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Olympic footnote: U.S. Water Polo
After settling for the silver following yesterday’s U.S. Men’s Water Polo 14-10 loss to the Hungarians, Tony Azevedo, an attacker on the U.S. team who plays professionally in Croatia, and who scored four of the ten U.S. goals, was interviewed after the match. Azevedo, while excited to be a part of the first U.S. team to win any medal of ay color for twenty years, his message was more of a plea than a celebration. As a part of the U.S. Olympic team that has been in disarray, and losing funding, he asked for support, commitment and funding at all levels of the sport. The basis of his argument was the unlikely performance of his team to first of all reach the gold medal match, but then to stay with the powerhouse Hungarians into the third quarter. Azevedo said that his team could have won the game if the sport had had support in the U.S., and he may be right. There is no logical reason why the United States can’t be more competitive in Water Polo with this country’s legacy and domination of competitive swimming. Water Polo is the perfect sport for swimmers who have outgrown their top spot on the swimming podiums or who find themselves on the fringes of the sport. The majority of the Hungarian players are over thirty. While the two disciplines are very different, a world-class swimmer who learns the Water Polo techniques and strategy can be a huge asset to our team. There’s already talk of Michael Phelps competing and defending some of his medals in London in 2012, but can you imagine what he could offer the U.S. Water Polo team in 2016 at age thirty-one? The reason Water Polo has had such a tough time surviving in this country, other than within a small enclave in California, is because there is no age group participation amongst our forming young athletes across the country. Very little existence in high school and college athletic programs translates to a non-existent sport. It is up to the age group swim coaches in both schools and swim clubs around the United States, to promote the sport to their athletic directors, and build Water Polo from within, from the bottom up. Without a solid foundation of growth and participation starting at a young age, any sport will suffer. It sounds like a lot of work and commitment to win two more gold medals (men and women), but for a country that equates gold medals with national success, you would think it would be a small price to pay. But the bottom line is that the kids, and men and women who rise through the ranks of the U.S. Water Polo program would be the real winners, because they would benefit from a fun team sport that requires cooperation, unselfishness, strength, endurance, sportsmanship, and maybe most of all, intelligence. They would be the true beneficiaries. They would be richer for having played. William S. James, treading water with my hands up |
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