VOLUME 35, NUMBER 3

Terry Schroeder Leads the Men’s National Team to Gold.

VOLUME 23, NUMBER 3, FALL 2008

Academic All-American List Inside

Super SummerRecaps Of All The Great Action

Look Ahead...

Score with funky Flipturns®!

LAUREN WENGER / 2008 Olympian in Palm Daze / Orchid

60248_USAWPOLO.1.indd 1 8/14/08 3:38:20 PM

What’s Inside...

USA WAter Polo NAtioNAl office2124 Main Street, Suite 210

Huntington Beach, CA 92648 (714) 500-5445 business

(714) 500-5449 membership (714) 960-2431 fax

USA WAter Polo NAtioNAl trAiNiNG ceNter11360 Valley Forge Ave. Los Alamitos, CA 90720

(562) 799-8506 business (562) 799-8508 fax

WeB Sitewww.usawaterpolo.org

chief execUtive officerChristopher Ramsey

execUtive ASSiStANt to the chief execUtive officerChelsea Johnson

coNtroller Ulises Sam

Director of PlANNiNG AND ADmiNiStrAtioN Susan Warner Hopkins

Director of mArketiNG AND commUNicAtioNSChristine Bird

Director of olYmPic DeveloPmeNt Guy Baker

meDiA relAtioNS mANAGerGreg Mescall

Director of reGioNAl SPort DeveloPmeNt (eASt) Liz Grimes

States include: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware,

Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.

Director of reGioNAl SPort DeveloPmeNt (ceNtrAl) Joe Linehan

States include: Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Michigan,

Indiana, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming.

NAtioNAl teAmS mANAGerNikki Jost

memBerShiP ServiceS coorDiNAtorDrew Willems

BoArD of DirectorSBradford Bowlus, Michael Graff (Chairman), Lynn Kachmarik,

Jeremy Laster, Ed Reynolds, Rachel Scott, William Smith

eDitorGreg Mescall

coNtriBUtorSDarcy Couch, Paulo Cesar, Todd Clapper, Chris Oeding,

Jason Lynch, Mary Sprague, Jim Cullingham, Mary Pat Robinson, Joan Gould, Ed Haas, Greg Mitre, Lisa Reyes, Carroll Vaughan, James Lathrop, Summit Photography, Sally Olds, Jeff Shewmon, Tracy Birdsell,

Kevin Burke, Anderson Family, Pete Snyder, Fotos FPN, Fotos Hugo Rocha, Mirko Seifert, Rise Wendt, Michael Duffy, Holy Kiki,

Gwen Golub, Michael Machnik, George Stransky, Mike Miller, Stan Schwimer, Allen Lorentzen, Karina Cordisco, Stuart Sheldon,

Mark Lefkow, Simone La Pay

PriNtiNGPublication Printers

2001 S. Platte River Dr., Denver, CO 80223 | 303-936-0303

creAtiveAdrenalin, Inc.

54 West 11th Ave., Denver, CO 80204 303-454-8888 | goadrenalin.com

USA Water Polo Skip Shot Magazine (ISSN# 00431311) is published four times per year by United States Water Polo, Inc., located at 2124 Main Street, Suite 210,

Huntington Beach, CA 92648. Periodicals postage is paid at Colorado Springs, CO 80901-9998 and additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Skip Shot Magazine, United States Water Polo, Inc., 2124 Main Street, Suite 210,

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

Masters Moments2008 Summary of Masters Tournament

pg16

Inside Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

National Team Update . . . . . . . . . . 6

In the Club . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

5 Meters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

In the Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Calendar of Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Also In This Issue...

Academic All-Americans . . 4

S&r Junior olympics . . . . 12

hot Shots . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

oN the cover . . .A collage of all the summer actionCover photos courtesy of US Presswire/MAC Photo Design/George Stransky/Simone La Pay

VOL. 23, NUM. 3, FALL 2008

usawaterpolo.org 1

Next Issue>Speedo Cup: An Inside Look

>Speedo Top 40 Review

VOLUME 35, NUMBER 3

Terry Schroeder Leads the Men’s National Team to Gold.

SWEETSHOT!United States’ Brittany

Hayes re�ects on winning

the gold in Beijing.

Academic All-American List Inside

Super SummerRecaps Of All The Great Action

2008 Olympic Games Summary Beijing ‘08 Re-Cappg8

This was the summer that USA Water Polo made history. Prior to the summer Games in Beijing, no nation had ever done more than combine for a Silver and Bronze medal in both men’s and women’s water polo in the same Olympics. With Silver medal performances by both our men’s and women’s teams, we estab-lished a new level of achievement in international water polo. There were plenty of subplots. Would 80’s Olympic captain Terry Schroeder, now in the role of head coach, be able to guide the men’s team to their first medal in 20 years? Would the women, the 2007 World Champions and under the guidance of Guy Baker, be able to fulfill their quest and win an Olympic gold medal?

The men’s journey was in many ways the most intriguing, because they had the furthest to ascend. Finishing the 2007 year ranked ninth in the world, a new coaching staff led by Schroeder emphasized sound fundamentals, superior conditioning and an uncompromising commit-ment to team defense. During the course of the year leading up to the Games, Schroeder emphasized training against the world’s best, singling out Serbia, Croatia and Hungary, as well as an up-and-coming Australian national team. This strategy, coupled with a relentlessly positive message and emphasis on teamwork, showed early signs of success at the FINA World League Championships in Italy, where we won a silver medal. But could we do it in the world’s biggest arena?

During the Games, our men had to confront one nemesis after another. Who can forget the early game against Italy, which we pulled out in the final minute? Or the rematch with Radko Rudic and his 2007 World Championship team from Croatia, which we beat 7-5 to signal that our team was indeed a genuine threat to win a medal. Still, the Croatia win led to Germany, whose brilliant goaltender, Alexander Tchigir, had frus-trated USA hopes many times before. With one of our most consistent performances, we moved past Germany 8-7 to advance directly to the medal round by winning our bracket.

Having already lost to Serbia 4-2 in the preliminary round and not hav-ing beaten them for many years in international competition, Team USA would have a chance for revenge in the semi-finals.

The USA beat Serbia going away in arguably our best game of the tournament—if not the last 20 years of men’s Olympic water polo. Merrill Moses played like a goalkeeper possessed, swatting away everything in sight, and offensive contributions came from everyone on the team. It was an unforgettable moment in our history.

And although we lost to Hungary in the Gold Medal game, we played them even for much of the game. All in all, the Olympics represented one of the most inspiring performances ever by our men.

Our women led by veteran Brenda Villa continued their incredible play earning once again a trip to the Olympic Games gold medal match. Dur-ing the eight years that women’s water polo has been an Olympic sport, no team has played at a high level more consistently than our women.

This Olympics boasted more of the same, the team won their group posting an undefeated record in three games as they dispatched of China, dueled to a draw with Italy, and trounced the once pre-Olympic favorite in Russia. From there it was on to the semi-finals where rival Australia was waiting and in their greatest win of these Games the United States pulled out a last second victory over the ladies from down under.

In the end, we came up short to the Netherlands by the sliver of a last-minute goal. Still, we earned our third straight Olympic medal, some-thing no other nation has achieved in women’s water polo.

One water polo enthusiast wrote to me shortly after the Games concluded, summing up what I hope many of us felt:

“This sport that we love has been defibrillated and you are all directly responsible!

New athletes and fans have been intrigued and brought to the door and current disciples have been validated and rejuvenated. We adopted and cheered your teams, cursed their opponents, scrutinized the officials, and cried every type of tear imaginable - right along with them.

We’re proud of you, and because of you, we can all be proud of our own efforts to support the growth of our sport. Please pass these thoughts to your athletes as they ponder their experiences - the impact of their examples is more far-reaching than they can possibly comprehend.”

INSIDE WATERletter from the CEO, Christopher Ramsey

USA W

ATER

POLO

2

Olympic Achievements Aplenty

If you have a comment or question concerning Skip Shot magazine, send in a letter to the editor. You can write to Skip Shot Magazine:c/o USA Water Polo, 2124 Main Street, Suite 210, Huntington Beach, CA 92648 or send an email to: media@usawaterpolo.org

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

4 5usawaterpolo.org

USA Water PoloAcademic All-Americans

Name Club: 4.0 + StudentAlexandra Adamson Coronado Aquatics 4.0+Carlos Alonso- Torras Florida Coast WP 4.0+Daisy Anderson NorCal 4.0+Cody Ankrim Sacramento WP 4.0+Kenneth Appel Riverside WPC 4.0+Alexandra Armour Saint Andrews 4.0+Alex Avery Stanford WP James Balassone Stanford WP Kate Baldoni CDM Polo 4.0+Nick Barnett Houston WPC 4.0+Kenneth Barry SOCAL 4.0+Jeffrey Bassette Rose Bowl WPC 4.0+Benjamin Beering 680 Drivers Christina Bentley Foothill 4.0+Rachael Bentley Foothill Laura Berger Saint Andrews Katherine Berry Riverside WPC 4.0+Daniel Bethencourt LAWPC 4.0+Lauren Biggs Puget Sound Polo Scott Bishop Stanford WP 4.0+Samantha Blau Sun Devil WP 4.0+Jacqueline Bobson Modesto/Stanislaus 4.0+Joshua Bogdan Regency WP 4.0+Matthew Bogott Solo Aquatics 4.0+Meghan Boland Kingfish WP Robert Boland Kingfish WP Robert Boland Kingfish WP 4.0+Christopher Boronow Houston WPC 4.0+Cayley Bowles Stanford WP 4.0+Mariclaire Bresnahan Windy City WP 4.0+David Brock Lodi WPF 4.0+Emily Brooks Viking Aquatics 4.0+Jeffrey Brown Diablo WP 4.0+Matthew Brown Pacific NW United Kurt Buchbinder LAWPC 4.0+Adam Buechler Windansea 4.0+Joshua Burdge UOP WP 4.0+Matthew Burton LAWPC 4.0+John Butterfield American River WP 4.0+Scott Bvshop Stanford WP 4.0+Elizabeth Byrd Modesto/Stanislaus 4.0+Joseph Caffarini Lincoln- Way Area 4.0+Katie Calderazzo 680 Drivers Megan Calderazzo 680 Drivers 4.0+Juliana Campbell NorCal Michael Capossela Greenwich Aquatics 4.0+Elizabeth Carey Stanford WP Colin Carroll Regency WP Shannon Carroll Greenwich WP 4.0+Juan Casado Central Florida Sun 4.0+Courtney Casavant-O’Connor Burlingame Aquatics 4.0+Levi Cassel Raider WP Nathanial Caulum Regency WP 4.0+Courtney Cellar San Jose/Almaden 4.0+Kiara Cerda Riptides 4.0+Julia Charlesworth Regency WP Steven Chizen West Valley WP 4.0+Rutger Choquehuanca SOCAL 4.0+Caroline Clark NorCal 4.0+Gerrard Clark Stanford WP 4.0+Ben Clinkinbeard Orange County WPC Ryan Cole Stanford WP 4.0+Tom Cole Stanford WP 4.0+Julian Colina Carlsbad WP Tatum Colitz Kingfish WP 4.0+Kielan Crow Stanford WP 4.0+Hannah Curran 680 Drivers 4.0+Jelena Cyr 680 Drivers 4.0+Brian Daley Kingfish WP Sonata Dalimot CBU Lancers

