Mark Lewis

Swimming isn’t always just about the swimming

There are so many reasons to get in the water besides just swimming laps in a pool: open water swimming, triathlons, diving, synchronized swimming, octopush, and water polo, to name a few.

Like many, I've spent years swimming laps and, while I enjoyed it, I found myself getting bored with the repetition and familiarity.

Swimming is a fantastic sport, but I was starting to struggle to find the motivation for those early morning trips to the pool then in 2012, I discovered water polo through an ad at my local pool in Portsmouth, which coincided with the London 2012 Olympics.

Although I was familiar with the sport, I had never played before my first trial session with Portsmouth City Water Polo. Despite my lack of experience, they were an amazingly welcoming and social club. I had suddenly rediscovered my sense of purpose in the pool with a new team sport which incorporated another sport I loved - swimming!

My journey has taken me from being a complete novice in the sport to becoming a qualified water polo coach at the club and a member of the organising committee where I regularly volunteer. Along the way I've met some amazing people and created some friends for life via the sport.

On the 19th of July, Portsmouth City Water polo took part in the JWPA Tournament hosted at the Havre Des Pas Bathing Pool in Jersey. Portsmouth Men's team finished a respectable 4th place after narrowly missing out during the 3rd place playoff to Jersey 5-3.

It was another amazing experience playing teams from across the UK, Channel Islands and France and most importantly of all, the after party hosted by Jersey allowing all teams to come together over a friendly pint or three.

So, if your motivation for swimming is waning, why not give water polo or one of many other fantastic water sports a try and see if it can breathe new life into the sport for you too.