Young Water Polo Team Strives for Consistency
By Lauren Sauter
Sports Associate

Finding Nemo was a great movie, or so I am told. Men’s water polo is also pretty great; but once again, I am only repeating what I have heard. What these two things have in common, then, are swimming, greatness, and I have never seen either. I had planned to attend the game on Monday, which we lost, but it was too cold. On the other hand, I have never planned to watch Finding Nemo. Here the paths diverge.

The water polo boys are a curious lot, with wild, chlorine-smelling hair and tall, lithe figures. Normally, they train at Haldeman pool, but now they must drive 30-40 minutes to practice elsewhere. This is due to the damage caused to Haldeman by the rains of ash during the recent fires. The drains and pipes are in need of repair, just in time for the most important part of the season—the approaching SCIAC tourney. Furthermore, the substitute pool is available only at night, pushing practices to end as late as 10:00 pm. Although a few practices were missed and a game had to be rescheduled, there was little disruption to the team’s routine because of the fires.

P-P water polo plays over 30 games a year, sometimes competing every other day. They are now reaching the end of the season. All told, their record stands at ten wins, one forfeit, and fifteen losses. While this record may not sound intimidating, the truth is that these have not been the important games. They played through the first part of the season, running some intense workouts and training sessions. Often, it was a very exhausting schedule. SCIAC is what counts, and P-P is 4-1 in the first round of SCIAC play, with important games against CMS on November 5 and against Redlands on November 7. The SCIAC tourney will take place at Whittier on November 14-16. Head Coach Jason Gall anticipates his team could be seeded anywhere from first to fourth. P-P, though currently ranked third

in the competitive SCIAC conference, has a real shot at the championship. They have sworn off drinking and smoking, so we know they are not messing around. Said Gall, “I am hoping that the team can play consistently, and that emotionally they don’t get too high or low between wins and losses. We have a chance to do very well in SCIAC along with four or five other teams.”

The team this year is very young, mostly freshmen and sophomores, with a few reliable upperclassmen. I spoke with one of the upperclassmen, Bobby Woodley ’05, who tried to explain a little bit about the game. I asked him if it was like inner-tube water polo, but harder. He humored me and said, “Sure.” He then explained that water polo can get a quite vicious sometimes, because the referees can not see anything that is going on underneath the water. What this translates to is a lot of wrestling for position, pissed off players, and out-and-out punching. “People don’t realize,” he said, “it’s a pretty rough sport.” Rough or not, the men seem to be handling it well.

Gall is enthusiastic as the season culminates in all-important SCIAC play.

“So far the season has been pretty good. There are a few games that we feel we should have won, but we have also had some wins that were, I think, even surprising to us. There has been tremendous improvement from game to game, and we are learning so much with every win and loss. The key is to be consistent.”