Name Club: 4.0 + StudentCollin Danaher Trojan WPC 4.0+Theodor Danciv Pacific NW United 4.0+Courtney Darr Tigard/Tualatin WP 4.0+Cory Desautels Diablo WP 4.0+Erin Dickson Houston WPC 4.0+Christie Disilvestro Tiger Aquatics Club 4.0+Kevin Disilvestro Tiger Aquatics Club 4.0+Rick Dliday Shore Aquatics 4.0+Hanna Dodd Rose Bowl WPC 4.0+Kaley Dodson Los Alamitos WPC Taylor Dodson SET 4.0+Missy Doll Greenwich Aquatics Alexandra Don CHAWP Annika Dries SET 4.0+Julia Drimmer 680 Drivers Lauren Dudley Capital Area WP Peter Eckhoff Raider WP Kelly Eldridge CBU Lancers 4.0+Maxwell Eliot LAWPC 4.0+Edward Ennedy San Diego Shores 4.0+Samantha Espinosa La Mirada Armada 4.0+Toby Espinosa Stanford WP 4.0+Christopher Fahlsing San Diego Shores 4.0+Alexander Faiman-Farmmaian Stanford WP 4.0+Paul Ferrier Orange County WPC 4.0+Mackenzie Ferry Kingfish WP Daniel Fields SET 4.0+Alyssa Filippelli Foothill 4.0+Candace Filippelli Foothill 4.0+Gianna Fote LAWPC 4.0+Thomas Friedrich San Diego Shores 4.0+Stephanie Funston SOCAL 4.0+Andrew Gabrielson Diablo WP 4.0+Maximiliano Galindo Regency WP 4.0+Ian Gamble Santa Barbara WPF 4.0+Hena Garcia La Mirada Armada Jillian Garton American River WP 4.0+Monica Gayed Riverside WPC 4.0+Josh Gevertz Diablo WP 4.0+Chelsey Gillespie Santa Barbara WPF Allison Gimes St. Mark’s Lions 4.0+Elina Goldenberg South Florida WPC 4.0+Alyssa Goldie SOCAL 4.0+Andrew Goss Dallas WP David Gray San Diego Shores Alex Greenberg Malibu WPF Nicholas Grover Rose Bowl WPC Lauren Gruter San Diego Shores Sean Gulian Shore Aquatics Shannon Haas CHAWP Bradley Hamar South Valley WP 4.0+Amanda Hardy Shore Aquatics Dan Harnish American River WP 4.0+Shelby Haroldson LAWPC Ross Harper Shore Aquatics James Hartshorne SOCAL Charlene Haskin California Baptist Univ Jacquelyn Hay Greenwich WP 4.0+Colin Hicks SOCAL Alexandria Hill Houston WPC 4.0+Sami Hill Santa Barbara WPF Zachary Hoberg Stanford WP 4.0+Elizabeth Holman Napa WP Richard Hong Solo Aquatics 4.0+Denver Hopkins Regency WP Carly Hosnko Coronado Aquatics 4.0+Sidney Hosnko Coronado Aquatics 4.0+Jesse Howalt Santa Barbara WPF 4.0+Mark Hudnall Stanford WP Paige Impink Kingfish WP 4.0+

Name Club: 4.0 + StudentEmily Jensen Greenwich WP Chloe Johnson La Mirada Armada Laura Karbach Greenwich WP 4.0+Delaney Keane Nordic WP 4.0+Julie Kelleher Nordic WP 4.0+Daniel Kelly Greenwich WP 4.0+Suzanne Kelly Riverside WPC 4.0+Jonathan Kern Raider WP 4.0+Riley Kessler LAWPC 4.0+Matt Kochalko Carlsbad WP Caroline Kolenda Nordic WP Jessie Koverman LAWPC 4.0+Kolby Krystofik VC Premier 4.0+Andrew LaForge SOCAL 4.0+Derek Lange Central Coast WP 4.0+Jeffrey Latham Regency WP 4.0+Robert Lawless CBU Lancers Alexis Lee Santa Barbara WPF 4.0+Nicholas Leonard Regency WP 4.0+Justin Liu Rose Bowl WPC 4.0+Kaitlyn Lo Marin WP 4.0+J.C. Lopez Whitecaps 4.0+Danny Lorch Malibu WPF Kevin Lung Napa WP 4.0+Andrew MacDonald Houston WPC 4.0+Jamison Mahar Riverside WPC Evan Mahoney Stanford WP 4.0+Erin Manke LAWPC Gregory Mann Stanford WP 4.0+Andrea Marin Napa WP Jason Masho Santa Barbara WPF 4.0+Spencer May Napa WP 4.0+Megan McAuley Newport WPF 4.0+Molly McBee LAWPC 4.0+Kimberly McComas Nordic WP 4.0+Michael McCreery Diablo WP 4.0+Matthew McCurdy Colorado WP Ellie McCutcheon Saint Andrews Stacy McGregor Kingfish WP Kelly McKenna American River WP 4.0+Christopher Meinhold Orange County WPC 4.0+Courtney Melos Kingfish WP 4.0+Andrew Melton Diablo WP 4.0+Pallavi Menon Stanford WP 4.0+Alex Miranda Midwest Zone Team Christina Miyabe SET 4.0+Aaron Montgomery SET Eric Mullery Riptides 4.0+Natalie Naruns Stanford WP Amanda Nesbit CHAWP 4.0+Spencer Neste LAWPC Bayard Nicklow Houston WPC 4.0+Travis Noll SOCAL 4.0+Kyle Norton Sierra Nevada 4.0+Alex Nowlin SET Dana Ochsner NCSD 4.0+Dylan O’Connell Windy City WP Neal O’Hara Regency WP 4.0+Isaak Olson La Mirada Armada 4.0+Andrew Pansick St. Mark’s Lions 4.0+Justin Parsons Coronado Aquatics Lauren Peachey SHYWA 4.0+Julia Penkal SHYWA 4.0+Tucker Pettis SET 4.0+Makena Pezzuto Oakland WP 4.0+Scott Platshon Stanford WP Alexander Popof LAWPC 4.0+Shannon Purcell Diablo WP 4.0+David Purington Foothill Brenden Rafeld Sacramento WP 4.0+Amanda Redfern Santa Barbara WPF 4.0+Andrew Reego Granite Bay WP Trevor Reitz Florida Coast WP 4.0+Shelby Re4.0+ Florida Coast WP 4.0+William Rhodes Clovis WP Andrew Roberts Raider WP 4.0+

Name Club: 4.0 + StudentCarlyn Robertson LAWPC 4.0+Rebecca Robinson Kingfish WP 4.0+Bernie Rogers San Diego Shores Cray Rogers Chehelam Will Roller De Anza Michael Rooney West Suburban 4.0+Lexie Ross SET 4.0+Paul Rudolph Stanford WP Jack Ruth Kingfish WP 4.0+Courtney Sandlin NorCal 4.0+Nicholas Santala Orange County WPC Alexandra Santiago Stanford WP Jordan Schafer Valley Splash Aquatics Matthew Schechter Shore Aquatics Garret Schoeman CHAWP Sakara Seng Modesto/Stanislaus 4.0+Dean Serure Raider WP Maxine Sharf Diablo WP 4.0+Nicholas Shariat Trojan WPC 4.0+Breanna Sheldon SOCAL 4.0+Jeremy Shin Oahu WP 4.0+Sarah Shin La Mirada Armada 4.0+Eileen Shiuan Lamorinda WP 4.0+Alison Silver Stanford WP Dennis Smiley CBU Lancers 4.0+Cooper Smith Placer Hills 4.0+Scott Snyder VC Premier 4.0+Saranna Soroka LAWPC 4.0+Jessica Stansfield SOCAL Hannah Stephens Nordic WP Jennifer Stiefel SET Kelsey Suggs SET 4.0+Lyndsay Sutterly Modesto/Stanislaus 4.0+Jamie Swartz San Diego Shores Scott Swartz Solo Aquatics 4.0+Christopher Takahashi LAWPC 4.0+Matthew Tanner NSD Stars Hannah Thayer Houston WPC Connor Thelen Rockford Aquatics Lindsay Thompson Kingfish WP Billy Tifft San Diego Shores 4.0+David Tomajan Clovis WP 4.0+Austin Trinkle Los Alamitos WPC 4.0+Demian Tshirn San Diego Shores 4.0+Jennifer Turner Greenwich WP 4.0+Daniel Tyner Shore Aquatics Jamie Tyrrell Granite Bay WP Julianne Valdes Riptides 4.0+Daniel Valella St. Mark’s Lions 4.0+David Van Schooten La Mirada Armada 4.0+Alexandria Varshawsky LAWPC Nicole Vasco SET John Verlinich Pacific NW United Chad Viergever Sacramento WP 4.0+Connor Virjee Trojan WPC 4.0+Ericka Von Kaeppler Stanford WP 4.0+Craig Walters Santa Barbara WPF Aaron Wayne 680 Drivers 4.0+Jillian Weigel Saint Andrews Natalie Weil Golden State Timothy Wenzlau Stanford WP 4.0+Elaine West American River WP 4.0+Brittany Westerman Stanford WP Erica White Diablo WP John Wilkins LAWPC Jamie Williams Shore Aquatics 4.0+Garrett Womack CHAWP 4.0+Kate Woods Windansea 4.0+Riane Woods NCSD 4.0+Tyler Woods Windansea 4.0+Sabina Woodward 680 Drivers 4.0+Bobby Woolweaver Houston WPC 4.0+Eric Wright Solo Aquatics 4.0+Cameron Zeller Napa WP 4.0+Evan Zepfel Orange County WPC 4.0+Kevin Zepfel SET 4.0+Sarah Zuziak SET 4.0+

USA W

ATER

POLO

6

WoMen’s youth national teaMThe USA Women’s Youth National Team’s first loss at the Junior Pan

American Games proved to be its most costly as the squad fell to Canada 13-7 in the Gold medal game. The girls played up a division for the entire tournament but then ran into an experienced Canadian team that erased an early USA lead and systematically built their advantage over the remaining quarters. Team USA jumped out to an early 2-0 lead but that was quickly answered by two scores from Canada and the game was tied at 2-2 after the first.

