Maggie Steffens (left) and Dorottya Szilagyi during a USA vs. Hungary game at Avery Aquatic Center in Palo Alto on July 5, 2024. (Catharyn Hayne/KLC fotos)
Southern California is typically known as the hub that cultivates top-notch water polo players, many of whom go on to compete in the Olympics, but the Bay Area has gradually developed its own network of talent.
“When I first started, there was one team in all of Marin County, but all the water polo players that really loved the sport converged on this one club, Sleepy Hollow SHAQ, and that made it a hotbed in the area,” said Dylan Woodhead of San Anselmo, an athlete on the U.S. men’s water polo team competing at Summer Games in Paris, which kick off on Friday.
He said this small community in Marin inspired him to love the sport.
“That made the sport so much more exciting, to be around coaches that are good role models and friends that I really enjoy being around. And that helped me just dive headfirst into the sport,” he added.
In the U.S., water polo is a relatively niche sport. According to USA Water Polo, the nonprofit federation that promotes the sport and selects the U.S. Olympic team, there are more than 50,000 affiliated members and 500 clubs nationwide. That number is dwarfed by other American sports, like baseball, which has more than 15 million amateur players across the country.
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Despite the small footprint, water polo dominates in California. This year, all but 3 of the 26 players on the U.S. men’s and women’s Olympic teams are from the state. Three-quarters of all high school players in the country live in California, according to Next College Student Athlete, a college athlete recruiting company.
“It’s definitely a California team. The state will have its stamp on the team culture for sure,” said Woodhead, whose position on the U.S. men’s team is attacker. “The Southern California guys definitely talk about traffic more than anyone else I’ve ever met.”
Athletes on the UC Berkeley Men’s water polo team rest during practice on July 18, 2024. (Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman/KQED)
Jenna Flynn, a Stanford sophomore who grew up in San José, attributes her success in making the Olympic team to the small scene for the sport in her hometown. She said there, she found a supportive community where she could hone her skills.
“I think that that’s something that we have over Southern California water polo,” said Flynn, a 20-year-old attacker on Team USA. “It’s an amazing opportunity to feel like I am a representative of NorCal water polo.”
The U.S. women’s team is considered a top contender for a gold medal this year. They have won the gold medal in the past three Olympics and appear to be in good form after winning a gold medal at the World Aquatics Championships in Qatar this year. Flynn scored 11 goals in the competition.
The last time the U.S. men’s team won medals was in the 2008 Olympics, earning silver. This summer, the team to beat is Serbia, which has won the gold medal in the past two Olympics.
Despite the small following for water polo, the sport got a pop culture moment earlier this month. Rapper Flavor Flav from the group Public Enemy dropped by the women’s team’s practice and dove into the pool.
“He was just like, ‘I’m gonna get in with you guys and see how hard this is!’” Flynn recalled.
Flav announced that he had signed a five-year sponsorship deal with the U.S. men’s and women’s senior national team and agreed to be the teams’ official hype man. He told CBS he was moved to help the team after seeing an Instagram post by women’s team captain Maggie Steffens, a native of Danville.
“Some may not know this, but most Olympians need a 2nd (or 3rd) job to support chasing the dream (myself included!) and most teams rely on sponsors for travel, accommodations, nutritional support, rent/lodging, and simply affording to live in this day and age,” Stephens posted on social media.
A plaque at Spieker Pool on the UC Berkeley Campus shows the names of past students who competed in the Olympics, with room for additional names. (Azul Dahlstrom-Eckman/KQED)
Without a professional water polo league in the U.S., the pinnacle for many American players remains the Olympics.
“It’s two weeks, and that might be the only time anybody ever sees the sport of water polo,” said Kirk Everist, coach of the men’s water polo at UC Berkeley for the past 22 seasons and a former two-time Olympian himself. “But they’ve been playing in tournaments and playing a lot for four years to get there. It’s not just that one tournament.”
Bay Area institutions of higher education have made their mark on this year’s Olympic teams. More than half of the men’s team this year played for either Stanford or UC Berkeley when they were students, and five members of the women’s team either currently play or played for Stanford.
Jake Howerton, a fifth-year senior, transferred from Pepperdine University in Los Angeles to play at Cal. He said he enjoys the Olympics because it gives the sport he loves, as well as California, a spotlight on the world stage.
“I grew up in a household where we sat down and watched the Olympics all day for that month,” he said, “It means the world to all of us, basically.”
He plans to do what many players do after college – head to Europe to play professionally until he can try out for the U.S. Olympic Team.
You can find the schedule of water polo matches here. You can learn more about the Bay Area athletes competing in the Paris Olympics here.
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