Roper YMCA molds next generation of water polo players

By the time most athletes make it to high school, they’ve already been in their sport for years.

That’s not the case, however, for water polo. 

With the sport not being offered at the middle-school level, many go into high school having never played the game before. Luckily for those middle schoolers looking to jump into the sport, the Roper YMCA Family Center in Winter Garden offers up its YCF intermediate team for ages 11 to 14.

The program — which has been going on at the Rosen YMCA Aquatics Center for a while — is fairly new at Roper and includes a good mix of experience levels, said Andy Gordon, who both coaches and oversees the entire program.

“I would say it is roughly a 50/50 split between kids who just see us practicing... and the other half we do get a large portion who know it’s a high-school sport and realize when they’re in seventh or eighth grade that they can prep themselves for it,” Gordon said. “We do have a lot of middle-school kids who do feed into the big high-school programs like West Orange.”

One of those members who fits both of those descriptions is Daniel Raz — an eighth grader at SunRidge Middle School — who has been in the program for 10 months now.

Previously, Raz had played tennis, but was looking for something different to try. That’s when he stumbled upon a flyer promoting the program and he figured he’d give it a try, despite not knowing anything about the sport.

“It was definitely very fun for the first time,” Raz said. “I thought that I was not going to like it, but then when I started it was pretty fun and I got into it and I continue to do it. It’s just the intensity of it and the competitiveness of it — it’s really fun for me.”

The program itself is actually just one of four, and is the third tiered club offered by the YMCA.

For the youngest of kids, the Y offers what it calls “splashball,” which Gordon describes as T-ball for water polo. 

Children have to pass the Y’s swim test to participate, but once they’re in the program, they get to use pool noodles to float around while they participate in a simpler, smaller game of water polo. It’s a simple introduction to the game, Gordon said.

The next level is the 10U program, which is where Gordon and the other coaches start working with children on fundamentals and technique. 

It’s at this stage where the sport’s basics are really taught, which include things like the eggbeater kick — a technique that water polo players use to stay afloat. Teaching these basics to younger players early actually helps in the long run, Gordon said.

“The little kids can pick up some things a little quicker, because their muscles aren’t as set to moving a certain way,” Gordon Said. “The older you get, if you haven’t learned the eggbeater kick, it can be really difficult transitioning as an adult.”

“I thought that I was not going to like it, but then when I started it was pretty fun and I got into it and I continue to do it."

— Daniel Raz

With those techniques in place, it’s at the middle school-level program where things become much more competitive and intensive — especially for players who want to play the sport in high school.

It’s a critical time for development in a young water polo player’s game, and that’s not lost on Timothy Gusewelle — a junior goalie on the West Orange High water polo team. Gusewelle, has been showing up at the middle-school program’s practice recently at Roper in order to help a young goalie named Noah Dominger learn the ropes.

And it’s not only about helping a future teammate for Gusewelle, it’s also about helping middle schoolers who are trying to make it to the next level — something that he’s all too familiar with. He wants to give back to the program that helped him get to where he is today.

“When I first started, I had never swam before,” Gusewelle said. “Getting to play club first before I entered high school was a huge boost in both my ability as a water polo player and also (in a) mental capacity. It’s just a really good experience to start off in water polo.”