Clayton hoping for family honours

Water polo may look relatively civil but it can be a vicious sport.

“There’s a lot of costume grabbing, kicking, finger twisting. The worst I’ve had is a couple of black eyes.”

This from 21-year-old Fran Clayton, not normally a woman given to resolving issues with violence but one who acknowledges that in her chosen sport, when someone kicks you, you kick them back.

So with the nature of the game determined, what about the teams?

Great Britain are genuine medal contenders at London 2012.

Mind you, with only eight nations competing for the three medals, and a team that loses all three of its round-robin matches still able to progress through the knockout stages to win gold, all those involved in the Olympic competition can characterise themselves as podium candidates.

And of the players, Clayton is a GB veteran, despite her relatively tender years.

She has represented her country at every level from the age of 13, and that recognition came just a few years after she took up the sport in her home town of Catterick.

“My mum used to play so when I was old enough I played in junior sessions at Bedale Swimming Club and then stepped up to a senior club on a Friday night in Catterick,” she says.

Her mum is Judith Clayton, a pillar of the British water polo scene and former Great Britain captain.

Her father was a coach, referee and club chairman. There was never going to be any other sport Clayton would go into.

“I don’t really feel pressure from the role my mother had but I did always expect to one day play for the national team.”

It sounds an arrogant boast but coming from a young woman who still takes the bus between training at the High Performance Centre in Manchester and her club in Liverpool, she remains well grounded.

She knows that competing in the Olympics for a water polo player is a privileged position.

Never mind the fact that it is a home Olympics, but this will be the first women’s team to compete at water polo in the Games.

Clayton says: “My mother and a couple of her friends tried to get a team qualified and selected for Atlanta in 1996 but it never happened.

“When the Olympics were first staged, Britain won gold and then won it for the next four Games.

“In the history of the sport, we rank second in the medals table but this is the first year women have been allowed to play.

“My mum’s a little bit jealous that I will get to compete in an Olympics when she never got the chance but, ultimately, she’s proud of me.”

Clayton’s GB team have taken some notable scalps in the last year, those of France and Germany and also Greece on their way to the world title.

She sampled the atmosphere of a global event at the World Student Games in China earlier this year and the European B Championships in Manchester.

“I know what a major meet is all about, I’m ready for London,” she says.

“We’ve had an induction and the Olympic Park is breathtaking. I’m sure the Olympics will be on another level completely.”

Clayton is part of Deloitte’s Our Team 2012 funding programme.