In the second quarter Canada ran off three straight goals to take a 5-2 lead and then expanded to 7-3 by halftime. It was more of the same for Canada in the third and fourth quarters as it continued to keep Team USA at bay, finishing off the game with a 13-7 win. Tiera Schroeder led Team USA with two goals while Ashleigh Johnson went the whole way in the net, halting 12 shots. Despite the loss the team qualified for the 2009 FINA Women’s Junior World Championships as a result of their Silver-medal finish.

Team USA Head Coach Chris Oeding had only positives to say about his group at the conclusion of the tournament. “I’m pleased with the progress and performance of this young team. We accomplished many of the goals we set for this tournament. Although we were un-able to bring home a Gold medal, we successfully qualified for the Junior Worlds, made noticeable improvements as a team, and gained valuable international experience.”

In games heading up to the title match Team USA defeated Brazil 14-4, tied Canada 4-4, and earned victories over Puerto Rico 8-5, Brazil 11-5, and Mexico 9-2.

WoMen’s JunioR national teaMThe Women’s Junior National Team competed in the Global Champion-

ships last summer in two locations, traveling first to Brisbane, Australia, for the Born-in-1990 edition and then hosting the Born-in-1988 event in Los Alamitos, CA.

After an opening day loss it was smooth sailing as Team USA rolled to the crown at the Born-in-’90 Global Championships in Brisbane, Austra-lia. The team picked up a 10-8 win over Australia to claim the title, capping a run of seven straight victories to close out tournament play. Goalkeeper Kate Baldoni was named Most Outstanding Goalkeeper of the series.

The game was tight in the first quarter with each team notching two goals. In the second quarter Team USA asserted its offense, posting three goals and blanking the Aussies. Following halftime, Australia battled back drawing to within 7-6, but then Team USA ripped off three straight goals to lead 10-6 at the end of the third quarter.

Into the fourth Australia tried to put together one more run and closed the gap to 10-8, but it wasn’t enough. Domin-ique Sardo led the team with three goals while they were perfect on man-up opportunities, go-ing 4/4, while Baldoni posted 11 saves.

Throughout their run the team picked up vic-tories against New Zealand, Australia ’91, and Australia ’90.

Final Standings: 1. USA 2. AUS ’’90. 3. AUS ’’91. 4. NZL From there the group returned to the United

States for the Born-in-1988 Global Champion-ships where it was joined by the Women’s Senior

National “B” Team for competition. Playing up an age group, the Junior Team pulled off a tie in its first game of the series against Canada 8-8.

After that it was dealt losses at the hands of American Senior “B” Team, Australia, and Canada. Meanwhile the USA Women’s Senior National “B” Team cruised the competition en route to winning the Championships.

Men’s youth national teaMJason Lynch, USA Men’s Youth National Team head coach, and the play-

ers from the training roster named from the ODP Championships, took part in a training camp at the USA Water Polo National Training Center in Los Alamitos, CA, from Monday, June 23 through Thursday, June 26.

The team then welcomed a mixed squad of Australian players born in 1992 and 1993 for training, then proceeded to Northern California for competition in the U.S. Club Championships. There the Australian squad played in the 18U division while several members of the USA Youth team broke off to play with their own clubs in competition. The remaining ath-letes played for Team USA.

Without any scheduled competitions available for the U.S. Youth Team this summer, the Club Championships were the best available venue for the group to play some quality games. The Club Championships have served as a replacement for the discontinued National Age Group Champi-onships and were a good opportunity and experience for the group as they continue to prepare for any potential competitions later this year.

The Youth Team’s inclusion along with Australia in the Club Champi-onships was aided in large part by other clubs that helped donate money to offset the cost of travel from Los Alamitos to Northern California, along with all the other expenses that go along with team travel.

For more information on the Club Championships, visit www.usclubchampionships.com.

Men’s JunioR national teaMAfter several games where the outcome was decided before halftime,

the USA Men’s Junior National Team ran into some serious competition in the Gold medal match at the 2008 Junior Pan American Games—in the form of Canada. On this night Team USA was the vic-tor with a 13-12 nailbiting win and its members were the Gold medal recipients for the third straight time under Head Coach Doug Peabody. Nick Hoversten was the man of the hour, scoring the winning goal with just 21 seconds remaining to break a 12-12 tie. From there Jessie Gillespie made a steal to snuff out Canada’s last chance.

If Hoversten was the man of the hour, then Griffin White was the man of the week as he continued to pile up goals at a ridiculous pace. In this contest White scored all five of his goals in the second half to keep Team USA in the mix. Canada started off early with the advantage, lead-ing 2-1 after the first quarter, but Team USA came back with five goals in the second quarter and led 6-5 at intermission. In the third quarter the teams were even at four goals apiece, and the score was 10-9 in favor of the Americans.

The final quarter saw the Canadians go up 12-11 with just 2:41 remain-ing, but the United States roared back to tie the game and then went ahead on Hoversten’s tally following a drawn exclusion by White. White led the tournament in scoring with a hefty 27 goals: “I’m happy that I was able to contribute when the team needed me. Our team showed a lot of heart the last two games to overcome some adversity and win a championship,” White said. “This has been a great experience.”

“The effort these boys put out over the last two nights was incredible,” Peabody said. “I couldn’t be more proud of these young men.” The team was stellar in the 6x5 game, going 5/7 and finished the tournament with a perfect 6-0 record.

MEN’S & WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAMSNational Team Update

Photo courtesy of Dan Klatt

Photo courtesy of Kyle Utsum

i

9usawaterpolo.org

Olympic Squads Find Silver Lining In Greatest Combined Finish Ever

by Greg Mescall

US Olympic Teams celebrate in Beijing

Head Coach Terry Schroeder and the men’s water polo team entered the Olym-pics admittedly as underdogs. They carried a ninth-place ranking into the Games along with a history of not finishing better than sixth in any of the last three games. Then all they did was become one of the feel good stories of the Olympics, staging an improb-able run that left no doubt: Men’s water polo in the United States is back.

After the winning their group com-petition with a 4-1 record, momen-tum started to build as the U.S. men claimed victories over Germany and number-one ranked Croatia, which clinched them a bye into the semi-finals. Then there was the magical win against Serbia—a team the U.S.

men hadn’t defeated in long time—and it was on to the Gold Medal

match. With no worse than a Silver medal secured, the men’s team had completed their journey ‘back to the podium’ a mantra that was hatched following the 2004 games and be-

came a calling card after each big win in 2008.

While the Gold medal game didn’t go as in-

tended—Hungary, a perennial world pow-

er, triumphed—the leaps and bounds the U.S. men had taken won’t soon be for-gotten. Veterans Tony Azevedo and Ryan Bailey (both of Long Beach, CA) anchored a squad that did what many outside the United States believed im-possible. The world rankings will reset

following Beijing, and it will show the U.S.

men among the elite, something that hasn’t

been the case since the early 1990s.

“I think it’s huge for USA Wa-ter Polo,” said coach Schroeder,

“As the weeks and the months go on, they’re going to realize what a huge ac-

complishment this is. They bested some great teams along the way to get here.”

“We brought some honor back to USA Water Polo,” said Jeff Powers, “so it was a great feeling that we did all that.”.

For the women’s team, a trip to the medal round was expected, as they came into the Beijing games holding the number-one ranking in the world and had a resume showing two Olympic medals thus far. Silver medalists in Sydney and Bronze medalists in Athens, this squad had its sights set on completing a medal trifecta with Gold in Beijing.

Xxxxxxxx

Merrill Moses

Jesse Smith

USA Fans turned out in force in China

Peter Hudnut

8

The 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China, will easily go down as the most successful ever in the history of USA Water Polo. From the women’s team earning its second silver medal and third overall medal in the last three Olympics to the men’s team defying the odds and returning to the medal platform for the first time in 20 years, it certainly will be a summer to remember.

All Olympic Photos courtesy of US Pressswire

> > >

10 11usawaterpolo.org

As it often did many times before, the team methodically worked its way through the tournament, ticking off one step after the next. First it was beating a fast improv-ing Chinese team to open the Games. Then it was claiming their group competition, having not lost a game. From there it was a bye and on to the semi-finals where arch-rival Australia was waiting. This was the third-straight Olympics in which these countries met.

The U.S. women were victorious and advanced to the Gold medal game where an upstart Netherlands took an early lead. But the U.S. women staged a dramatic rally, erasing the deficit, yet the Netherlands eventually emerged victorious. It’s a sign of dominance when an Olympic medal creates tears of sadness; but while the goal of Gold wasn’t realized, the accomplishments of the women’s team won’t soon be

overlooked.

“We’ve come out on top on some of those [games], it just didn’t happen to be at the Olympics,” said team captain Brenda Vil-la. “You can’t pick and choose which times you do come out on top. If we could, we’d have three Gold medals.”

Led by three-time Olympians Villa (Com-merce, CA) and Heather Petri (Orinda, CA),

the U.S. women became the first squad to medal in all three Olympic games

featuring women’s water polo. Head coach Guy Baker has presided over one of the most dominating runs for women’s water polo over the last eight-plus years, and with 10 first-time Olympians on the roster, the future looks very bright for this group.

While water polo is a na-tional sport in some Euro-pean nations, the 2008 Olympic games may have shown the U.S. as the most complete nation in water polo worldwide. Out of the few countries that even managed to boast of their men’s and women’s teams qualifying for the games, no country finished with men’s

and women’s medals except the United States. Add to this

Gold and Silver this summer at the Junior Pan American Games

for the USA Men’s Junior and Women’s Youth National teams,

and American water polo surely seems in a good spot.

With hopes that the success of all these groups can continue for years to

come, it may very well be the 2008 Sumer Olympics in Beijing, China, that are refer-enced as the kick-start competition that launched excellence within every facet of U.S. water polo.

Do you need an earache solution that works as

hard as you do? Hyland’s Earache Drops relieve

the pain, congestion, inflammation and irritability

of swimmer’s ear, commonly associated with

water sports.

