Bristol water polo player Anna Kilb said it “feels amazing” to be representing Great Britain at the Under-17 European Championships in Turkey next week.
The 17-year-old first tried the sport three years ago, with this her first major tournament.
Kilb is coached by former Olympian Craig Figes in Bristol.
“It feels amazing, I love being part of a team and it’s incredible,” Kilb told BBC Points West.
“It gives me escape, especially as I’m doing my GCSE’s there was a lot of revision overload, and it gave me a different life to escape to the pool and test myself.”
Kilb, who trains every day for two hours, was previously a swimmer until she was encouraged to try water polo at a local team.
“It just progressed – swimming decreased and water polo increased and it’s just stepped up from there,” Kilb said.
“I play centre-back so I’d like to think defending is my strong point. I would like to get better at attacking – that’s one thing I need to work on – but defending [I am] usually controlling the game, telling people what to do.”
Water polo is not professional in the UK, unlike many countries across Europe, and therefore Fagie said it is hard to gauge expectations and ambitions for the team’s upcoming championships.
Great Britain will play hosts Turkey, Ireland and Ukraine in the group stages.
“This is the first championship they would have played in so we’ve got no point of reference,” Fagie added.
“We have a tough group but a group we could do quite well in, then we’ll have a tough crossover potentially with one of the really big nations of water polo – so there’s no real expectations at this level.”
As for Kilb, she does have one objective for the championships.
“I really would like to score some goals, everybody wants to score some goals,” Kilb added.
“I just want to become a better player, improve my skills and expand my knowledge of water polo.”
