Girls’ Water Polo Stroking Their Way into Preseason
MOOR Photo by YIBEI LIU
Staff Writer
As winter makes its way into the year, the girls water polo tried their way into preseason. With the Moors ending in a positive note, the moors are determined to practice so they can be prepared for the upcoming season.
With last year’s team comprised of mostly seniors, Head Coach Adrian Lopez will have to prepare the returners and the underclassmen to get them ready for preseason. Training is essential for water polo; The girls, along with Lopez, plan on working on the small things to improve for the season.
“The girls were senior heavy last year with skills in the offense field. This year I have all underclassmen, with the team comprised of sophomores and one senior. The sophomores were role players last year and now they will have to be the first option for the primary score, thus getting a bigger role and I’m sure they’re up to the task,” Lopez said.
Practicing swimming is essential and swimming drills in polo include: extremely high elbows, fast strokes, shorter pulls, heads-up freestyle, heads-up freestyle with a ball and heads-up freestyle while treading. Dry-land practices include: lunges, squats, wall sits, box jumps and basic jumps.
“Last year was one of our record years, but I don’t feel like it’ll be the same because it’s always going to be different. But I feel like we will be successful because all the girls are really dedicated and put a lot of time and effort into practices,” junior goalkeeper Macy Chung said.
The Moors played their first preseason game against the Pioneer Titans with a score of 23-8. The girls strive to practice diligently this year with only seven to nine players on the varsity squad. Some will have to ironman it, which means playing throughout the game, emphasizing the importance of stamina. With seven players on the court, only two will sub in for other field players, meaning practices will heavily focus on stamina training.
“All the girls in water polo are currently going to practice every single day to train [on individual talent thus allowing the team to piece it together] for our preseason games,” senior wing Michelle Guerra said.