On the evening of September 25 (two and a half weeks ago), I decided to check out a local water polo club and see if I still had what it takes to swim a little bit and throw a ball around. During a few emails with the coach of the club he mentioned that maybe I should spend some time getting back into shape, as it has been roughly ten years since I was consistently in the water swimming, let alone playing water polo. After a little bit of explaining that water polo was my preferred form of getting into shape, he agreed to let me come out to a practice and see how it went. That night, for over two hours, I played water polo for the first time in a long time (meaning, I can't remember the last time I played water polo exactly). It was so much fun, and also really painful (mostly for my pride).
The next day I was a little stiff, but decided that I can manage to drag myself closely behind some of the other players in the club, so I can do it, and I signed up for the club this past Wednesday officially. During practice the coach asked if anyone else wanted to join in a tournament this weekend, and I raised my hand. To my surprise, he wrote my name down on the list! First week in the club and I'm on a roster...scary, but cool. This morning, at 10:15 AM, I got into my Speedo (barely) and got into the pool to warm up for my first official game in over 10 years. Yes, you read that right; the last game where I remember a clock, a scoreboard and referees was the summer after I graduated from high school (2003).
Now, for those underprivileged people who don't know why this is a big deal because they don't know what water polo is (or think I have a horse that I make swim), let me borrow from an excellent article written by ESPN's Eric Neel:
"Endurance? A water polo player swims 1.5 miles a game, with another player dragging and climbing all over him, pushing his head under the water and saying unkind things about his mamma when he comes up for air.
Strength? These guys egg-beater their legs for 32 minutes in nine feet of water, muscle each other for position and rise up into the air like they're jumping off a trampoline to shoot and block shots.
Agility? They work back-cuts and spin-moves like Kobe and Marvin Harrison. Nerve? They take 50-mph shots in the face and breathe in lungs-full of water. And they keep coming back for more.
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From a distance, the game can look deceptively graceful and fluid. The players seem to glide through the water, the ball skips and hops from one outstretched arm to the next.
I get up poolside, though, and I hear the grunts and gasps. I see the water churning. And I quickly realize that guys getting worked over by mob muscle have it easier than your average water polo player.
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And it isn't just the hand-to-hand that gets me. It's the relentless pace. Forget that they're treading water constantly. Forget that before they even get to things like passing and shooting, they have to survive their opponents' best efforts to drown them like unwanted kittens. Forget all that.
But remember that every goal, missed shot, and turnover means a sprint back down to the other end of a 30-meter pool, and every opportunity to pass or shoot involves a constant clawing just to get to some little patch of free water. And know that any letdown, any hesitation, means almost certain humiliation with a heaping portion of water up your nose and the other guy's flutter-kicking feet in your gut.
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That's the thing, I think, that most impresses me about water polo athletes. The baseline for them, the thing that gets them to the point where their game is like all the other games, is this grueling, relentless struggle to stay afloat and move through the water.
There's something pure about it. They can't take for granted the chance to get a shot or stop a shot, to make a pass or to elude a defender. Everything they do is earned, and their appreciation for what they've earned is higher than any other team-sport athletes I know."
So, that might be a long quote, but the rest of the article is twice as long, and quite entertaining actually, so I recommend the read. Needless to say, I was already out of shape for running, let alone a "grueling, relentless struggle to stay afloat and move through the water." Sound like a crazy thing to do? Yeah, I did it anyways. And to top it off, I survived! We played two games today, and won them both. I even scored a goal (Hooray!). Needless to say, it was a good day, and I had a lot of fun drowning and being drowned.
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