By Amy Ta
Staff Writer
The sharp sound of a whistle pierced the air as the ball dropped into the center of the pool. Sounds of water kicking filled the water as players hurriedly rushed to the ball. A player quickly possessed and tossed the ball. Junior Patrick Jones snatched it out of the air and swam toward the opposition goal. Cheers erupted through the crowd as Jones evaded Monrovia’s defense and hurled the ball into the goal with strength and precision, giving TC the lead within 10 seconds of the game’s opening whistle.
Boys water polo began their season by winning the majority of their non-league games.
The team is still adjusting to the loss of the 2022-2023 seniors, major players in winning the Rio Hondo League last year. Last year’s team made it to the CIF quarter finals before losing to the Damien Spartans.
“Last year’s seniors were good,” junior Daniel Lei said. “They had good team chemistry with each other and they played longer than the current team. They each had their individual polished skills.”
The boys water polo team, though missing last year’s star players, hopes to perform just as well as before. Through the daily three-hour-long training sessions, which include treading water and swimming long distances to build endurance, they believe they can win the Rio Hondo League and beat the current league head, San Marino.
“Our goal is definitely winning the most amount of league games possible,” Assistant Coach Peter Trinh said. “But the main goal is to see everyone grow from the beginning of the year till the end and make sure that what they’re doing at practices is a hundred percent their best.”
However, they are facing many challenges. In the beginning, the team faced problems concerning team chemistry and player builds. Many of the players were new to water polo, lacking the skills necessary to go head-to-head against more experienced players of rival teams.
In order to qualify for the CIF playoffs, the team must win five out of the seven remaining league games.
“We’ve had a lot of rough patches,” Lei said. “Our team chemistry wasn’t very good; we had a lot of butting heads. In the pool, some people weren’t taking it seriously, just kinda messing around, and that led to more people messing around.”
The biggest problem the team faced is their size. Typically, height and length help with reaching the ball faster than the opposing team to block and get off shots.
The water polo team is generally smaller than other teams, a disadvantage against other schools.
“The team has definitely struggled with their size,” Trinh said. “A lot of the teams we went up against, especially the ones that we lost, have bigger players. It’s a very clear disadvantage for us, but I told them a lot that size doesn’t really matter in water polo. As long as they know the fundamentals of the game, that will take you farther than size.”
The team took steps to combat these obstacles, holding multiple team activities to build bonds between players.
They had meetings after every game to review plays and discuss what could be done next time to improve.
To prepare the newer players, members went through endurance training, long distance swimming and ball practice. They also participated in competitions as extra practice for upcoming league games.
“It’s going very well,” Trinh said. “We’re seeing a lot of development from the first year players and continued development from the returners. Their conditioning and their knowledge of the game has improved a lot.”
The next boys water polo game will be against the Monrovia Wildcats on Oct. 17.