The first water polo team at McNeil basically consisted of the most committed swim team members transferred to a different sport. It was a new experience for many of them and an easy way to extend their competitiveness into the end of the school year. They did surprisingly well considering their lack of experience.

“I didn’t expect how tiring water polo is. It takes a lot of work, you have to be mentally tough and expect to get hit,” freshman Megan Warnick said.

The most difficult water polo skill to master in her opinion was catching and shooting.

The team did make it to state and they worked hard to get there. The student athletes continued their early morning practices and had to keep up with their athletic abilities.

“Even with our best heroic efforts, we return home [from State] without a win,” coach Johnny Foss said. “Not a bad way to start off the first water polo team in school history. Every team we faced was amazed at how well we played considering our lack of experience. I am very proud of our fabulously committed student athletes. They represented our school in fine fashion.”

The game has oftentimes been referred to as underwater rugby because of its violence and lack of many constraints.

“I love the roughness, it’s a really great way to get out aggression,” Warnick said.

Danny Lin was the rare swimmer who had fully anticipated the violence and greatly enjoyed the brutality.

“I score goals. I swim with a ball and put it in a net,” senior Ethan Beier said.

He is the swim captain along with Cody Sims.

“We lost the first game but rallied to win the next two games to go to state,” Beier said.

Coach Foss plans on continuing the tradition next year and is excited to see what the water polo team can do.