THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF USA WATER POLO A NEW HOME Plans announced for new Five Point Aquatic Center to serve as home for USA Water Polo in Irvine, California VOLUME 34, NUMBER 4, WINTER 2019 WATER POLO GETS BIGGER IN TEXAS P. 23 THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF USA WATER POLO VOL. 34, NUM. 4, Winter 2019 What’s Inside... USA WATER POLO NATIONAL OFFICE ON THE COVER . 6 Morgan, Suite 150, Irvine, CA 92618 (714) 500-5445 business • (714) 500-5449 membership USA Water Polo athletes Inside Water ...................2 USA WATER POLO NATIONAL TRAINING CENTER and staff celebrate the 11360 Valley Forge Ave., Los Alamitos, CA 90720 A PlansNEW announced for new FiveHOME Point Aquatic Center to serve as home for USA Water Polo in Irvine, California announcement of a new WEB SITE www.usawaterpolo.org aquatic facility in Irvine 5 Meters ......................4 with the Great Park Board WATER POLO CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GETS BIGGER IN TEXAS Christopher Ramsey P. 23 of Directors. CHIEF MEMBERSHIP & ADVANCEMENT OFFICER Photo by Mai Lam From the Deck ................18 Stephanie London Krogius CHIEF HIGH PERFORMANCE OFFICER John Abdou SENIOR DIRECTOR OF MEMBERSHIP & SAFESPORT COMPLIANCE Lob Shots ....................22 Christy Sicard DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS Greg Mescall DIRECTOR OF EVENTS Ryan Cunnane Hot Shots ....................24 DIRECTOR OF MARKETING Nancy Atufunwa DIRECTOR OF FINANCE Scott Aubin DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES Joni Walbring SENIOR HIGH PERFORMANCE MANAGER Anne Laurence FINANCE MANAGER ReCaps Fay Hu DIGITAL MEDIA MANAGER Sherie Key Rock’tober . 12 TEXAS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Joe Linehan EVENTS MANAGER ReCaps Katie Wieber pg10 DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Also In This Issue Eva Padilla SPORT GROWTH MANAGER Champions Cup Genai Kerr High School NATIONAL REFEREE MANAGER SOCAL & Vanguard Win Big In Houston Levon Dermendjian Champions . 22 PARTNERSHIP MARKETING MANAGER Yiyon Lee MEMBERSHIP PROGRAMS AND OPERATIONS MANAGER Men’s Collegiate Hannah Meyer MEMBERSHIP COORDINATOR/ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Champions . 22 Emily Cardona HIGH PERFORMANCE COORDINATOR Meghan Nee EVENTS COORDINATOR Look Ahead... Blake Nahmias NATIONAL REFEREE COORDINATOR Next Issue Tiffany Spiritosanto EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CEO >ODP Returns To North Carolina; Heads To Utah Mai Lam EVENTS COORDINATOR McKenna Mitchell COMMUNICATIONS/SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR Robert Nilsen STRATEGIC PLANNING ASSOCIATE Marty Samuels BOARD OF DIRECTORS Michael Graff (Chairman), Rudy Baldoni, Houston Hall, Kay Krill, Sheldon Pang, > Team USA Takes Indy! Walt Price, Alfonso Pulido, Bill Smith, Jessica Steffens, Peter Varellas, Brenda Villa, pg14 ReCaps Gerrit Adams, Susan Bao, Laura Muller, Ted Weggeland EDITOR Greg Mescall 2019 Golf CONTRIBUTORS Kelley Casey, Kelley L. Cox, Angela Kraus, Jonathan Moore, Matt Szabo, Michael Randazzo, Dave Williamson, Brian Alexander, Chris Ramsey, Dr. Naresh Rao, Elizabeth Judge, Daniel Cavallo, Chris Duffy, Ray Kreienkamp Tournaments PRINTING Quad Graphics, 555 South 108th Street, West Allis, WI 53214 Water Polo Community Turns Out CREATIVE Adrenalin, Inc., 54 West 11th Ave., Denver, CO 80204 For Two Great Day Of Golf 303-454-8888 • goadrenalin.com USA Water Polo Skip Shot Magazine (ISSN# 15507580) is published four times per year by United States Water Polo, Inc., 6 Morgan, Suite 150, Irvine, CA 92618. Periodicals postage is paid at Irvine, CA 92618 and additional mailing offices. usawaterpolo.org 1 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Skip Shot Magazine, United States Water Polo, Inc., 6 Morgan, Suite 150, Irvine, CA 92618 INSIDE WATER letter from the CEO, Christopher Ramsey USA WATER POLO Innovative Partnership Leads To New Home For USA Water Polo USA Water Polo has a new home. This is The new NTC initiative is the product of an in- Irvine itself attracted our interest because it’s the result of many years of work to create novative partnership with the City of Irvine, nationally recognized as one of America’s safest a new, world-class stadium and national FivePoint, USA Water Polo, and the U.S. Olympic and most successful master-planned urban com- and Paralympic Committee. FivePoint, the com- munities. Top-rated educational institutions, an training center (“NTC”). Our efforts paid mercial entity developing the Great Park, designs enterprising business atmosphere, sound environ- off in October when the board of the OC and develops mixed use, master-planned com- mental stewardship, and respect for diversity all Great Park and the Irvine City Council munities in coastal California. The new facility contribute to Irvine’s enviable quality of life. This approved a program to create a three-pool, will have a multi-story parking garage that will family-friendly city features more than 