May 2017

W May 12, 2017 sports 15
H 2
GIRLS FOCUS ON CREATING MORE UTILITY PLAYERS
O
Wh a!
Winning conference, the girls water polo team
not only accomplished their number one goal,
they also can lay claim to starting the season with
a 5-0 streak. In this last week of the season, they
hope to go an extra round in sectionals, which began
on Wednesday.
Intent on making each player a well-rounded
contributor, coach Drew Schneider has implemented
a coaching plan to benefit the whole
team’s performance. “Our coach really focuses on
us playing all of the positions because you never
know based on other team whether we’re going to
need to play a different position. It’s always good
to be prepared. For example, post up drills help
us with our driving offense as it teaches us how to
post up. Typically the center does this, but if we
are all well versed, it makes us a harder team to
beat,” senior captain Kristen Burger said, who will
be playing Division 1 water polo at Siena College
in New York
Being on the water polo team is rewarding
in more ways than one, as Burger has
Junior Corinne
Bellot warms up
for practice on
May 2. Bellot is
one of several JV
players to step up
and help out on
varsity this season.
Double conference titles for girls, boys
water polo boost hopes for post-season
BY DESTINY ONYEISE
reporter
learned that ‘patience is a virtue” as well as more
ways to connect with her teammates. “Recently at
senior night, one of my teammates wrote on my
poster the only reason she kept playing water polo
was because I helped her with treading. This is a
key component of the sport and can be frustrating
and discouraging to learn so it was very rewarding
to see that I could help someone improve,”
Burger said.
The competitive intensity of varsity water polo
was an enticing challenge for senior Rachel Roxas.
“I chose varsity over JV because of the title of being
on varsity meant it would be more of a challenge
which I craved. Swimming is one of most
difficult parts but being on swim team helped me
for waterpolo since I would work on breathing allowing
me to keep up with varsity. Varsity games
are much faster, so you can miss everything in the
blink of an eye,” senior Rachel Roxas said.
Hard work truly does pay off which is something
head coach Drew Schneider wishes to inculcate
in his athletes.“I instill the value of hard work
to be successful. Integrity with sportsmanship,”
head coach Drew Schneider said.
While experiencing many satisfying wins, the
girls water polo team has also experienced some
losses. By keeping a focused mentality and staying
positive, the team plans to overcome their
adversities. “Our team motto or saying is: ‘to
play our game, play Maine West water polo’.
Whenever we don’t play as well, our coach tells
us to ‘play the game that we know how to play,’
and that’s MW waterpolo,” Martin said.
After games the girls team discuss their mistakes
as well as recognize the achievements an
individual made during a game. “We recap
ourselves and think about our mistakes and
cheer each other up by signing the ‘baller
ball.’ If someone does well they sign their
name on the ball which builds up our
team spirit,” Roxas said.
CHANGES TO OFFENSE LEAD
BOYS TO WINS
Defeating Deerfield in their last conference
game to clinch the conference title, the boys water
polo team has improved tremendously thanks to
strategic changes in the pool.
Junior Paul Loewes attributes the team’s success
to a change in offense. “The coaching has
made us a much more active team and has contributed
to our wins so far. We’ve been working
more on drawing defenders away with more motion-based
plays. This took GBN by surprise due
to our change up in offense as teams are used to us
playing in net,” Loewes said.
With this refinement in the offensive aspect
of plays, the team has learned to reflect on their
games and continue to look forward instead of
looking back. “We are still a young team and
growing everyday, so we take all game experiences
as a chance to grow. Even during a loss we have
to look at some growths instead of a loss,” head
coach Bob Bruggeman said.
Being a goalie for water polo can prove to be
difficult at times as it requires skill, calculation,
and coordination. “It’s fairly difficult being goalie
because you have to read where the shooter is
looking and you have to try to figure out where
they might shoot. It comes down to defense being
there and if they’re doing their part. That being
said, one of my personal goals is to get a shutout,
when the other team doesn’t score. By improving
my skills as a goalie and strengthening my treading,
I hope to achieve this,” senior Sam Ure said.
“Working as a team is by far the most important
aspect of water polo as it is more beneficial
and easier to work with others. This is important
because sometimes I want to do everything because
I don’t trust others to do it right, but now I
realized I don’t have to do everything. A team that
plays well together can beat teams that are more
skilled, because there are 5 other guys out there
to help you (plus the goalie). There is one play we
run where if it’s done right, it causes confusion for
the other team and the misdirection helps us score
without having everyone have to sprint the whole
length of the pool,” senior Richard Sevic said.
GRETA SORENSEN