DUNFERMLINE Water Polo Club have been making a splash on the international scene after five of their players were selected to represent their country.

James Melville and Alison Tate received call-ups for the Great Britain boys' under-16 and girls' under-17 squads respectively, while Julia Mackay, Nicola Tate and Chantal Guillot were picked for the Scotland ladies' team to compete in the Six Nations tournament, that took place in Switzerland at the weekend.

Melville (pictured) was the sole Scot in a 20-strong party that travelled to Eger, Hungary, for a training camp on 30th July which also featured matches against the local club, who are their country's water polo champions.

The trip was the first step in preparations for the European championships and Melville said, "The camp involved a full programme of intensive water polo training sessions and a series of games, and in our first game we were outclassed by an older and stronger side who used their physical strength to great effect in securing their win. The next morning we were better prepared for the more physical style of play in Europe and, working more as a team, provided stronger opposition. Though beaten again by the Hungarians we could already see real progress in our play.

"In the evening our match against the under-15's was more evenly contested and we emerged clear winners before we played back-to-back on Saturday evening. Winning our second game against the younger team boosted our confidence so when we went on to face the 98/99 team for the last time we were delighted to play our closest game yet, only narrowly being defeated. We were all pleased at how well our play had improved over the course of the camp and particularly in our match performances against the Hungarian national age group champions. I was delighted to score two goals and make a number of significant plays which affected the outcome of the games."

Tate, the youngest member of Scotland's ladies' squad in April's Commonwealth tournament, competed in Germany at the weekend in an international youth tournament. GB faced the hosts, the Czech Republic, and Serbia in the event that saw her pull out of the Scotland squad due to her GB commitments.

Her sister, Nicola, Mackay and Guillot, who also played in the Commonwealth tournament, represented Dunfermline in Scotland's colours, facing the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Denmark, Ireland and Wales.