Water Polo teams make debut

Talented Trojan swimmers and coaches have taken the plunge and formed boys and girls teams in a sport entirely new to CVHS: water polo.

While CVHS swimmers have enjoyed successes in the past decades in racing, this marks a new path for many of them, challenging them to use their endurance and strength from their racing skills while exploring the very different, physical game of water polo.

So far, the girls team won one of their three matches, while the boys team has yet to win a match.

“It is a rough game, but the challenge is also learning what physical play is allowed and what’s not allowed, and understanding that you’re gonna be grabbed, you’re gonna be pushed and held and how to continue to play through it,” said assistant coach Patrick Ryken.

Even without the additional challenge of this often rough physical contact, water polo matches are true feats of endurance for the athletes.

“The biggest challenge of playing water polo is treading water for as long as we are. We have four quarters and each quarter is seven minutes long. It doesn’t seem like a whole lot but when there’s calls being made, it is a lot,” said Elliott Breitinger, goalie.

Although there have been fresh challenges with the start of a completely foreign and very competitive sport, the players look to the future of the program with optimism and motivation.

“It being our first year here, we’re definitely not in the condition that we want to be in but in the coming years we’re gonna keep getting better,” Breitinger said confidently.