Water Polo spot is 'dream come true' for teacher

Vicki Hawkins is a maths teacher at Cheltenham Ladies' College

Competing at a world championships is a "dream come true", a maths teacher has said.

GB Women's Water Polo team will play at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha next month.

Vicki Hawkins, 39, lives in Cheltenham and is the most senior player on the team. She said competing at this level is well beyond what anyone expected for them.

“It is an absolute dream come true, it wasn’t on our radar and to have that opportunity to compete at that level of competition is fantastic”.

Maths teacher Vicki Hawkins (left) plays alongside youngest team member Amelie Perkins

The GB Water Polo team is self-funded, which means they pay for most travel, competitions and training expenses themselves with all the players juggling full-time work or studying alongside it.

Vicki is a maths teacher at Cheltenham Ladies' College and although there is some funding available for the World Championships the financial burden has been really challenging.

“A lot of [the players] are students and don’t have regular income and they’re having to search really hard to get that funding so we can go and compete for GB,” she said.

Amelie Perkins, 16, is the youngest member of the team and travels from Coventry to train in Cheltenham each week, whilst studying for GCSEs.

“I train pretty much every day, twice a day in the pool, swimming, water polo and gym.

"I come down to Cheltenham for training a couple of times a week because it has some of the best training for water polo in the country and has allowed me to develop so much as a player," she added.

Her dad, Troy is a former professional rugby league player, so knows what it takes to play sport at an elite level. He is the one often taking Amelie all over the world for training and competitions and could not be prouder.

“She’s the first one in the pool and last one out and she’s throwing balls in the goals as they are being dragged across the pool. I am just really happy she is being rewarded with success,” he said.

Cheltenham has "Some of the best training for water polo in the country."

Water polo is a very physical sport and Troy puts Amelie’s ability to compete with more experienced players down to her rugby training.

“She played rugby with the boys and only stopped playing last year because of her water polo commitments," he said.

"I think that's what's made her the centre forward in water polo that she is, those years of playing rugby with the boys.

"So there is no fear or intimidation, even when Amelie was 12 when she was playing against women that were far older, far bigger and far stronger there was no fear at all”.

For Amelie the dream is to play water polo at the highest possible level.

“Everything I want to do is water polo, my long-term ambition is definitely to become an Olympian,” she said.

Vicki hopes that competing at the World Championships and continuing the recent success will lead to more funding for the sport which she said is vital for super stars of the future like Amelie.

“At 16 she is a real prospect, and we need to really make sure that we are investing in players like Amelie and her teammates to make sure they have that real opportunity to continue with their journey at the best possible level”.

The GB team play their opening game of the World Championship on Sunday 4 February, when they take on Italy at the Aspire Dome, Doha.