Water Polo

Water Polo 2011  80 hours.
I've done water polo for the last 3 years. In the beginning, I just wanted to do it for the exercise, but this past year I started to become more involved due to my love of the game. This year I was elected to be the co-captain of the team. Because of this, I was far more interactive with the team and my fellow co-captain. I really just wanted to enjoy water polo and win more games than in past seasons (our record wasn't exactly the best). In order to be a successful team in water polo, the players must work collaboratively and strategically.

Okay, so maybe we don't ALWAYS have to work hard

 In the beginning of the season I was really eager to add new players to the team. I created a couple of flyers which were put up in the locker rooms, bathrooms, and halls where girls could see them. I wanted to entice the new players and encourage them to join the sport, even if they had no experience at all. Although water polo is about skill, it is important to have numerous players, because it is surprising how tiring it is to tread water for an eight minute quarter while opposing team members are trying to drown you.

This year I really wanted to focus on working together and developing effective plays to overtake the other teams. Sumner is kind of the underdog of water polo teams, so this year was my year to help reshape the team. We did face some challenges though. Our funding was lacking, our coach was juggling schooling with coaching, and the team had been cut in half due to graduating senior from the year prior. Along with my co-captain, Carrie Miller, it was my job to bulk up the team and completely teach them the ways of water polo.

Although we lost the majority of our games, water polo was still a great experience. Not only did I collaborate with my co-captain to try and make the season enjoyable, I also developed the new players into relatively decent opponents. With five new freshman girls, it was difficult to have many victories against teams made up of seniors. Nonetheless, the team still had high spirits throughout the season and we had fun! For our banquet in July, Carrie and I made the girls awards out of paper plates which had nicknames customized for each player. We may have gotten a bit carried away with the glitter glue. Below is a picture of one of the girl's water polo achievements, (she was very eager to receive them!) because I think it attests to the fact that we had a really great spring season.