could.
27:44
We can't field two teams, but you're just 13 in a squad, so
27:48
you've got 7 in the water at any time.
27:50
That's six out and one goalkeeper, like I said, but
27:53
you've got 13 in a squad and and it's great to be in a position
27:57
whereby we've got so many players that we've got people
28:00
who who can't play because there's 16 available, but we can
28:05
only take 13, you know, but we do take people along to cheer us
28:08
along and be supporters as well and say, I mean, it is fabulous.
28:12
And I'm I'm very, very proud to be not quite one of the longest
28:18
serving, but I'm far off it and members of the of the of the
28:22
team and I just love it. I think it's fantastic and it,
28:25
you know, it's been my Tuesdays for, for as long as I can
28:28
remember, you know, so I'm, I'm very lucky and very proud to be
28:32
a member of Spalding. Well done, fantastic.
28:35
In terms of the competition structure, obviously you
28:38
mentioned the the game against the London Penguins, but and
28:41
then you mentioned obviously that Spalding are probably the
28:45
closest club to this region and, and, and then a lot of clubs
28:47
have disappeared. So in terms of your competition
28:50
and does that mean you've got to travel sort of longer distances
28:53
and and play teams from further further field?
28:55
So we're in in a league and we have to go down to say, for
28:59
example, Biggleswade and travel quite a distance now to play
29:04
these teams because they are few and far between now.
29:09
But you know, we do it and that's how it is.
29:11
And we we're very lucky that we've got people who are
29:14
committed and are available midweek to go and do those
29:17
games. I mean, there are a few of our
29:19
players actually pay for the National League team and they
29:23
will go over for a weekend and, and play games on a Saturday and
29:27
and a Sunday and that'll be their their weekend.
29:29
And that's great for them because they bring that
29:30
experience back to the club at our league level and we learn
29:35
from them, you know, so we are very, very lucky.
29:38
I mean, yes, the travelling's got a bit further, but you know,
29:41
we we want to win and like I say, it was we didn't actually
29:45
play the Penguins. It was just the fact that they
29:47
beat us in the in the nationals to be the water Polo Club of the
29:51
year. Gotcha.
29:52
So we came second. We.
29:53
Were in the top 7 so I mean that's just an amazing
29:56
achievement you know for a place that most people go wet yes so
30:02
you know don't you grip bulbs and so it's just so lucky.
30:08
But there's an opportunity there for someone to to be a sponsor
30:12
of something that is up and coming and we are really going
30:17
places. So yeah, very proud.
30:19
Fantastic. So.
30:20
So Tuesday evenings, is that the competition or was that training
30:23
night? Training games or weekends?
30:25
Training night is Tuesday night, 8:00 till 10:00.
30:29
You can get hold of us through our Facebook page or on
30:32
Instagram and just get in touch with us.
30:34
We're happy to hear from anybody.
30:36
You must be able to swim. We are not, we don't teach
30:39
anybody to swim. You've got to be able to swim
30:41
and say minimum of 10 lengths without stopping.
30:44
And as a as a basic and we'll teach you how to play.
30:49
And let's say we do the juniors from 8:00 till 9:00 and then the
30:53
seniors 9 till 10. But we're always happy to hear
30:56
from anybody who wants to come and have a go or come and have a
30:59
watch, come and see what we're up to.
31:01
You can have a look at the videos.
31:02
I believe you're going to show some videos.
31:04
Yeah, we'll post them post show over the weekend.
31:06
So people can see and in the summer we play at Bourne outdoor
31:09
Pool at the Lido. So from July, August and
31:14
September or June, July, August, we will be playing over at
31:18
Bourne on a Tuesday night and that's basically from 6:30 till
31:22
it gets dark, so a little bit earlier during the summer
31:26
months. Fantastic, sounds good, right?
31:27
Let's take our final break. We'll come back with more water
31:30
polo chat with Mark in a few minutes.
31:31
Stay tuned this PCR film. You're listening to PCR sports.
31:46
Welcome back to the PCR Sports Show with myself, Dipam and
31:49
Nilesh. If you've missed any of the
31:51
show, you can catch up on our website pcrfm.co.uk after 7:00
31:55
where the show will be uploaded. You've missed the cracker so
31:57
far. Marc Lasage is in the studio
31:59
with us from the Spalding Water Polo Club.
32:01
Very enthusiastic, very passionate about the sport.
32:03
He's been involved for many, many years and the club's been
32:05
around about 60 years and it's been giving us an update on the
32:08
club, the launch of the new women's team and the rules of
32:11
the sport itself. So Mark, in terms of the we're
32:17
touching our competition just before the break there, does
32:19
water polo have seasons or is it kind of a year round sport?
32:22
How does How does that work? It does have a league that
32:24
follows a season and we've just come to the end of it and we'll
32:26
be starting the next next season very shortly after the Christmas
32:31
period. And like I say, we do play
32:33
outdoors June, July and August in the born outdoor pool.
