In the wake of our junior waterpolo team’s experience in the recent Comen Cup Under 20 tournament held at the National Pool Complex, there was not much we did not expect in the way of our results and performances against the competing teams.

Our waterpolo standards are what they are – beyond the reach of the top ten nations and very much on competitive levels within the middle order nations and definitely superior to the lower tier ones.

This situation has been stabilised at all levels of our national teams.

Such nations as Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Greece, Montenegro, France and some others countries are entrenched within a demarcation line which at this point in time is practically impassable for the other countries.

This stark reality is, on the other hand, countered by the knowledge that our game is relatively of an adequate level when compared to other much bigger nations.

Which does not mean we can rest on our laurels. Indeed, striving to improve is of paramount importance.

There is consensus that our ranking is between the 14th and 18th place in the continental standings, which is not bad given our miniscule population, limited facilities and restricted funding.

All this was endorsed by national team coach Karl Izzo when speaking to the Times of Malta recently.

“We want to bridge the gap in technical and physical standards,” he said.

“This is not easy and depends on improved infrastructure, funding and long-term programmes of preparation.

“We will put forward plans to give our youths the possibility to make physical inroads from a young age.”

Referring specifically to the Comen Cup tournament, Izzo was generally satisfied with the Maltese team’s efforts.

“The lads were aware of their limitations when confronting the big teams but their positive attitude was commendable,” he said.

“They also overcame the nerves resulting from their expectation of success against Israel and Cyprus.

“Moreover, we were pleased to have our extreme defender, Nicholas Grixti, voted as the best goalkeeper.

“While Ben Plumpton’s second place with 19 goals in the overall scorers’ list was a commendable achievement and underlines this player’s promise as a rising talent.

“We should keep up our momentum and the signs are that, given the tender age of some of our components in the Under-20 category, we can do better.

“The future by no means looks bleak. However, we also have to align our season with that of other countries.

“That means we must have competition throughout winter which removes the handicap of having to build up almost from scratch every year to reach optimal levels.”

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.