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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. <\/span><\/p>\n The 17-year-old first tried the sport three years ago, with this her first major tournament.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Kilb is coached by former Olympian Craig Figes in Bristol.<\/span><\/p>\n “It feels amazing, I love being part of a team and it’s incredible,” Kilb told BBC Points West.<\/span><\/p>\n “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.”<\/span><\/p>\n Kilb, who trains every day for two hours, was previously a swimmer until she was encouraged to try water polo at a local team. <\/span><\/p>\n “It just progressed – swimming decreased and water polo increased and it’s just stepped up from there,” Kilb said. <\/span><\/p>\n “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.”<\/span><\/p>\n 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.<\/span><\/p>\n Great Britain will play hosts Turkey, Ireland and Ukraine in the group stages.<\/span><\/p>\n “This is the first championship they would have played in so we’ve got no point of reference,” Fagie added. <\/span><\/p>\n “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.”<\/span><\/p>\n As for Kilb, she does have one objective for the championships.<\/span><\/p>\n “I really would like to score some goals, everybody wants to score some goals,” Kilb added.<\/span><\/p>\n