[1] Under his leadership, the club organized the first recorded water polo match in Spain, which was played in Catalonia on 12 July 1908 between two teams mostly made up of foreign residents in Barcelona, on the Barceloneta beach, and which was refereed by Picornell himself.

[1][3][6] In that same year, he organized the first Winter Championship, which from the second edition was called the Christmas Cup, and in 1909 the Easter Grand Prix, tournaments that are still held today.

[2] In 1920, Picornell intervened in the foundation of the Spanish Amateur Swimming Federation, which he chaired from 1932 to 1968, and promoted the attendance of Catalan swimmers at the 1920 Olympic Games in Antwerp.

[1] He managed to have the 1970 European Aquatics Championships held in Barcelona, at the municipal swimming pools of Montjuïc, which had been named after Bernat Picornell.

[1] In 1946, Picornell was named honorary president of the Catalan federation, from which he received the Extraordinary Medal for sporting merit in 1957.