Only about 480,000 people play water polo in the entire world. That is around 0.006% of the global population in the world that even play! Illinois is the second most popular state that is big on water polo. I am passionate about water polo. However, I’ve only done it for three years. This proves that anyone can start now and be passionate about it. No matter your background, anyone can try this sport, as long as they know how to swim and tread. If not, you can still learn how. It’s very exciting to play water polo, it’s very physical and you need to have critical thinking, which is why I enjoy it so much.
In my opinion, water polo is the hardest sport out there. It’s technically soccer in the water but using your hands instead of your feet while actively being drowned by the opposing team. If you wanna play water polo, I say practice every day so you can get stronger and learn new skills. When I say practice every day, I mean practice EVERY SINGLE DAY, otherwise, you will be behind and miss an important drill. And even though the warm-up might be long during practice, do NOT skip it. Something will hurt if you skip warm-ups and go straight to playing water polo. Training for water polo is a full-body workout. You mainly need your upper and lower muscle groups for swimming, treading, and exploding.
Playing water polo is like a reward for me. Tournaments are lots of fun! We travel from places that range from Indiana all the way to California. While traveling for these tournaments, we also get to explore these new places. It is a great way to play different teams of that range of levels. Even though waking up for seven am games is a nightmare, it is worth it. We have to be there by six am which means you have to wake up at five am. But after finishing the game, I feel very productive because you might think it’s like noon after the game, but really it’s only 8:30, and you still have the rest of the day to yourself. Plus you can eat whatever you want and still stay fit! That’s the best part of water polo. Whatever you eat will be burned off by playing/practicing. For example last week, July 17 – July 22, my team had Junior Olympics. This year we had a good team and there were no filler players on our bench. It was very fun and challenging. The first day was the hardest, we played Stanford. Everyone was pretty mad that we lost by a lot but our spirits wavered the second day and we were excited again. We really got to understand each other better there.
Before I joined water polo, I used to be a volleyball player. I found volleyball so boring back then. When I did it, I didn’t like it, and I didn’t have many friends. I also wasn’t really close with my coaches. But since I’ve joined water polo, I’ve gained new friendships and relationships with coaches. It’s very important to have a good relationship with your coach, because when athletes have good relationships with their coaches, they feel supported by them, which makes them work harder than ever. For instance, I have a good relationship with my coaches and teammates, everyone is very close with each other and knows their weaknesses and strengths. I recommend trying this sport at least once.
Giselle Ouhabi – Phillips Exeter Academy – DMSF Class of 2030
Photo Credit: Mother of Giselle Ouhabi