By The men’s marathon is under way, which means that the Rio Olympics are coming to a close… and it’s time for the media to critique the sports! Handball earned some early pub as the darling sport no one in the U.S. actually follows.* Water polo, meanwhile, received as much publicity as it
DIGEST: USA Women’s Water Polo Most “Dominant” in Games?
It is likely to be fleeting but the USA Women’s National Water Polo Team has captured the attention of the sporting press. The most “dominant” athletes at the Rio Olympics, as suggested by Reuters, have all the emotional bases covered for media outlets that notice the nutty cosmonaut helmets and underwater
COLUMNIST: Why Michael Phelps is NOT greatest athlete ever [and Props to Water Polo]
In the course of detailing all the ways 23-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps does not measure up to being the greatest athlete ever, Detroit columnist Jamie Samuelsen reveals the truth for all to see in Michigan and beyond: …water polo players and rugby players may be the finest athletes
Cal Berkeley men’s coach Kirk Everest arrived in Austin, Texas for the state’s high school water polo championships last Thursday. On Saturday he took a spot in the front row parked next to the parents of Timothy Simenc, one of his key 2015 recruits and a Texas preps star.
Landed in Texas … State High School Championships tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/Ap2mVtWkgk
— Cal Water Polo (@CalWaterPolo) April 30, 2015
The evening’s highlight was to be Simenc and his St. Mark’s of Dallas teammates defending their state crown, though Everest demurred, saying he was just there to “check it all out.” What the Californian was unlikely to anticipate was his presence at a moment in Texas water polo history.
For the first time in the competition’s 40-plus year run a girls team from the Dallas area, Southlake Carroll, won the title beating Clear Springs, 11-8. St. Mark’s followed with an edgy 6-5 victory over a very game group from The Woodlands to repeat as boys’ champions. Two North Texas teams are now state champs – a first.
Dallas water polo has arrived.
Until 2008 when the Lions earned their first crown, Houston-area teams won 20 consecutive boys’ titles and 24 of the last 27. The region’s girls were even more dominant winning 25 straight titles since 1990.
Prior to Houston’s ascendency it was San Antonio schools that ruled, winning seven of nine boys’ championships and seven consecutive girls’ championships until 1990.
The teams from Dallas have shown steady improvement over the past five years as we noted a year ago. It would be provocative and entertaining to assert that North Texas was now poised to dominate the Texas prep scene – and they may. More likely and better for the sport is that power will be more evenly distributed between the two major regions with each sending better quality athletes and teams to the tournament.
And watch out for the West.
Nearly dead and long dormant, the region from which San Antonio formerly sent a decade’s worth of champions is re-emerging. Round Rock High School, just north of Austin, did something no team from the region has done in decades and perhaps ever: beaten or tied a team from Houston. The Dragons boys earned a 5-5 draw against Westside to place 11th in the tournament, the best result ever for an Austin-area team.
No threat yet to any of the three other Regions, all of which boast decades of meaningful experience. But another sign of increasing participation, quality, and variety.
Coach Everest showed up for a title tournament and got a bit of Lone Star State history as a bonus.
Cal Berkeley men’s coach Kirk Everest arrived in Austin, Texas for the state’s high school water polo championships last Thursday. On Saturday he took a spot in the front row parked next to the parents of Timothy Simenc, one of his key 2015 recruits and a Texas preps star.
Landed in Texas … State High School Championships tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/Ap2mVtWkgk
— Cal Water Polo (@CalWaterPolo) April 30, 2015
The evening’s highlight was to be Simenc and his St. Mark’s of Dallas teammates defending their state crown, though Everest demurred, saying he was just there to “check it all out.” What the Californian was unlikely to anticipate was his presence at a moment in Texas water polo history.
For the first time in the competition’s 40-plus year run a girls team from the Dallas area, Southlake Carroll, won the title beating Clear Springs, 11-8. St. Mark’s followed with an edgy 6-5 victory over a very game group from The Woodlands to repeat as boys’ champions. Two North Texas teams are now state champs – a first.
Dallas water polo has arrived.
Until 2008 when the Lions earned their first crown, Houston-area teams won 20 consecutive boys’ titles and 24 of the last 27. The region’s girls were even more dominant winning 25 straight titles since 1990.
Prior to Houston’s ascendency it was San Antonio schools that ruled, winning seven of nine boys’ championships and seven consecutive girls’ championships until 1990.
The teams from Dallas have shown steady improvement over the past five years as we noted a year ago. It would be provocative and entertaining to assert that North Texas was now poised to dominate the Texas prep scene – and they may. More likely and better for the sport is that power will be more evenly distributed between the two major regions with each sending better quality athletes and teams to the tournament.
And watch out for the West.
Nearly dead and long dormant, the region from which San Antonio formerly sent a decade’s worth of champions is re-emerging. Round Rock High School, just north of Austin, did something no team from the region has done in decades and perhaps ever: beaten or tied a team from Houston. The Dragons boys earned a 5-5 draw against Westside to place 11th in the tournament, the best result ever for an Austin-area team.
No threat yet to any of the three other Regions, all of which boast decades of meaningful experience. But another sign of increasing participation, quality, and variety.
Coach Everest showed up for a title tournament and got a bit of Lone Star State history as a bonus.
USOC’s Blackmun “Very Concerned” About NCAA Olympic Sports
The (re)establishment of two prominent Division I intercollegiate water polo programs has provided a boost to the spirits of American water polo fans. San Jose State’s men will begin competing again this fall after taking a few decades off. The Spartans are the first DI program to be added to the NCAA portfolio since the
2014: The Year in Review
An exciting year for water polo in the United States was 2014 with even more coverage of the sport throughout the US, key signs of growth at the collegiate level, and unprecedented success for American women. The future looks pretty shiny for the year to come. But first, a brief
2013: The Year in Review
In many ways a transitionary year, 2013 presented some surprises to US water polo fans. Much in the interscholastic game remained the same or at least returned to the status quo, but not without some genuine and welcome turbulence along the way. And though the highest echelons of US water
A Final Day, and NCAA Championship Match, Worth the Wait and More
That was the game we’ve been waiting for. The NCAA Championship tournament is a celebration of the interscholastic game, not a tournament of champions where only the best programs participate. And that’s the way we want it. An eight-team field of the top ranked squads would rub us the wrong
Public Policy Columnist Bravely Tackles Scourge of College Water Polo
Sick and tired of the ever-rising cost of college education? It turns out its your fault, college water polo fans. That according to Deseret News national politics and policy columnist Erik Schulzke, who surveys current thinking on the ever-expanding and increasingly costly bureaucracy at institutes of higher learning. In his January