So, come on! Get back in the game with Hyland’s Earache Drops.

Don’t be kept out of the water this summer!

hylands.com | 800 624 9659

Read and follow all label instructions

Relieves ear pain fast so you aren’t left on the sidelines.

OFFICIAL EAR DROPS OF USA

WATER POLO

Clockwise – Head Coach Guy Baker, Lauren Wenger, Betsey Armstrong and Alison Gregorka, Brenda Villa, and Heather Petri

USA Water Polo’s Silver Medal Winning Squads

12 13usawaterpolo.org

The 2008 S&R Sport Junior Olym-pics—the world’s largest water polo tournament—was at its big-gest ever this August with the addi-tion of another flight of action. The 2008 edition in Irvine, CA, saw clubs split into Gold and Platinum flights after the first day. In addition there was a 10-and-under coed division, making this year’s JOs perhaps the most complete ever.

“On behalf of the host, Irvine Youth Water Polo Corporation, and as the tournament director for the 2008 USA Water Polo National Junior Olympics,” said Nick Baba of Irvine Water Polo, “I would like to thank wholeheartedly the venue hosts, staff, vol-unteers, sponsors, vendors, coaches, par-ents, athletes, and USA Water Polo for an enriching and memorable experience.”

The boys kicked things off and their tour-ney was four days of play that won’t soon be forgotten. An earthquake originating in Chino, CA that registered a 5.8 on the Richter Scale made Championship Tuesday one for the history books. Once the bleach-ers and pools were tremble free the action resumed at the Woollett Aquatic Center and by nightfall champions were crowned in four different age groups in both the Gold and Platinum Flights.

The Gold medal game in the 18U Plati-num flight featured a jam-packed section of bleachers as SoCal Black pulled off a

10-8 victory over San Diego Shores A. So-Cal came back from a deficit at the midway point to overtake the Shores and the game. In the third-place game, Stanford Red downed Lamorinda in a nailbiter, 6-5. The 18U Gold flight saw the Miami Whitecaps defeat United 10-2, while Clovis nipped Los Angeles Water Polo Club Red in the Bronze medal game, 5-4.

The 16U Platinum flight’s Gold medal match was a low-scoring affair with Stan-ford Red holding off Santa Barbara, 2-1. Prior to that contest, the Trojans marched to victory with a convincing 8-1 win over Lamorinda. In the 16U Gold flight, the CBU Lancers did the job against Newport, win-ning 7-5 to take the Gold medal. In the Bronze medal game, Riverside took out the Titans, 13-6.

The 14U age group had its share of close games in the Platinum flight. For the Gold medal game, SET defeated SoCal, 7-4, while Laguna Beach edged LAWPC Red, 7-6, in the Bronze medal game. In the 14U Gold flight, Stanford Red defeated the CBU Lanc-ers, 7-5, for the Gold medal. That was pre-ceded by South Coast defeating Commerce, 12-8, to take the Bronze.

In the 12U Platinum flight, United was vic-torious over SoCal, 11-4, to take the Gold medal. In the Bronze medal game, San Di-ego Shores defeated Shore, 8-5. In the 12U Gold flight, Rose Bowl took top billing over 680 Drivers with a 10-2 victory, claiming the Gold. In the Bronze medal match, New-port defeated the Titans, 13-11.

It was Championship Sunday in the girls division with titles being awarded in five different age groups in both the Platinum and Gold flights. The day got started with the newest addition to the Junior Olympics, the 10-and-under co-ed division. In the Gold flight it was the Titans defeating OC, 13-6, to claim the Gold medal while Foothill up-ended the CBU Lancers, 15-5, in the Bronze medal contest. In the 10U coed Platinum flight, San Diego Shores pulled away from Huntington Beach, 12-8, to earn the Gold

Biggest Junior olympics ever Concludes; Passes With Flying Colors

12> > > on page 14

13usawaterpolo.org

18U Platinum flight 1st Place So Cal Black

14U Platinum Flight 1st Place SET

12U Gold Flight 1st Place Newport

18U Gold Flight 1st Place Miami Whitecaps

12U Gold Flight 1st Place Rosebowl

12U Platinum Flight 1st Place CBU Lancers

16U Platinum Flight 1st Place Stanford Red

12U Platinum Flight 1st Place United

14U Gold Flight 1st Place Los Alamitos

16U Gold Flight 1st Place CBU Lancers 10U Co-ed Gold Flight 1st Place Titans 14U Platinum Flight 1st Place Commerce Black

14U Gold Flight 1st Place Stanford Red

10U Co-ed Platinum Flight 1st Place San Diego Shores 16U Gold Flight 1st Place Greenwich

All team

Photos courtesy of MAC Photo D

esign

BOYS18U Platinum FlightGold – SoCal BlackSilver – San Diego ShoresBronze – Stanford Red

16UGold – Stanford RedSilver – Santa BarbaraBronze – Trojan

14UGold – SETSilver – SoCalBronze – Laguna Beach

12UGold – UnitedSilver – SoCalBronze – San Diego Shores

18U Gold FlightGold – Miami WhitecapsSilver – UnitedBronze – Clovis

16UGold – CBU LancersSilver – NewportBronze – Riverside

14UGold – Stanford RedSilver – CBU LancersBronze – South Coast

12UGold – Rose BowlSilver – 680 DriversBronze – Newport

10U – CO-ED Platinum FlightGold – San Diego ShoresSilver – Huntington BeachBronze – Vegas/Henderson

10U – CO-ED Gold FlightGold – TitansSilver – OCBronze - Foothill

GIRLS12U Platinum FlightGold – CBU LancersSilver – Santa BarbaraBronze – Commerce

14UGold – Commerce BlackSilver – Santa BarbaraBronze – Laguna Beach

16UGold – DiabloSilver – Santa BarbaraBronze – Los Angeles Water Polo Red

18UGold – CHAWP WhiteSilver – Los Angeles Water Polo RedBronze – Santa Barbara

12U Gold FlightGold – NewportSilver – COLABronze – San Diego Shores

14UGold – Los AlamitosSilver – NavyBronze – Foothill

16UGold – GreenwichSilver – Los Angeles Water Polo WhiteBronze – Stanford Red

18UGold – Stanford WhiteSilver – CoronadoBronze – Florida Coast

14

medal. Prior to that, Team Vegas/Hender-son edged Laguna Beach, 7-6, to take home the Bronze medal.

Moving on to the 12U Gold flight, New-port downed Cola, 11-9, to win the Gold medal and San Diego Shores knocked off Los Angeles Water Polo Club, 12-5, to win the Bronze. In the 12U Platinum flight, CBU Lancers just got past Santa Barbara, squeaking out a 9-8 victory, while Com-merce topped Elite, 9-6, earning the Bronze medal.

In the 14U Gold flight, Los Alamitos was a goal better than Navy, 6-5, to take the Gold m. Not far behind was Foothill, which bested SJA, 9-7, for the Bronze medal. In the Platinum flight, it was as close as can

be, as both Gold and Bronze medal winners resorted to shootouts to decide the win-ners. In the Gold medal game, Commerce Black edged Santa Barbara, 8-7, while La-guna Beach slid past SoCal Black, 3-2.

In the 16U Gold flight, Greenwich topped Los Angeles Water Polo White, 4-2, for the Gold medal while Stanford Red downed Cola, 8-6, for the Bronze medal. In the Platinum flight, Diablo and Santa Barbara battled to the end with Diablo eeking out an 8-7 vic-tory. As for the Bronze medal, Los Angeles Water Polo was three goals better than CHAWP White, 9-6.

Finally on the senior circuit (18U level), the Gold flight finals pitted Stanford White against Coronado with Stanford prevailing,

6-5. In the Bronze medal game, Florida Coast topped Riptides, 5-3, in an all-Florida battle. In the Platinum flight, the Gold medal Game featured CHAWP against Los Ange-les Water Polo Club, with CHAWP pulling away early in the second half to grab the win, 7-4. In the Bronze medal game, the Santa Barbara fought past Commerce, 6-5.

Between earthquakes, shootouts, one-goal nailbiters, and some amazing water polo, the 2008 S&R Sport Junior Olympics was one for the history books. “We sincere-ly hope that everyone involved will treasure their experiences at this year’s event for years to come,” concluded Baba.

16U Platinum Flight 1st Place Diablo

18U Gold Flight 1st Place Stanford White

18U Platinum Flight 1st Place CHAWP

SPORTRS&

SPORTRS&

SPORTRS&

SPORTRS&

CHECK OUT OUR LATEST SPECIALS AT

SALESALE

WIRELESS PRO-ELITE SYSTEM

SPORTRS&

SPORTRS&

SPORTRS&

SPORTRS&

PRINTPOLO SUIT

No Matter The Age, Masters Championships A Great Time For All

16

by Andy Burke with Greg Mescall

Both the men’s and women’s Mas-ters Nationals competition contin-ues to grow, and the 2008 action in Northern California was no excep-tion. There were 23 women’s entries (seven teams in 20+, five teams in 30+, seven teams in 40+, and four teams in 50+). On the men’s side, there were 43 teams in the compe-tition (12 in 20+, eight in 30+, six in 40+, four in 45+, five in 50+, six in 55+, and two in 60+). This continued growth bodes well for the sport and the spirit of the Master’s Nationals.

Women’s 20+: With seven teams entered, this bracket was played in two groups, followed by cross-overs to determine first to fourth paces. In the semis Old Mission Bay defeated The Olympic Club, 8-4, while the Grayhairs de-feated the New York AC, 7-4, to advance to the finals. Later New York AC defeated The Olympic Club, 7-4, for third place, and the Grayhairs defeated Old Mission Bay, 3-1, to settle first and second place, respectively.

Women’s 30+: With five teams entered, this bracket was played as a round robin. The Olympic Club women emerged victorious, winning all their games and defeating second-seeded Old Mission Bay, 8-3, in the final match. The final placing: 1. The Olympic Club; 2. Old Mission Bay; 3. Sunset; 4. Peninsula AC; 5. Menlo Mavens.

Women’s 40+: With seven teams entered, this bracket was played in two groups followed by crossovers to determine first to fourth places. In the semis, Soda Moms defeat-ed Calgary Splash, 11-8, while the Fighting Flamingos defeated the Grayhairs, 10-1. In the finals, the Fighting Flamingos de-feated the Soda Moms, 11-6, for first and second place finishes, respectively, and Calgary Splash defeated the Grayhairs, 7-3, for third and fourth place finishes, respectively.