32:38
And at the end of that we hold a tournament for the local clubs
32:42
to come along and get involved in and anybody can come and
32:45
watch. And that's normally the last
32:46
weekend of August around there. And it's just a wonderful
32:51
opportunity to play outdoors. I mean, I've played in rivers
32:55
and lakes and, and in the sea a couple of times, which is in the
32:59
sea. Yeah, we've played in the sea.
33:00
So that's, that's quite interesting with the, with the
33:03
waves and stuff. But yeah, I mean, people play
33:05
all over the world. So, you know, and you know,
33:08
you've only got to if you it's an Olympic sport.
33:10
So you can, you can watch it on the TV And when you see some of
33:15
these people play, I mean, they are very, very powerful.
33:20
You know, it's, it's an amazing sport to actually watch and take
33:24
part in. How many?
33:26
Obviously you mentioned obviously there's goals at
33:28
either end, so how are they? And if you're playing in in a
33:30
river or a lake or, or in the sea, how do you fasten the the?
33:34
Goal. They what they tend to do is
33:36
they'll they'll fix it somehow, OK.
33:38
And make a zone. Yeah, yeah.
33:40
With floats on a rope, right. OK wow, make a zone like that
33:44
and then they'll have floating goals.
33:45
Yes. And yeah.
33:46
I mean, if the wind gets up, it's a little bit treacherous.
33:48
And stuff. You have to remember it's like
33:51
anything. The wind will be on when you
33:53
change ends, the wind will be in your favour, won't it?
33:55
So it's it's like every thing and like you just said
33:58
previously, if we're playing at Born Outdoors and it starts to
34:01
rain, what happens? We're already wet.
34:03
So, you know, the only person who's going to get really wet is
34:05
the ref, bless him. So he's going to try referee the
34:08
game underneath the brolly. But the only time we can't play
34:11
is if it's light, of course, outside.
34:12
That's the only, only time we have to stop.
34:15
And yeah, just great. When we're playing at a match, a
34:19
league match inside the Spaulding pool for example, or
34:22
any of the pools that we go to, we have two referees, one on
34:26
either side and 1 referee will take the first three players and
34:31
the next ref will take the the back three players.
34:33
But then they'll swap sides. The ref on the opposite side
34:36
will take the three when they're attacking, so to speak.
34:39
And that's, that's good. Sometimes we only have one ref,
34:44
but mostly we try and play the league games with two.
34:48
Yeah, fantastic. Sounds good.
34:49
What's the most memorable place outdoor that you've played then
34:52
can? Oh, blind me.
34:53
Well, I really enjoyed have to say 2 years, three years ago
34:56
when I went over to Holland, I mean that was fantastic.
34:59
And I remember also, many, many years ago, we went over to
35:01
Guernsey and there's a big water polo tournament that takes place
35:05
over there. So it's great to have that sort
35:08
of social side, the tour side of it, and that's lovely.
35:11
But yeah, certainly Holland was an eye opener.
35:13
Really enjoyed that. And not so sure about the Eels
35:16
going. To say, if you're playing, if
35:19
you're playing in public water, you've potentially got wildlife
35:21
to contend, but as well, haven't you?
35:22
Absolutely. You know, but these these things
35:24
are cleaned out and stuff beforehand and just, it's just
35:28
great experience to do something that's a little bit different,
35:32
you know, from being inside a swimming pool.
35:35
A search. But yeah, good fun.
35:37
Fantastic. Sounds good.
35:39
Coming back to to to the club itself.
35:43
If anyone's interested in joining the listening out there
35:45
and I'm in an arming, what kind of advice would you give them?
35:47
Well, certainly come and have a look, get in touch with us, have
35:50
a look at our Facebook page, our Instagram page and look at the
35:53
videos that are there to place. Peterborough must have some
35:57
people who are around who used to play in the in the area.
36:01
Maybe they'd like to come back and just have a look and see
36:03
what we're doing in Spalding. But certainly just get in touch.
36:06
Or they could always get in touch by yourselves and you
36:09
could. Yeah, absolutely.
36:11
More than more than happy to just for people to come and have
36:14
a look. It's not everybody's cup of tea
36:16
of course, but if you don't come have a look, you're never going
36:19
to know, are you? So it's a fantastic way of
36:22
keeping fit, it's a great way of meeting new people.
36:25
It's a fantastic social environment where everybody is
36:29
really supportive, very friendly and you know, it's great.
36:34
So we're more than happy to see new people and if anybody wants
36:37
to sponsor us, please get in touch.
36:39
OK, what? Is there anything the club needs
36:40
at the moment? That from the community.
36:43
Well, certainly funding towards the cost of the swimming pool,
36:46
that's one of our biggest costs ever on a weekly basis.
36:50
But there's always equipment that needs replacing and we're
36:52
going to have to upgrade the goals when we when we move to
36:55
the new pool in 2027. You know, a set of hats is very
36:59
expensive and they wear out very quickly even because of the
37:03
chlorine and the chemicals in the pool.
