1998: the first stone of a project

In order to find the club’s origins we must go back to 1998, which is the moment when the initiative of helping the swimming school members to become acquainted with the waterpolo skills emerged.

The aim of this first year was to make the swimmers get in touch with a sport that was unknown for them until then. During this period of time, they were pretended to acquire the knowledge of the waterpolo skills, so individuals as collectives, and the rules. This labour was carried through by Javier Vidal by means of the creation of a waterpolo school. About this matter, we must throw into relief the support received from Leioa Town Hall’s Sports’ Council and the collaboration of some parents, without whom this project wouldn’t have got by.

1999: club's debut in official competition: the young and the girls in the vanguard

The next year, in 1999, after checking the great success of this experience and according to the highly positive results achieved, they decided to go further and the club opted for taking part in federated competitions. Therefore, it was in this year when the club’s first two teams appeared. One of them belonged to the mixed cadet category (boys and girls younger than 16) and the other was a feminine squad. It was precisely the cadet team who made the club’s debut in official competition by playing their first league match.

At the same time, the boys who were later the first members of the masculine team began their path in waterpolo. Their first participations consisted in taking part in universitary championships, in which they obtained good results, and friendly games.

During these first years of the club’s history we had the collaboration of Ivaylo Patchaliev and Santi Agirre in the technical section.

2000: the first profits are achieved

2000 was characterized by the arrival of the first achievements, so at collective level as at individual. The girls’ team began to become a reference of feminine waterpolo in the Basque Country, whereas in the cadet category they completed a nice campaign.

Furthermore, three players of the cadet team were first convoked by the Euskadi selection to take part in the Spanish Championship of Autonomous Regions. This feat became something usual from that moment, and  has kept happening year in year out not only in the cadet category, but also in the feminine. 2001/2002: the qualitative jump As regards 2001, this year brought a very meritorious second place of the cadet team in the League of the Basque Country. The high level reached was made clear when even five cadet players were called to increase the ranks of the Euskadi selection, which finished the Spanish Championship in third place, which meant the highest classification reached ever in their history. On the other hand, the girls’ team went on displaying their good game, which was reflejcted in the results achieved.

It was in the 2001/2002 season when the club’s launch finally consolidated. Firstly, Ekain de la Fuente and Eduardo Imaz were included into the technical staff, and took charge of the absolute squads. It was in this moment when the club decided to enter an absolute masculine team in the Second Division of the Basque League. The squad was composed by the boys who began playing waterpolo three years before and several members of the juvenile team.

Meanwhile, Vidal centred his activity on taking charge of the juvenile squad and the waterpolo school. With regard to this last one, we must point out that it began growing and a new generation of waterpolo players started rising. In order to allow them to begin their development as players, the club decided to create a children’s team that would compete inside the province by playing several games. In addition to this, at the end of the season they went to Zaragoza to take part in the Rafael Feliz Trophy, in which they enjoyed the chance of playing against other teams within the State ambit. 2002/2003: the project holds The following term the interest aroused in the town by waterpolo increased and there were quite a lot of people who dared to try this sport in the different categories that the club had. In that moment there were four squads: two absolute, a juvenile and a children’s team.

The effort carried out by Imaz and De la Fuente began to give profits and an excellent season was fulfilled. The girls’ team reached the Basque League and Cup subchampionships, the last of which had been achieved the previous year too, whereas the boys’ team obtained a meritorious fourth place in their respective League.

On the other side, the purpose of taking part in different tournaments in order to make progress as waterpolo players was mantained. Therefore, the children’s team went to Zaragoza again, and so did the members of the girls’ squad, who moved to that very city to play another championship.

2003/2004: the level is improved

In the 2003/2004 season the club decided to raise the exigency level, considering the great role performed the previous year and the technical skills acquired. For this purpose were fixed several objectives, among which we could mention the assimilation of new tactical concepts and the attainment by the girls of some of the titles that they hadn’t achieved until that moment, as the League or the Cup of the Basque Country, or the rise to the First Division by the boys’ team. Nevertheless, it was only possible to reach the first of the aims imposed, showing by this way a big quantitative jump in relation to this matter and serving as a base for future years.

To finish the season, the boys’ team went to Padrón (A Coruña) to take part in a tournament, which they won.

