Despite having a women’s water polo team for more than 10 years, San Diego State, didn’t have a men’s water polo team until 2007, when the men’s water polo club team was founded as Aztec Recreation sports club.
Since its establishment, the team has been working hard to be a successful club sport on campus, despite its rocky start.
In its beginning stages, the men’s team dealt with a few problems primarily dealing with inexperienced leadership, an inconsistent number of interested players to develop an appropriate team and a lack of coaching.
Issues that were disrupting the team began to mount and eventually reached a boiling point.
[quote]“The main issue the club faced was at the end of the school year in 2010,” team president and Executive President for SDSU Sports Clubs Kyle Sessa said. “Past leaders of the club graduated and handed the team over to our past president Tim Perry with little to no explanation on how to run the team.”[/quote]
With the lack of experience the club needed and not having a dependable coach for a good amount of time, the men’s water polo team had no choice but to make a conscious decision to turn things around, and that’s exactly what it did.
“We stepped up our recruitment on campus,” Sessa said. “We lowered our dues of membership, and most importantly we hired our current coach Larry Sanders. These three things were extremely helpful in not only obtaining new members, but keeping those new members coming out to practices.”
Sanders, who previously coached the University of California, San Diego women’s water polo team for 10 seasons, was a much needed addition to the men’s water polo club at SDSU.
Sanders said he was happy to be brought on as coach and become an asset in the continued development of the men’s team, despite the team’s past struggles.
[quote]“I looked at it as an opportunity to bring water polo players together and bring an opportunity back to SDSU for men’s water polo players to be able to play again and enjoy the sport,” Sanders said.[/quote]
Sanders has done more than just bring the players together.
“Coach Larry’s presence on the pool deck has helped tremendously,” Sessa said. “He structured the practices, held players accountable when they didn’t show up to practice and gave our team a glimmer of hope for being able to turn things around.”
Business sophomore and team Tyler Coday also said Sanders brings many different elements to the team that have been the difference in the team’s success as of late.
[quote] “Playing under coach Sanders has been great,” Coday said. “He brings his knowledge of the game, which allows us to run better plays, have stronger game plans, and also just that leadership that a team needs to be held together.”[/quote]
The men’s team has made its presence known this year in the Men’s National Collegiate Club Pacific Coast Division as a part of the Collegiate Water Polo Association.
This season the team finished tied for second in it’s division with an overall record of 5-2. The team finished strong despite the hurdles it’s had to overcome throughout over the past few seasons.
Next, the men’s water polo team is set to compete in the Pacific Coast Division Championships at 11 a.m. on Nov. 2 – 3 at the SDSU Aquaplex.
Some of the teams competing include: UCLA; University of Southern California; University of California, Santa Barbara; UCSD; California Polytechnic State University; California State University, Northridge; and California State University Long Beach.
With continued perseverance and a few vital improvements made to the club, the SDSU men’s water polo team has completely restructured itself and now prides itself on being a great addition to SDSU sports.
Photo courtesy of Eric Johnson