Women’s 50+: With 4 teams entered, this bracket was played as a round robin, and then the teams were re-ranked before playing crossovers to determine final placing. In the semis, Menlo Mavens defeated Soda Moms, 10-7, and the Fighting Flamingos defeated Peninsula AC, 12-4. In the finals the Fighting Flamingos defeated Menlo Mavens, 13-3, for first and second place finishes, respectively, and Peninsula AC defeated Soda Moms, 13-10, for third- and fourth-place finishes, respectively.

Men’s 20+: With 12 teams entere, this bracket was played according to a normal schedule with four groups of three teams each. The top seeds were: 1. Sharks, 2. The Olym-pic Club, 3. Sunset, and 4. Concord. The final results had the Olympic Club defeat-ing Sharks, 7-5, for first place, and Con-cord defeating West Valley, 9-6, for third place.

Men’s 30+: With eight teams entered, this bracket was played in two groups of four teams each. The top seeds were Sunset, the Olympic Club, Bay Area Masters, and Bur-lingame. The Olympic Club took first place over Bay Area Masters, 6-3, and North Irvine Sting took third place over Burl-ingame, 9-8. As a side note, the Olympic Club won the FINA World Masters Cham-pionship in Perth, Australia, last April, with a big assist from fellow Americans, Newport, which defeated a Russian team that had downed the Olympic Club team previously.

Men’s 40+: With six teams, this bracket was played in two groups of three teams each. The top seeds were the Olympic Club, Sunset, Central Valley, and Seattle. The Olympic Club defeated Bay Area Masters for first place, 8-4, and Sunset defeated Seattle, 9-4, for third place. This Olympic Club had also been at the World Masters, finishing in third place.

The Oakland Grayhairs 40+ squad huddles before a match

The Oakland Grayhairs 20+

The Oakland Grayhairs 40+

Photo courtesy of Simone La Pay

Photo courtesy of Simone La Pay

Photo courtesy of Simone La Pay

Photo courtesy of George Stransky and M

atthew D

ean

Photo courtesy of George Stransky and M

atthew D

eanPhoto courtesy of G

eorge Stransky and Matthew

Dean

Photo courtesy of George Stransky and M

atthew D

ean

17usawaterpolo.org

Men’s 45+: With four teams, this bracket was played as a round-robin. The top seeds were the Olympic Club and KAOS Bulmanians. When the water stopped churning, the Olympic Club defeated KAOS Bulmanians, 7-2, for first place, and KAOS Blasters defeated the Pittsburgh Renegades, 7-5, for third place. This Olympic Club squad also par-ticipated in the World Masters, finishing in second place.

Men’s 50+: With five teams, this bracket was played as a round-robin. The top seeds were KAOS Centurians and Santa Barbara, with the Centurians defeating Santa Barbara, 12-5, for first place and Tri-Valley defeat-ing Lobo’s 50, 11-4, for third place.

Men’s 55+: This bracket featured three teams, so the format was a double round-robin. Af-ter the first round the teams were re-or-dered, and they played the second round in that order. Tri-Valley Gold won this double round robin, with Old Mission Bay coming in second, and Tri-Valley Spartan in third.

Men’s 60+: There were only two 2 teams entered in this bracketage group, with many of the players also clocking in double duty on-playing in the 55+ age group. This group was won by Tri-Valley Spartans triumphed over Tri-Valley, (8-5).

The competition was well run, and the fa-cilities were outstanding. Friday night’s social ranked up there with the “all-time” socials previously held. It was a tremen-dous event that hopefully will grow every year. In addition, hopefully there’s growth within each age group in each gender so the high level of championship play is main-tained along with the fun.

Newcomers Joins The Winners Circle At National ChampionshipsThe National Championships were once again a great success in 2008 as they made their way to Moraga, CA, and the SODA Aquatic Center at Campolindo High School.

First up was the Men’s 20U National Champion-ships held from July 11 to 13. Stanford took the title this year, defeating Santa Barbara, 7-2, in the championship game. 2007 Champion Lamorinda took third place, defeating San Diego Shores, 7-6. Davis grabbed fifth place, sixth went to the CBU Lancers, Shore Aquatics took seventh, and Princeton eighth. Diablo grabbed ninth with a 13-6 victory over 680 Drivers, and SET came in 11th place.

The Women’s 20U Championships were held from July 22 to 24. SET came away the winner this year after a closely contested 6-5 victory over Diablo. In the third place game it was another one-goal nailbiter with San Jose Splash edging Santa Barbara, 6-5. Defending-champion Stanford took sixth place, falling to Commerce, 10-8. American River nipped SOCAL, 13-12, for seventh place. The rest of the standings:

9. Chawp White 10. LAWPC 11. El Rancho 12. Chawp Blue 13. Newport 14. Stanford White 15. Houston 16. Carlsbad 17. Marin 18. Pacific 19. Greenwich 20. Diablo B

Next was the Women’s Open National Cham-pionships held from July 25 to 27. Bruin was the top finisher this year with an 8-4 victory over Diablo. This ended NYAC’s chances at a repeat as it grabbed fourth place after falling to Stanford, 6-5. Santa Barbara edged SET, 9-8, for fifth place, and Davis snagged seventh place after defeating Ameri-can River, 13-11. The rest of the standings:

The rest of the standings: were as follows.

9. San Jose Splash 10. San Diego Shores 11. Chawp 12. Stanford White 13. El Rancho 14. Sun Devil 15. Houston 16. NYAC “B”

The Men’s National Championships saw the New York Athletic Club triumph again—the squad was the lone repeat champion, as it won Nationals in Moraga in the summer of 2007. This year it de-feated Lamorinda, 11-7. In the third-place match-up, Stanford just edged Trojan, 8-7. As for the rest of the top eight, fifth place went to Waves, sixth to Santa Barbara, seventh to the Olympic Club, and eighth to Davis.

Tri-Valley had a strong showing once again in 2008

2004 Olympian Genai Kerr led a younger team into action at this year’s Masters

18

In The CLUBAmerican River Water Polo Club by Greg Mescall

The best success story of starting a water polo club in the last decade may very well originate from the Sacramento area of Northern Califor-nia. In 2001 Rafael Ruano and Mark Skvarla started the American River Water Polo Club as an alternative to school-affiliated clubs in the area. What began as 40 high school-age ath-letes and about 15 youth age group players has mushroomed into one of the largest clubs in the United States with some 660 athletes competing in at least one facet of the club.

What’s interesting about a club like American River is that it started up and immediately be-came competitive. Granted it was filling a need for the area, but there’s something to be said for coming out of the gate with qualifiers for the Ju-nior Olympics and keeping it up year after year. In 2008 the club sent 12 teams in eight different divisions for the S&R Sport Junior Olympics

While being successful on the scoreboard is great news for the club, it’s become the prototype for development as it supports age groups from

American River has given water polo playing opportunity to children all over Sacramento, CA

8U noodle ballers to senior national team-age players. In addition it brought the game to the players, in a sense. Some clubs struggle with only a few facilities and travel issues for athletes, but American River uses six pools in five different Sacramento re-gions—meaning area folk are generally not traveling too far to practice.

That become’s a huge incentive to growing

members and starting the kids younger and younger. “We realized that it was difficult to convince families to sign up young children for a water polo program if they had to drive more than five to 10 minutes to get them to practices,” says American River Director Rafael Ruano. “By running programs in multiple neighborhoods, we’ve been able to grow our youth programs tremendously and have also instituted regional programs for our high school athletes as well.”

More than 20 coaches mentor the many age levels of Ruano’s club with some of the senior staff, including his wife—former Senior National Team athlete Rachel Ruano—who heads up the 18U, 20U, and Open division. Zac Koerner pilots the 18U Boys and is the Head Men’s Coach, while 2007 Top 40 Coach Chris Borasi leads the 16U girls and is the Senior Women’s Coach. Mark Jordan is in charge of the 14U boys, and Jenny Stephanopoulos heads up the 14U girls.

How the club develops in an ultimate sense most likely depends on where the players go when they’re done with American River. While many have stopped playing after the 18U age group, a large number have gone on to play collegiately. In the last five years more than 50 American River alumni played college water polo. Women of Troy Whitney Morgan and Kristen Dronberger came through the Ameri-can River program while coaches Lauren Brun-ner and Claire Buchanan play at Princeton and UC-Santa Barbara respectively.

Hopes are high for continued growth and more homegrown college players; with a five-year plan in place, there’s no reason to think it can’t happen. Among the things already ac-complished by Ruano is the overall look and feel

of the club. “We’ve spent a lot of time, energy, and money developing a professional face to our club—a Web site, logo, letterhead, and the like—that leaves an impression on a parent and makes them feel good about entrusting their kid with us,” he said.

Beyond that American River hopes among other things to become the premier youth orga-nization in the Sacramento area, remain com-petitive in all age groups and genders, as well as grow the sport of water polo. Perhaps the club’s loftiest goal is obtaining a water polo-specific facility to serve as the club’s home base.

These may seem like pipe dreams, but you have to wonder considering all that American River has accomplished thus far. Why should anything be in doubt? For more information visit www.arwpc.com.

The youngest of the American River club, the noodle ballers learn the basics of water polo with a little help

Photo courtesy of Rafael RuanoPhoto courtesy of Rafael Ruano

Photo courtesy of Rafael Ruano

For Real?In a statistical oddity, American River fielded a Girls 16U squad with two and a half sets of twins on it—the one missing sibling played on another 16U squad for American River. Talk about the importance of cap numbers!

20usawaterpolo.org

In order to get into the magazine, we need high-quality digital photos (jpegs of 300 dpi or better) so that your brilliance is brought to life on our glossy pages. So send in your masterpieces. Email all photos to: hotshots@usawaterpolo.org. There is no assurance that your photos will run in USA Skip Shot Magazine. Editorial decisions are made by the maga-zine staff. Once we receive your photos, they become property of USA Water Polo and may be used for print or publication.

Welcome to Skip Shot Magazine’s Hot Shots page, featuring shots from your fingertips. The person who submits each issue’s best HOT SHOT will receive a free Mikasa men’s or women’s water polo ball. For more information on Mikasa visit www.MikasaSports.com.

This issue’s winner is Daniel Verdugo >>>>>>>

Honorable mention to the remaining photo submissions.

Counter clockwise from the left: Jolly Hanson Bottom left: Valerie Brunmeier Bottom right: Jolly Hanson

20

Xxxxxxxxxx

1 > Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Strip My Mind” —“The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been

a favorite of mine for as long as I can remember. “Strip My Mind” is great - It leaves me with a pretty calm composure before games.”