16,000 seven-acre aquatic center that will become serve our needs and those of other Park residents, usable acres of parks, sports fields, and dedicated including our new neighbor, the Anaheim Ducks. open space. It also is accessible via numerous ex- the permanent home of USA Water Polo. We anticipate that the new NTC will be completed cellent airports and light rail stations. The new facility will accomplish two of our by early 2023. The NTC will be an athlete-centric facility. Our longstanding goals: The OC Great Park is located on the site of the national team athletes have been an integral part 1. Provide our athletes with a former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, an area of the design process. In addition to the pools, our superior environment in which spanning approximately 1,300 acres. Within the national teams will benefit from spacious locker to train and compete. boundaries of the park, more than 200 acres have rooms, team rooms, a culinary kitchen, Olympic been developed, with 688 additional acres in the weight room, film and control rooms, an audito- 2. Provide spectators with a dramati- planning and design phases. Upon completion, we rium, as well as a permanent Hall of Fame installa- cally enhanced experience, both in believe the OC Great Park will be among Ameri- tion. It’s also important to note that the NTC will the arena and via media outlets. ca’s national treasures that sets a new standard for be built at no additional cost to ANY member of great metropolitan parks around the world. USA Water Polo. In addition to the senior national Renderings courtesy of Five Point Holdings An artist rendering of Five Point Aquatic Center. 2 team, the NTC also will become the site of ODP camps, new tournaments and test events, and many other member events and activities on a year-round basis. Water polo always has suffered as a spectator sport because, among other things, it can be hard to see what’s happening in the water. Our goal for the NTC is to make it the world’s #1 water polo venue. We plan to transform the spectator experi- ence through the use of technology, including high definition scoreboards and multiple video camera installations, both above and below the water. We are benchmarking professional sports like football and basketball to improve the media experience via broadcast and streaming, and we will be con- sulting with some of the best in the business to ensure that we can do better as an entertainment experience. Although more than 90 percent of funding for No USA Water Polo membership dollars will be used to build the facility and the project has been secured, we will be launch- it is expected to open prior to the 2024 Olympic Games. ing a legacy campaign to create a fund that will support special costs during design and construc- tion, while also “future-proofing” the NTC so that possible because of the terrific effort of athletes, cious goal. The new NTC will be a game-changer funds will be available for future needs that cannot coaches, and officials every day. We are grateful to for water polo. We will keep you informed as this be fully anticipated. We are deeply grateful to the Mayor Christina Shea and the Irvine City Council transformative project moves forward. water polo community, which already has pledged and Chairman Farrah Khan and the OC Great more than $10 million for this purpose. We expect Park Board of Directors, as well as John Russo and to start this campaign later in 2020, and we prom- the staff at the City of Irvine, and Emile Haddad ise there will be many exciting ways to participate. and his team at FivePoint. I want to thank Mike Water polo is a team game, and our new National Graff and our board of directors, whose generosity Training Center will be the result of many dedi- and commitment to widening the impact of water cated volunteers, some of whom have worked for polo is making a difference—and without whom Chris years toward this result. It also has been made we never could have accomplished such an auda- Stay current with USA Water Polo by visiting USAWaterPolo.org or joining our social media community! www.facebook.com/usawp www.youtube.com/usawp www.twitter.com/usawp snapchat www.instagram.com/usawp Follow “USAWP” If you have a comment or question concerning Skip Shot magazine, send in a letter to the editor. LETTERS TO You can write to Skip Shot Magazine: THE EDITOR c/o USA Water Polo, 6 Morgan, Suite 150, Irvine, CA 92618 or send an email to: [email protected] usawaterpolo.org 3 5 METERS Quick Shots from USA Water Polo USA WATER POLO My Did You Know? Music The Women’s Senior National Team won its third straight FINA World Championship this summer, JACOB BORMAN, SACRAMENTO WATER POLO (CA) which set a record for consecutive world “Space Cadet” by Metro Boomin —Fun to listen to after a game and when I’m with my friends. championship titles in a row for a men’s or “Warm Up” by NF women’s water polo program. —By far one of my favorites to jam to when I’m in the car or on my way to a game.