Last season, Oak Park High School boys water polo played their first game together. While the games were difficult, the team learned from both their wins and their losses. This season, they’ve used that traction to transform themselves in just their second year.
Primarily, this season marked the advent for the OPHS junior varsity team. However, forming an entirely new roster came with challenges, especially since many of the newer players didn’t know how to play water polo… yet.
“I’d never played water polo before, but everyone on the team had at least done swimming which gave us some ground to build on,” freshman Adyant Borhade said. “Water polo is a combination of swimming and physical exertion, but it was very tough at the first practice to stay afloat while holding the ball.”
As teaching began, the first-time players picked up on the sport quickly.
“Our coach taught us well from the start. First we learned how to tread water, next we practiced our shots, passes and water passes, and by the end of our last game we were all much more skilled at the sport than when we started,” Borhade said.
Yet the team’s progression wasn’t just for JV; the varsity team saw development as well.
“I think it was a drastic improvement. We more than tripled our number of players since last year, and I feel like we’ve also more than tripled our skill level,” junior Trey Williams said.
The team saw the most improvement in specific areas that made a huge impact on their play style.
“The biggest thing we improved on is our fundamentals: just our basics like shooting, passing and swimming,” Williams said. “The other thing I think we did really good on is just learning to play as a team and learning to make each other better on how we play.”
A major contributor to this improvement was the team’s strong connections with each other.
“Water polo has changed me in the context of how I develop friendships,” senior Ryan Smith said. “I’ve noticed that I’ve developed more solid friendships through water polo than I ever did on the swim team, and I think that’s because of the nature of the sport.”
The team grew even closer than they already were, including during an unusual game against Moorpark.
“We played against Moorpark and had to give some of our players to them, because they didn’t have enough to compete. I remember getting ‘help’ from my teammates on the opposite side,” Smith said. “The sense of true friendship and sportsmanship made me feel welcomed and excited to play; I think we all grew closer from that experience.”
The same was true for the JV boys.
“The culture of the team was more like a family. Since there weren’t that many people, the varsity guys were already close with each other,” Borhade said. “On JV, most of us were already friends, so we bonded over water polo easily.”
Despite the incredible growth, both teams still have more to work on in preparation for next season.
“Something we need to improve on is how we run plays because that’s pretty new to us; this season was mainly about fundamentals, and we incorporated running plays towards the end,” Williams said.
Overall, the seasons to come for boys water polo are looking bright.
“For next season, I’m hoping to make it to CIFs. I really think we can because we’re going to get some new guys, and it’s our third year so we’re just becoming a bigger and bigger sport here at Oak Park,” Williams said. “I think that the biggest thing that’s going to be improved on is just how we play using experience.”
In just their second year, OPHS boys water polo has added a new roster, trained a whole team of new players and has blown past expectations. It’s safe to say that they’ve had a successful season.