2 > Kanye West – “Touch the Sky”—“This song is one of my favorites because it, essentially, says it all in the title. Basically you have to reach for the sky; in whatever it is you do - for me, it’s water polo and academics.”

3 > Guns n’ Roses–”Welcome to the Jungle”—“This song has always been one of my favorites... It’s a classic.”

4 > Jack Johnson –”Go On”—“I like most all of Jack Johnson’s songs, so I pretty much just picked one of them at random to throw on my top 5. One thing I did learn, is that his music is great for late night flights -- definitely relaxing.”

5 > Notorious B.I.G. –”Big Papa”— “For anyone who has seen the movie, “Hardball” ...ever since I saw this movie I’ve listened to “Big Papa” before games to sort of get me pumped up and focused... this tradition started back when I played little league baseball, before I knew what the words water polo meant.”

Jesse Gillespie, USA Men’S JUnior nAtionAl teAM

5 METERS: Quick Shots From USA Water Polo

For those not in the know, what exactly is beach water polo, and where did it get started?

Beach water polo was invented in the 1990s, and it was an outlet of professional water polo started in the ports of Naples, Italy. The

people there wanted to present a new sport, and it was like an offspring of beach volleyball. People always did it in the summer in Europe; in many places there are always these little courses in the water, and they play polo for fun like we play bas-ketball here in the United States. A referee goes out on a boat and everyone just has fun, and these guys play all day long.

Beach polo also gave some teams an outlet to play during the summer, then they said, “Hey, let’s make it a professional sport.” The whole idea is to enhance the game, make it a little more spectacular in the Adriatic, the Mediterranean, even in the choppy waters; it was something they could provide for just people on the beach, encourage little kids to play without hav-ing to go to a pool. Then it’s like, “If I= like this sport, I might play some more.” Everything was done to attract interest.

For example, the Croatian Federation has allotted a portion of its budget, through all the cities in Croatia installing courses and goals that don’t have them, so they inspire young kids who’re getting in the water, “Here’s a ball—let’s go play!”

As for as rules go, they differ somewhat depending on where you play, but in our game it’s 3-on-3 with a much shorter course. Exclusions are as fast as you can make it to the corner and back, so a player advantage isn’t nearly as long as in regu-lar water polo. Also the ball is smaller, as are the cages. The first one to five goals wins, and it’s scored like tennis, as it’s played in sets, and it can be a very physical game, much like regular water polo.

They decided to do beach polo in all categories, and they made it a professional outlet—I just wanted to introduce the sport to our city and have the kids realize that 3-on-3 just encourages play. It’s an interesting sport—smaller ball, smaller numbers, smaller cage, the rules are different. It really is a players’ game, as opposed to 6-on-6 where, if one individual makes a dynamic move, you can have help; but if the athlete is really gifted, he’s going to be one on one. If he gets an exclusion, it’s hard to help an automatic 3-2.

This summer in Long Beach your club put on a beach water polo tournament; how was that set up, and how did it turn out?

We entered the Long Beach Sea Festival. We tried to get with the city to not only bring enthusiasm there, but to show them our sport and create interest. So we put on all age and gender categories, we had a few club teams join us— 16U boys, girls, etc.—and then we invited LBPD v. LBFD/lifeguard for an exhi-bition match, and we just tried to get the whole city involved. It went over really well; everyone is happy. Right now at Wilson High School the fire department is trying to rent the pool once a month so they can be better prepared for their next game. It did what we wanted: To show them how exciting the sport is, increase memberships, and increase interest in water polo.

With this sport being played at the beach, do you feel it might attract some non-water polo players, such as surfers or regular beachgoers?

Sure. The hard thing on the coast is surfing area; you have to find places where there aren’t a lot of waves. The bays in Long beach and Santa Barbara are ideal. As for surfers, a lot of them play water polo. In fact, the water polo stroke is like a surfing stroke. Surfers are athletes. If we could attract more people, such as surfers, that would be great.

What is up next for beach water polo?

The plans for next year include a major masters event, a two-day tournament with three courses in Long Beach. We’d like to get a men’s and women’s open division with a cash prize. We want to get sponsors, and going forward we want to one day have an international event in which Italians and Russians come over. We could have a series Americans qualify for and make it a cash tournament—you’d get a high-level game going that way. We definitely would like to see everyone from the 18 and unders on down to the 10-year-old age group, and there would be little prizes for them. We’d definitely like this to grow and grow.

I know you can have a pretty good time with the masters crowd from Masters Nationals alone, and we just want to keep the momentum going and host this next year and have USA water polo involved and get the interest in water polo grow-ing. Maybe in the long run we could create something new for everyone and have a circuit in the summer. Maybe even college teams could get involved and do a tour of some kind.

Finally, why did you decide to bring beach water polo to Long Beach?

I wanted to create something that very fun for me when I was in Europe and something that could be great for the kids and people of Long Beach. As I said we want it to grow and be stron-ger and have a good time with it. You start little by little and maybe it turns out to be something where people want to do it in another city and continue this development of beach water polo in a different sort of venue. I think all that stuff encourages membership as well and can only make things better for USA Water Polo.

Note: Other USA Water Polo Olympians such as Wolf Wigo and Brad Schumacher have also taken up Beach Water Polo in their respective areas. For more informa-tion check out www.usabeachwaterpolo.com

with... Robert Lynn U.S. Olympic Men’s Water Polo Assistant Coach, Robert Lynn took some time to talk with Skip Shot Magazine about beach water polo. Coach Lynn is also the president of Shore Aquatics and , a 2000 Olympian who helped get the sport off the ground in Long Beach, California this past summer.

21usawaterpolo.org

USA W

ATER

POLO

USA Water Polo Director of Olympic Develop-ment Guy Baker will be a regular contributor to Skip Shot in the Techniques section. This installment focuses on player development for the 18U age group.

Player Development18 and under

Development of team play

Realization of player potential depends upon their own efforts, the support of teammates, and the guidance of their coach. They must be consistently exposed to a training and competition en-vironment that challenges and broadens their technical, tactical, physical, and psychological capabilities. They must have a sound un-derstanding of the system of play. Players should show emotional stability when confronted with pressure situations. Demanding and challenging training sessions and games are a must.

System

Creating a successful system is very important today—the sys-tem is everything. This would be the time during player development to start implementing a system. The first three parts of player development are crucial to the process of implementing a system. The first three parts are the building blocks for the system. The technical, tactical, physical, and psychological progressions have to be followed so that a player will have the proper foundation for understanding and implementing a system. Water Polo is a team sport that requires all the players to be interdependent. A team can have an individual with the best talent and skills in the world, but if that player doesn’t play within the system, or if that player’s actions are unpredictable or selfish, the system will fail and the team will lose.

But a system isn’t merely tactics. It’s the combination of techni-cal, physical, and psychological standards required to implement the tactical system for defense, counter attack, offense, 6x5, and 5x6. For example: What are the technical, physical, and psycho-logical standards to play a press defense? What are the technical, physical, and psychological standards to attack a zone defense? What are the technical, physical, and psychological standards to create an effective counter attack? What is the best system for the team? What is the team’s level of experience? A system con-nects the defense to the counter attack to the offense and back to the defense. A system connects the offense to the 6x5 and the de-fense to the 5x6. A system connects the center to the perimeter offensive players, the defender to the perimeter defensive players, the goalkeeper to the 5x6 field players…and on and on. A system is created so every player has a role in every situation in the game, and all the players understand not only their responsibilities but also the responsibilities of all the other players.

The coach must be charismatic, experienced, up to date, articu-late, and exude managerial know how—as well as leaving no doubt who’s in charge.

Technical:

�•�All�techniques�practiced�at�game�speed,�demanding�excellence•� �Individual�skills�covered�during�warm�up�and�competitive�

practice situations •� �There�still�has�to�be�a�strong�emphasis�on�the�technical�

component •�Technique�is�everything

Tactical:

Increase tactical speed (game decision making) with increased pressure and competition. Having the ability to change and adapt to game dynamics, flow of the game, clock management, and end-of-game situations.

Individual: The majority of time spent in functional training environments

•�Small�group:�3x3�and�4x4•� �Position:�Players�play�specific�positions;�attacker,�center,�and�de-

fender. Practices should be designed to include specific position training, especially for the goalkeeper and the center.

•�Defense: – A clear understanding of ball, player, area, and center

awareness – A clear understanding of press and zone defenses – A clear understanding of switching from a press defense

to a zone defense•�Counter�Attack: – A clear understanding of the connection between

defense, counter attack, and offense – A clear understanding of primary, secondary, and

transition counter attacks•�Offense: – A clear understanding of how to attack a variety of

defenses – A clear understanding of the importance of possession

and clock management•�6x5: – A clear understanding of how to locate and attack the 3x2 – A clear understanding of how to attack a variety of

defenses•�5x6: – A clear understanding of positional and shot-blocking

responsibilities – A clear understanding of how to defend a variety of 6x5

attacks•�Team: – A clear understanding of team tactics and roles – The ability to execute a game plan

Physical:

•�Conditioning�should�still�take�place�with�and�without�the�ball •�Conditioning�without�the�ball�emphasizing�water�polo�movements� •�Flexibility:�Static�and�dynamic •� Importance�of�warm-up�and�warm-down •�Swim�Training:�Aerobic�and�Anaerobic •�Strength�Training:�Core,�upper-�and�lower-body� •�Nutrition:�Proper�diet�pre-�and�post-game�and�at�tournaments •� Importance�of�rest�and�recovery

Psychological:

•� Increased�concentration •�Leadership�and�player�responsibilities •�Discipline •�Respect�for�the�game •�Establish�pre-practice�and�pre-game�routines •�Goal-setting •�Training�and�competitive�mentality •�Encourage�players�to�watch�college�and�National�Team�games

TECHNIQUESUSA W

ATER

POLO

22

REFerendum WITH JIM CULLINGHAM

5 METERS: (continued)

From�a�referee’s�point�of� view� (as�always):� In�celebration�of�USA�Water�Polo�and�the�Summer�of�2008…

How about the largest, and by many accounts, the most successful National Junior Olympic Championship Tournament ever, followed by�the�fantastic�performances�of�our�USA�National�Teams�at�the�Beijing�Olympics�as�bookmarks�for�the�Summer�of�2008?

Our American referees traveled the world to assist our National Teams in their training and competition and were present in record numbers� domestically� at� a� number� of� USA�Water� Polo�National�Championship events.

