Interview with Fran Leighton

You come from a family that are crazy about water polo, both you and your younger brother play for Great Britain and your dad was the national coach.

My mum and dad both liked water polo and started to play for a local club in Carlisle where I grew up. I spent my childhood watching them play and decided I wanted to join in. My interest grew from there.

You say your family is your biggest influence, is there a lot of competition between you and your brother?

Not at all. We are totally different. I can learn a lot from my brother, so rather than competing with one another we help to develop each others skills. It may have been different if we were both girls or boys and had to actually compete against each other.

Does your dad let you rest when you come home or is he constantly reminding you about training?

No, he looks after me and lets me rest. When I’m at home I sleep lots and catch up with my friends. I also like to spend time with horses, I have one on loan at the moment but I can’t ride it as I am injured!

How many hours a week do you train and what does it involve?

About 22 hours on a standard week, but train more before competitions. Training involves swimming, water polo technique, gym work, pilates and nutrition. I train in Manchester and the team trains together, twice a day.

How much swimming training do you do and do you ever do any club races?

We do about 20mins to 1 hour swimming warm up at the start of each session, which makes about 2 to 4 hours per week. No I don’t do any club races! Swimming is not my thing. I once did a club race as a favour for someone, but that is it. Some of the team are pretty fast, a few hold national times, but I am a water polo player, not a swimmer!

How did it feel to win bronze at the Commonwealth Water polo tournament in Manchester 2002?

Winning the bronze was totally amazing. It was such a great feeling, especially as we were in front of a home crowd. Coming fourth in Melbourne last year was pretty upsetting but it was still a great experience to be there.

Tell us what are the three coolest things about water polo?

1. It is a team sport so you get to have great fun in a group 2. The action never stops, the game is constantly moving and developing 3. It is a great laugh being with lots of girls all playing and training together

Some swimming coaches think that playing water polo wrecks your stroke, what would you say to them?

Water polo stroke is a very different technique to swimming. The technique we use is like a fifth stroke so it’s very different and not really like front crawl at all. Many of my team are very strong, fast swimmers so I don’t think it wrecks your stroke at all.

What advice do you have for young players wanting to get into the sport or improve their game?

Young players wanting to get in to the sport should keep going, train hard and stick with it, even when it gets hard. It’s toughest when all your mates want to go out and you can’t because you have to train. But you need to remember that water polo will take you places that you wouldn’t get to go otherwise. I’ve been all around the world and it been is worth the sacrifice. People wanting to improve their game should work on their general strength and have confidence in their own ability. If you are struggling always ask for help from a senior player or a coach.

What makes a perfect polo player?

It is hard to say as I am 6ft but some of my team are only 5ft! Determination and wanting to succeed are just as important as physical advantages such as having big hands. It is about wanting to be a team player and above all, enjoying being in the water.

When you’re not playing water polo you work as a development officer for the sport. What does this involve?

I help introduce young people to mini-polo through various swimming teaching schemes. People tend to think that swimming is the only sport you can do in the water. My job is to teach young people about water polo and give them another activity to do in the pool.

I hear that you also like football, do you play?

No! I am rubbish at it. I love watching it though and am a passionate Manchester United and Carlisle United fan.

How do you think the GB water polo team will do in the next Olympics?

I think we have the potential to do well in London 2012, that is when our standard of play will be high enough to compete with the best. If we continue training and our new coach keeps developing our game we will stand a good chance of doing really well. There’s lots of hard work to be done between now and then though!