An Olympian Effort

Wednesday, 27 June 2012

The Olympic waiting game is over for former Bolton School pupil and Water Polo International Ed Scott, as it is confirmed that he will be a member of Team GB at London 2012.

Ed has been selected as the first choice goalkeeper for the thirteen strong GB squad. The official announcement was made at his training base at Manchester Aquatics Centre, but Ed had already received advance news via email. He said: "We were told to expect an email last Friday so we were refreshing them pretty quickly until we got news. There are three of us living in the same house so we all opened them at the same time. When we saw the word 'congratulations' that's all we needed to read! It's a pretty special feeling because we have worked hard for this for a long time. It's the culmination of a lot of hard work."

Chairman of Ed's base club, City of Manchester, is Mike Glover, who also has Bolton School links, not as a pupil but as a teacher from 1992 to 1997. Mike has received an OBE for Service to Water Polo in the Queen's Birthday honours list, having been involved in water polo both as a player and a coach for over 60 years. In his capacity as Head Coach at Bolton School, Mike produced the first batch of Bolton School pupils achieving International Honours, and led Bolton School to their first National Water Polo title.

David Sparkes, Chief Executive of British Swimming said: "Mike Glover's contribution to the sport of Water Polo is without precedent, he has provided the leadership in Manchester and the North West to provide a model for water polo that we should all look to replicate as it has encouraged many children to take up Water Polo. He has also driven many changes in the Game which put down the foundations for the development of the elite game which has enabled us to field teams in London at the Olympics. This National Honour reflects the massive contribution he has made."

Britain's men are appearing in the Games for the first time since 1956. Former Bolton School pupil Richard Lawler has also been selected for GB Team, in the reserve squad.