More� than�100� referees� from�across� the� nation�were� assigned�to� officiate� the� 2008� S&R� Sport� National� Junior� Olympics� in� Ir-vine,� CA,� the� largest� crew� ever,� whistling� almost� 2,000� games!�A very special thanks to Head Referees Don Holbrook and John Montrella and our outstanding staff of supervising “lead referees”: Gary�Hull,�Doug�Low,�Mike�Reid,�Shawn�McBride,�Dean�Suazo,�and�Jahn�Trutna.�We�couldn’t�have�done�it�without�you!�Thanks�again�to�all�involved,�well�done!

On�the�international�front,�USA�officials�were�present�at�a�number�of events across the globe, increasing the exposure and credibility of American referees worldwide.

Michael Goldenberg and Aaron Chaney were selected by FINA to participate in Olympic Games Qualification Tournaments as neutral referees, quite an honor and achievement for these individuals and for� our� Federation.� Aaron�was� also� assigned,� along�with� Steven�Rotsart,�to�officiate�the�FINA�World�League�Super�Finals,�and�Joe�Peila�and�Danielle�Dabbaghian�were�the�USA�representatives�at�the�Junior Pan American Games.

USA� referees� also� accompanied� our� National� Teams� on� training�trips�and�whistled�some�of� the�best� International�Games�on�U.S.�soil in a long time, including contests with Croatia, Australia, and Canada. Those included, along with those previously mentioned, Steve� Redding,� Amber� Drury,� Hadi� Farid,� Roque� Roque,� Mark�Maretzki,�and�Alex�Stankevitch.�My�thanks�to�all�for�the�role�they�each play in the preparation and training of our National Teams.

And finally, our sincere congratulations to Aaron Chaney, who was selected by FINA to officiate at the Beijing Olympic Games. This was Aaron’s�second�Olympics,�truly�a�fantastic�honor!�

23usawaterpolo.org

> > > on page 24

5 METERS (continued)

Aaron� was� nominated� by� our� Federation� from� a� list� of� USA� International, (FINA), and rated referees, and then appointed by FINA�to�represent�the�Unites�States�at�the�Olympic�Games.�Aaron�has been a fixture on the International Water Polo scene for many years and has done a tremendous job in promoting the positive perception and credibility of American referees worldwide. Again, our thanks and sincere appreciation to Aaron for his contributions to�USA�Water�Polo.

In closing, and as mentioned in this column before, what we’re hoping� to�achieve�here� is�a� forum� for� you,� the�members�of�USA� Water Polo, to get a look at the world of officiating the sport of water�polo�both�in�the�United�States�and�internationally.�

If you have questions about rules, concerns about the game, or any comments, let us know. We would again like to encourage your feedback via email to referendum@usawaterpolo.org. We look forward to your input.

Thanks again for your time.

USA W

ATER

POLO

24

REFerendum (CoNTINUed)

GABRIEL HEIBER – Bucknell University Men’s Water Polo

The Jonas Brothers – Who are the Jonas Brothers???

I-Phones – I dont want one; BlackBerries are much better.

Five Meter Penalties – Always stare-down the goalie.

Pancakes – With whipped cream. No other way.

Shootouts in Water Polo – I have not been in one since I was 13. In any case, sudden death/golden goal is more fair and exciting.

KIRK EVERIST – Head Coach – University of California Golden Bear Water Polo/Olympian ’92 and ‘96

The Jonas Brothers – Way after my time I’m more of a Doobie Brothers guy.

I-Phones – I’ve got the “crackberry” but my wife has the I-phone and the thing is awesome.

Five Meter Penalties – Love em when they’re called for you.

Pancakes – Lot’s of butter and swimming in Real Maple Syrup, add some Bacon, Eggs, the Sunday paper and an NFL game it sounds like the perfect morning.

Shootouts in Water Polo – Fun for the fans but re-ally not a great way to end a game.

RICK MERLO – Driver – U.S. Olympic Men’s Water Polo Team

The Jonas Brothers – Not much of a comment there, don’t really

listen, I’m sure they’re great but not my style

I-Phones – I think they are really cool, but they are not compatible with my phone server, wish I had one

Five Meter Penalties – Definitely add a lot more to the game, a lot harder to score, definitely an uncertainty factor when it gets called, because the goalie is more likely to block it (since change from 4m to 5m)

Pancakes – Love banana pancakes, one my favorite breakfast foods

Shootouts in Water Polo – Very exciting for the spectator, but to decide a game using a shootout is tough especially if you are on the losing end

SHANNON HAAS – Women’s Junior National Team

The Jonas Brothers – I like a few of their songs but other than that I

never really listen to them. I am not a crazy fan like alot of people are.

I-Phones – I wish I had an I-phone, but unfortu-nately I have Verizon and I-Phones are not made for Verizon. But they look so cool the way you can text and go on the internet.

Five Meter Penalties – Five meters are really nice to get because then it is like an easy goal. But the bad thing about them is that if you miss your coach will be mad and you will be so embarrassed.

Pancakes – Mmmmm I love pancakes. I like it when my mom makes them and put chocolate chips in them. It brings pancakes to a whole new level.

Shootouts in Water Polo – Shootouts can be very intense. Its like if you are selected to take a shot you better make it, because you don’t want to be the one to miss.

JESSICA STEFFENS – Defender – U.S. Olympic Women’s Water Polo Team

The Jonas Brothers – WooHoo…My family has a group too, but so far

no fame for our singing skills.

I-Phones – Possibly the greatest phone ever… I unnecessarily use mine for everything!

Five Meter Penalties – Surprisingly much harder than the outdated 4 meter penalties…that 1 meter makes a big difference.

Pancakes– Only when served with shmokes…I love pancakes with lots of butter, syrup, and chocolate chips. So healthy.

Shootouts in Water Polo – Shootouts are a tough way to end a game regardless of the outcome, I much prefer to play it out in overtime.

Your thoughts on…

5 METERS: (continued)

26

Placeholder Headline

26

West Region ReportCentral California

The zone had a great summer session. With teams participating from Bakersfield all the way to Sacramento in our Junior Olympic qualifying, we showed an 18% increase in membership over last year. Club administrators and coaches are doing a fantastic job in promoting our sport in the Central Valley region. As fall approaches, high school seasons for boys and girls is in full swing as well as leagues for the pre- high school age athlete.

Coastal CaliforniaNews from here is about our players and

clubs and their successes in championships and as members of the national teams. To continue to develop both, the zone directors set a course to provide matching grants to clubs that invest in growth targeted to 14U players. Inaugural meetings of separate Coach Advisory and Club Advisory bodies sets the stage for more active local leadership by those closest to the members we serve.

With our partners Southern Pacific Zone, we’re busy now organizing the fall youth sea-son and planning cross-zone play to end with a Southern California championship late in No-vember. With that, more activity in high school play, and plans for a 2009 Open Men’s league, we have plenty planned for all our members. Look to stay informed with new Web pages for each, currently under construction.

Southern PacificThe summer of 2008 proved the busiest in

Zone history, topped by the largest JOs ever. Congratulations to Irvine Water Polo and its partners for the amazing feat, smoothly and efficiently hosting the new Gold and Platinum format! The locally hosted competition that included some 900 games at 32 venues on the weekend just before JOs. Look for changes to our sanctioning procedures to better manage the calendar and our resources in 2009.

We’d also like to congratulate the SoPac teams that qualified, played, or medaled in Na-tional Championships. And we’re proud of the many players and coaches so capably represent-ing both SoPac and the USA on national teams, from youth to Olympic levels.

Pacific Southwest The news here is refreshed leadership to move

ahead. The August zone meeting elected Sean Green as Zone Chair and a governing board that includes Robin Bregman, Gary Hull, and Bruce

Morehouse. They put Bregman directly to work, continuing his duties as the point man for the PSW Fall Youth League.

Central Region ReportMountain Zone

The MTN Zone this summer hosted two very successful tournaments and the Kearns Adult Water Polo League in Salt Lake City, UT. The Kearns Age Group Tournament in late June had teams from five states competing under sunshine of Utah. In August, the Team Vegas/Henderson Masters Tournament again featured teams from throughout the country compet-ing in the two-day event. Also in Utah was the eight-week-long Kearns Adult League featuring the best Masters and high school athletes from in and around Salt Lake City.

Team Vegas/Henderson Masters Tournament Results:

Twelve Masters teams met at the Henderson Multi-Generational Aquatic Center just outside of Las Vegas for some great competition on August 16t-17t. There were three teams from Ne-vada, one from Denver, one from the East, one from Arizona, one from San Diego, three from Southern California, one from Northern Cali-fornia, and one from Canada. Bruno defeated Team Vegas/Henderson A, 14-8, in the Cham-pionship Game while Denver Defeated Kaos, 9-7, to take third place. The following are the final team standings for the event.

1st - Bruno, 2nd - TVH A, 3rd - Denver, 4th - Kaos, 5th - Canada, 6th - Mid Valley, 7th - East Bay, 8th - San Diego, 9th - ASU, 10th - Reno, 11th - Los Al, 12th - TVH B

11th Annual Kearns Summer Tournament Results:

14 teams from four states were in Kearns, Utah, from June 26-29 to compete, improve, and have fun. There were three divisions this year—18U Girls, 18U Boys, and 15U Coed. Thirty five games were played during the two and a half days, plus two more exhibition games Sunday morning. In the 15U Coed Division, Kearns defeated Vegas/Henderson, 9-8, in a tightly fought championship game that was decided in extra time. For the 18U Girls Division, Kearns defeated Colorado, 13-2, in the first-place game, avenging a defeat to them earlier in the day. In the 18U boys Division, Kearns defeated Sierra-Nevada, 12-7, to sweep the three divisions. All of the divisions’ final standings are listed as follows:

15/U COED: 1. - Kearns, 2. - Vegas/ Henderson, 3. - Colorado A, 4. - Murray,

5. - Duke City, 6. - Colorado B 18/U GIRLS: 1. - Kearns, 2. - Colorado,

3. - Murray 18/U BOYS: 1. - Kearns, 2. - Sierra Nevada,

3. - Murray, 4. - Colorado, 5. - Duke City

SW ZoneThe SW Zone saw three tournaments compete

over the course of the summer. The first was the Dennis Fosdick Memorial Tournament hosted by the San Antonio Water Polo Club in May fol-lowed by the traditional Dallas Summer Classic in June and concluding with the Houston Sum-mer Open in July. All three tournaments are important in the Connor Cup Standings.