2004/2005: the first transition: when the children grew up The next term Imaz gave up the club after a three years stage and Mikel Zabala replaced him and took charge of the absolute masculine team, whereas De la Fuente kept in charge of the girls’ squad. It was along this campaign when the young players coming from the reserve began to rise prominence in their respective teams, so feminine as masculine, and some of them became key pieces in their squads. Thus, the number of minutes they played in the matches increased in the same way as their presence in the senior squads. This caused that the average age of both teams was loudly low. On the matter of inferior categories, a new cadet team emerged, composed by players coming from the children’s team who competed at provincial level. In the same way the waterpolo school, whose objective is to become the club’s source, continued its growth process, and some young players managed to make the jump and started training with the senior squads, as the same time as new members joined the school year after year.

2005/2006: we rise to First Division, hooray!

In the 2005/2006 campaign De la Fuente separated from the club, after spending four years between us, and Zabala gave up training the boys’ squad. This involved the arrival of Jon López, who took charge of both absolute teams. With him began a new cycle, in which the generational relief that had started the previous term went on.

At first nobody knew the exigency level that could be asked to the senior squads because of their youthfulness, but after checking the good feeling shown during the preseason, the club decided to bet hard and fixed a very ambitious objectives. As they pretended two years before, for the boys’ team it was established the goal of rising to the First Division, whereas for the girls the objective was to fight for the League and Cup titles. This time the first of these aims could be possible and the boys completed a spectacular second round that allowed them to achieve rising to the First Division of the Basque League, after being five years in the Second Division. On the other hand, the girls obtained the League subchampionship, drawing in points with the first classified. With regard to the cadet team, this took part in the League of the Basque Country, so that they gave up competing only in Bizkaia, with the purpose of making progress in their game and trying to perform a great role. In order to finish this brilliant season, the club organized the 1. San Juan Waterpolo Tournament, coinciding with the celebration of the town’s festivities, an initiative they pretend to repeat in future years.

2006/2007: the girls’ magic season

The 2006/2007 campaign turned up with some changes, of which we must highlight the inclusion of a second senior masculine team into the Second Division of the Basque League, which meant that the club was the only one having a team in both divisions in the whole competition. This second squad was basically composed by the members of the previous year’s cadet team, who could acquire by this way a bigger experience by taking part in a competition that was more demanding than the juvenile league. As regards the other teams, new challenges were set up, as such as the permanence in the First Division for the first masculine squad and the attainment of titles for the girls’ team.

On the matter of the technical section, the club pleaded for Jon López’s continuity, according to the great results. He took charge of the feminine team and the first masculine team, whereas Josu Barrenetxea dealt with the boys’ squad of Second Division, leaving Javier Vidal as responsible of the new cadets and children and the waterpolo school.

Finally, the sporting balance of the season can be considered as positive. Although the first masculine team didn’t manage to avoid the descent classifying in the last position, the boys’ performance during the term was acceptable, beating powerful rivals in some matches and finishing up their chance of salvation until the last minute of the last game. But without doubt the best news of the campaign came from the girls, who at last achieved, after several years scraping the success, to proclaim themselves champions of the League of the Basque Country in one of the most hardfought seasons ever, with three teams aspiring to the final victory until the last games. Besides this title, the girls also won the League of Bizkaia and the Gabon Kopa, whereas in the Basque Cup they obtained the subchampionship again for the fifth time in their history. On the other hand, the second masculine team finished in the fourth place in the group B of the Second Division, after a campaign in which their performance gradually grew and showing some flashes of quality, being more important the experience acquired than the results obtained.

This year the club also organized the second edition of the San Juan Tournament, which resulted in an organizational and participatory success, with the invitation of teams of various places of Spain (Galice, Madrid...) and the celebration of up to nine games in all the categories (masculine, feminine, juvenile and cadet) in a marathon waterpolo session.

This 2006/2007 season also deserves to be thrown into relief because of the notable growth experienced by the club, confirmed by a larger presence in the media (press, internet...) and the massive flow of supporters to some of the matches played by its teams in Leioa as well as even in other pools, which made it become one of the most charming clubs of the Basque waterpolo. It is remarkable too the support of our sponsors (“Aerospace Engineering Group” and “Aerolink”), which provide good quality sports equipment to the club.

Therefore, we must throw into relief that currently our society owns four teams, which are made up by the nearly 50 players who belong to the club. All this leaving to one side the waterpolo school, to which a large number of little boys and girls go everyday. In short, the club has three senior teams (two masculine and the feminine) taking part in the Basque Leagues, and another mixed cadet team competing at Bizkaia level.