My Passion with Rebecca Edmondson: Making a splash in a sport that relies on teamwork

My grandad was a swimming coach and my mother and father met at swimming training.

My sister and I both swam competitively from an early age; Amy swam at a national level and I took up synchronised swimming and became North-Eastern champion.

When I started university, I took up waterpolo, something my father played back in Leeds and he had been encouraging me to do it for a while.

When I came back to Leeds after graduating, I joined the Leeds waterpolo club and have never looked back.

Not a lot of people know that much about waterpolo, so here is a brief rundown of the game.

It has two goals at either side of the pitch. Players swim with the ball or throw it to each other, and the aim is to score the

most goals.

There are seven players in the water at all times, six maximum on the bench. Subs are in and out frequently as swimming up and down after the ball is very tiring.

I enjoy the fact that it is a team sport, which tests your speed, fitness, strength, endurance and accuracy.

I am naturally a competitive person and like to push myself to the limits of my fitness. I get a real high from knowing I am at a peak fitness level when we are training up for the season and that I can contribute to the team's success.

I also enjoy the banter with the girls, who are from all walks of life, from schoolgirls, to university professors, physiotherapists, lawyers and accountants like me.

My greatest achievement so far was winning the National League division two this year, and being promoted to the Premiership for next year.

We also won top goalscorer, best goalkeeper and the fair play award.

Last summer, we played in an open waterpolo tournament in a lake in Derby.

It was pretty cold and was also raining for most of the day. Matches were half-an hour each: it was absolutely freezing getting in and out of the cold lake. We must have been nuts.

On that day, we had only one substitute so everyone was blue by the time we finished, but it was an awesome day.

After the match, we got warm, had lots of drink and camped over, so it was an awesome evening, too.

Rebecca Edmondson, a senior associate in the assurance team at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Leeds, talks about her passion for waterpolo.