Dennis Fosdick Memorial Tournament Results:

The 6th Annual Dennis Fosdick Memorial Tournament was held in San Antonio on May 17-18 at Incarnate Word College. All teams in the tournament were from Texas (San Anto-nio A and B, HOPS, Dallas WPC, and Austin WPC). All teams were evenly matched, and there were many close games throughout the weekend. Final games weren’t decided until the last minute of play. The Dallas WPC was unde-feated throughout the tournament and won the championship game against the Austin WPC, 12-9. San Antonio A edged HOPS 9-6 in the 3rd Place Game.

Dallas Summer Classic Results:The 2008 Dallas Water Polo Summer Classic

was held from June 21 to 22 at the Southlake/Carroll Aquatics Center with 10 teams entered: Miami White Caps, Dallas WPC (two teams), HOPS (Houston Obsolete Polo Squad), San Antonio WPC (two teams), Austin WPC, and Houston WPC (three teams). Both the final and the third-place games saw repeats of preliminary games, as the first two teams in the B group won their semi-final games over the first two teams in the A group. The results were also repeated with Dallas A beating Houston WPC A in the final, 9-8, and Miami victorious over Austin in the third place game, 14-10. In the final, Andres Rodriguez of Dallas was high scorer (4 goals) and made many crucial defensive plays. Rodri-guez didn’t even play on Saturday, as he has been severely hampered with a thumb injury from the National Masters Tournament two weeks earlier. Zayne Belal (bound for the University of South-ern California in the fall) kept up his stellar play throughout the tournament, scoring three goals for Houston WPC in the final.

In The AREA Houston Summer Open Results:

The Sixth Annual Houston Summer Open was held July 19-20 at the FleetCenter in North-west Houston (hosted by the Houston Water Polo Club, HWP). The tournament had three divisions: Open, Women’s, and a B Division. All games were very competitive from top to bot-tom. The Houston WPC A team, Dallas, and HOPS Blue played for the Open Championship. HOPS Blue placed first, HWP A came in second, and Dallas finished third after the round-robin championship round. In the Women’s Divi-sion the HWP 18s and HWP 16s played a tight game in the final with the HWP 18s prevailing, 11-9. The B Division saw back-and-forth games throughout the day. The HWP Blue team out-lasted the HWP Orange team for the champion-ship. Final standings for all three divisions are as follows:

Open Division: Women’s Division: B Division: 1. HOPS Blue 1. HWP 18’s 1.

HWP Blue 2. HWP A 2. HWP 16’s 2.

HWP Orange 3. Dallas 3. Dallas WPC 3.

HWP Women 4. Austin 4. Austin WPC 4.

HWP Green 5. HWP B 5. HWP Silver 6. Cy Fair WPC 6. Gator Gals 7. University of Texas 8. San Antonio 9. HOPS White

Connor Cup Standings:The Connor Cup (formerly known as the Texas

Cup) is an award given to the team that compiles points based on placement and participation at five Texas Open Tournaments: the Charles Dut-ton Memorial in Dallas (March), the Dennis Fosdick Memorial Tournament in San Antonio in May, the Dallas Summer Classic in June, the Houston Summer Open in July, and the Dallas Fall Invite in November. The award is named in honor of Frank Connor, an integral part of Texas water polo for more than 30 years. Besides being a driving force behind the creation and development of the Dallas WPC he also played competitively for the Chicago Athletic Club in the 1940s and 1950s. The following were the standings after four events for the Connor Cup. For a full description of the Connor Cup, please visit www.southwestwaterpolo.com.

1. Dallas WPC-24 points 2. Houston WPC-16 points 2. Austin WPC-16 points 2. HOPS-16 points

5. San Antonio WPC-11 points 6.Cy Fair WPC-2 points

Midwest ZoneThe Midwest Zone is gearing up for the Spee-

do Cup this fall. The Speedo Cup will be held at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The host team will be Great Lakes Water Polo Club and the Midwest Zone Age Group League will determine the Midwest Zone entry. The Midwest Zone Age Group League has three divisions: 12U Coed, 14U Boys, and 14U Girls. The league be-gins in mid-September and concludes with the 12U Championship from October 18-19 at Lyons High School in Chicago. The 14U divisions con-clude the following weekend, October 25-26, at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, IL.

East Regional Report Atlanta Loves Water Polo!!Dynamo, Team USA both score Sunday silver!

One team played for the 2008 PowerBar Cup in Atlanta, the other an Olympic Gold medal in Beijing.

Dynamo Water Polo Club and Team USA both faced off against highly regarded interna-tional opponents on Sunday morning, August 24, with titles on the line.

Twenty years after its last Olympic medal, the men of Team USA faced off against world-power Hungary for the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Only hours

later in Atlanta, DWPC and an experienced Loyola Athletic Club–Puerto Rico club battled for their own title: 2008 PowerBar Cup cham-pions. Unlike Team USA, Dynamo looked to defend its 2007 PowerBar title.

Team USA played an amazing first half against Hungary. Led by captain Tony Azevedo and a white-hot extra man, or “power play,” of-fense, Team USA trailed by one, 9-8, at the break. For Dynamo it was Manny Torres and a simi-larly effective extra man offense that trailed a quality Loyola club by one goal at the half. Eerily, both teams’ extra man offense came apart in the second half. Hungary grabbed its third-straight Olympic gold with a 14-10 win and Loyola–Puerto Rico capped off its first PowerBar Cup campaign with a 6-5 win over host Dynamo.

“Our special teams play, extra man, and penalty shots failed in the second half,” a dis-

appointed Torres said after the game. DWPC scored on fewer than 20% of second-half extra man opportunities and missed its one penalty shot. Despite this performance Dynamo held tough against an excellent Loyola AC team.

“[Loyola AC player] Jerry Mujica helped start our club in 1991,” explained DWPC veteran Ed Opalach. “When we played against Jerry and his hometown Loyola AC at the Cinco de Mayo In-vitational in Tampa this May, we urged them to come to the PowerBar. Of course we want to win the PowerBar Cup, but Loyola AC is a solid team that deserved the win. We hope to see them again in 2009.”

A special thanks to PowerBar for 16 years of Dynamo Water Polo Club sponsorship. This is the 10th year as title sponsor of the PowerBar Cup tournament.

27usawaterpolo.org

HEADS UP! Dynamo Water Polo Club goalie Kerry Kellogg locks onto a Loyola Athletic Club–Puerto Rico shot in the championship game of the 2008 PowerBar Cup water polo tournament in Atlanta, GA, on Sunday, August 24. Loyola held off defending champs Dynamo, 6-5.

Photo courtesy of Dynam

o WPC

> > > on page 28

Speedo Top 40October 24-26, 2008Los Alamitos, CA

Speedo CupNovember 7-9, 2008Ann Arbor, MI

6th Annual USA Water Polo Golf TournamentDecember 12, 2008Mission Viejo, CA

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Fall 2008 High School Underway

High school water polo in Atlanta has ex-panded to nine teams from four last year and two the year before. The teams each have a 10-game schedule and a championship tournament at the end of the fall season the weekend of October 4-5, 2008. Various local players—including John Testa, Stuart Sheldon, Kasi David, Ed Opalach, and Sean Fitzgerald—are serving as referees of the burgeoning league. The league is guided by last year’s four team coaches, Wheeler’s Richard Tavernaro, Pace Academy’s Jon Ague, St. Pius X’s Father Dan Rogaczewski (who guided last year’s championship team), and Wesleyan’s Colin Creel. Dynamo masters club player Mark Lefkow is serving as technical director of the league. Participation has increased from 25 players two years ago to well over 100. New teams include Collins Hill, Grady, Harrison, Pope, and West Forsyth. The increased visibility of the sport during the Olympics has greatly contributed to the rise of water polo in Atlanta high schools, and the teams hope to seek varsity status for water polo in the next two years.

Kracken Water Polo LeagueIn the summer of 2008, the Georgia Water

Polo Foundation reached the first of several new goals by putting together a U.S. League from Cobb County Georgia—Kraken Water Polo, just outside of Atlanta.

Karina Cordisco, a suburban mom and for-mer water polo player, handed the Wheeler High School reigns over to Coach Tavanero after last season so she could concentrate on building the sport over the summer—and build it she did. The Kracken Water Polo League had enough players this summer to field three strong teams

and is looking to branch out even more next summer. “The tremendous growth of water polo in the greater Atlanta area can only come from a deep respect and love for a fantastic sport!” says Cordisco.

O & D Host TournamentsOrlando and Dallas, not offense and defense,

are hosting men’s open tournaments this fall. First up is Windermere Water Polo, which is hosting the Central Florida Halloween Men’s Open Tournament from October 18 to 19 at the International Drive YMCA. Windermere Water Polo has restored its prominence in Central Florida with this 12-team tournament. With the quality of competition from teams such as The Trinidad and Tobago National Team, Loyola–Puerto Rico, Thunder Water Polo, Windermere Water Polo, Riptides WPC, and Patriot Aquatics, the pools will be filled with FRIGHT!

For more information or to enter the tourna-ment please contact Brian Martin at brianmar-tin4@hotmail.com or (321) 945-6698. October is a great time of year in Florida. Hotel and attrac-tion discounts are available.

The 21st Dallas Water Polo Fall Invitational is being held in Southlake, Texas, from November 10 through 12. The tournament will utilize one excellent pool, so the cap is on 12 teams. Frank Conner, the tournament director, states, “Teams should expect to play five games, although it’s possible that a few teams may end up playing six games.”

The Dallas Water Polo Club hosts three tournaments each year—in March, June, and November. Look for the 2009 tournament dates soon. For information on any of these tourna-ments or to enter the 21st Dallas Water Polo Fall Invitational, please contact Frank Connor frankconnor@verizon.net or George Fenton ggfenton@aol.com

28

In The AREA (continued)

Robert Hobbs and Kelsey Melito work for the ball in the Kracken Water Polo League.

logo for the Central Florida Halloween Men’s Open

Photo courtesy of GW

PC

2008

mikasasports.com

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE USA MEN’S AND WOMEN’S NATIONAL WATER POLO TEAMS Above and below the water, both teams achieved Olympic Silver Medal victories this summer

with their weapon of choice: the MIKASA W6000C and the W6009C.

WP_SilverAd_08_08.indd 1 9/9/08 10:21:50 AM

mikasasports.com

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE USA MEN’S AND WOMEN’S NATIONAL WATER POLO TEAMS Above and below the water, both teams achieved Olympic Silver Medal victories this summer

with their weapon of choice: the MIKASA W6000C and the W6009C.

WP_SilverAd_08_08.indd 1 9/9/08 10:21:50 AM