37:05
So, you know, anything that anybody can do to help us, we'd
37:08
greatly appreciate it. Fantastic.
37:10
And anyone who wants to play and participate, what can they kind
37:13
of expect on their first sort of introduction into the club and
37:15
the sport? A.
37:16
Really. What's your boarding process
37:18
like? A.
37:18
Really. Gentle welcome, a very friendly
37:21
welcome, a very supportive welcome.
37:24
And certainly now that we've got the women's team as well, but
37:27
any juniors that want to come along, just get in touch with us
37:30
and we'll have a chat. Speak to the coaches first to
37:33
just to make sure that you are physically able to take part
37:38
with with the game because we don't want anybody to to get
37:42
hurt, of course. And injuries do occur during the
37:45
during the game. It's just the way things are,
37:48
accidents happen and but we just really would like to encourage
37:51
people to come along and try the sport.
37:53
But they've got to be able to like say swim 1010 lengths
37:56
minimum without stopping and be physically fit to be able to
38:01
take part in in what is a very physical exerting sport.
38:06
Fantastic, good stuff. And then future of the club?
38:08
Any ambitions, any plans over the next few years?
38:10
You mentioned about a new venue of sleepers.
38:12
Yeah. So we're going to get the new
38:14
well-being helped, the new swimming pool that's going to be
38:16
finished hopefully in 2027 in Spalding.
38:19
And so that that's very exciting and we're going to be able to
38:22
move over there. And that will be a new step
38:26
forward for the club because the pool that we're in now is 50
38:30
years old. And so that's going to be great
38:33
for us. And we'll kind of future proof
38:36
the club and the swimming pool for hopefully another 50 years.
38:40
And I hope that the Spalding club, I'm sure it will go from
38:44
strength to strength, say we're E Midlands Club of the Year,
38:48
Polo Club of the Year and hopefully we will be the United
38:52
Kingdom Club of the Year at some point and not second.
38:55
Absolutely. When, when, how often does that
38:56
kind of that's an annual thing. OK, brilliant.
39:00
So. So we're very fortunate with the
39:02
the the coaches and the captain and the people that are behind
39:07
the scenes making sure that the club is certainly moving forward
39:11
and very, very, very lucky and very proud of them all.
39:13
Fantastic good news and again, if somebody is interested in
39:18
either playing, watching Volunting or as a non playing
39:23
sort of member or indeed like you mentioned about corporate
39:26
sponsorship, how could they get in touch with you?
39:28
Just get in touch with us via yourselves or through our
39:31
Facebook page whereby you can just leave us a message and
39:34
we'll get in touch. And that's Spalding Water Polo
39:36
Club. Is it Spalding?
39:37
Water Polo Club, Yeah. Fantastic.
39:39
Good stuff Mark. It's been an absolute pleasure.
39:42
Thank you for joining us this evening and and enlightening us
39:45
all as I've certain personally been educated on the sport of
39:48
water polo. So good to good to have you in
39:50
the in the studio and good to meet you and continued success
39:54
with the club and obviously now the newly formed ladies team as
39:57
well. So hopefully next time you come
39:59
on, bring Millie Stewart, who sadly couldn't make it this
40:01
evening, but it'd be good to see her as as the captain of the
40:03
women's team and meet you all again and see how you're
40:06
progressing. Yeah, be lovely.
40:08
Thank you very much. We'd love to come back.
40:09
Fantastic Nilesh, thank you very much as always, cheers to come.
40:12
Good luck to Posh tomorrow at Port Val.
40:14
Yeah, indeed. And just going back to the water
40:16
polo there, I know there's many a sport that I'd love to take
40:18
part in, but water polo, not a strong swimmer, I'm afraid,
40:22
Marks. So how?
40:23
About you come over one Tuesday night, both of you, and we'll be
40:27
very gentle. Bring your trunks and come and
40:29
have a go. I can't swim.
40:30
I, I, I'm telling you that I cannot swim.
40:34
So when you say 10 lengths, you'd be lucky to get 3 or 4.
40:39
Yeah, so come and have a watch. Yeah, that'll be, that'll be
40:42
quite interesting. Absolutely, yeah.
40:43
We'll have a social side in that and that sounds and I'll buy the
40:46
round. After that sounds more
40:48
intriguing to me. But yeah, Posh off to Port Vale
40:52
tomorrow, which is Stoke over in the Potteries there.
40:56
Fingers crossed they'll be bringing back three points and
40:58
starting the festive period on the on the up.
41:01
Fantastic. Good stuff.
41:02
Thank you Dish and thank you for joining in and listening as
41:05
well. And a very Merry Christmas to
41:07
you and all your families and and look after yourselves.
41:10
We're taking a break next week, but we'll be back on January the
41:13
second when Talia Martin, a female based female, sorry, city
41:17
based female golfer, will be joining us for giving us an
41:21
update on her latest season. So once again, Merry Christmas,
41:24
Happy New Year and have a great one.
41:26
Bye for now. Take care.