THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF USA WATER POLO QUALIFIED! USA Women Roll Through Olympic Qualifier To Punch Ticket To Rio VOLUME 31, NUMBER 1, SPRING 2016 1ST EVER DARE TO DREAM p. 18 THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF USA WATER POLO VOL. 31, NUM. 1, Spring 2016 What’s Inside... USA WATER POLO NATIONAL OFFICE ON THE COVER . 2124 Main Street, Suite 240, The USA Women’s Inside Water ...................2 Huntington Beach, CA 92648 National Team celebrates (714) 500-5445 business • (714) 500-5449 membership • (714) 960-2431 fax Turbo 5 Meters .................4 USA WATER POLO NATIONAL TRAINING CENTER qualifying for the 2016 11360 Valley Forge Ave., Olympic Games. Los Alamitos, CA 90720 USA Women Roll Through Olympic Qualifier To Punch Ticket To Rio Photos courtesy Beeldboot QUALIFIED! 1ST EVER Water Polo Times ..............8 (562) 799-8506 business • (562) 799-8508 fax DARE TO DREAM p. 18 WEB SITE www.usawaterpolo.org A Day in the Life ...............26 CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Christopher Ramsey Water Polo Scene ..............27 CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Marty Samuels CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER From the Deck ................28 Jim Callahan CHIEF ADVANCEMENT OFFICER Stephanie London Krogius Lob Shots ....................33 DIRECTOR, CLUB & MEMBER PROGRAMS Claudia Dodson DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS Hot Shots ....................36 Greg Mescall HIGH PERFORMANCE DIRECTOR John Abdou DIRECTOR OF MARKETING ReCaps Jeff Dyrek DIRECTOR OF MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENT Christy Medigovich Olympic Qualification . 12 DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES Gayle Shanks pg14 ReCaps OLYMPIC DEVELOPMENT OPERATIONS MANAGER National League . 13 Anne Laurence MEMBERSHIP & EVENTS MANAGER Kayla Heath ODP National Dare to Dream . 16 FINANCE MANAGER Fay Hu TEXAS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Championships College Alumni . 17 Joe Linehan Pipeline Rich With Talent MARKETING COORDINATOR Annalece Montgomery FINA Texas . 18 DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR Yiyon Lee MEMBERSHIP COORDINATOR Kathryn Manderino VIDEO PRODUCER Sherie Key EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CEO Mai Lam RECEPTIONIST Look Ahead... Bryson Walker BOARD OF DIRECTORS Next Issue Michael Graff (Chairman), Ryan Bailey, Rudy Baldoni, RoAnn Costin, Richard Esterkin, Houston Hall, Ray Kennedy, Jeremy Laster, > Rio 2016 Preview Ellen Estes Lee, Sheldon Pang, Steve Rodosky, Vicky Rogers, Bill Smith, Jessica Steffens, Robert Sternfels EDITOR Greg Mescall CONTRIBUTORS Darcy Couch, Jim Cullingham, Ed Haas, Stan Schwimer, Kelley Casey, Allen Lorentzen, Kelley L. Cox, Angela Kraus, Peter Trabucco, Paul Ciaravino, Joey Rossi, Mark Felix, Jonathan Moore, Corbin Elliott, John Konstantaras pg20 PRINTING > Junior Olympics Preview Quad Graphics, 555 South 108th Street, West Allis, WI 53214 CREATIVE Adrenalin, Inc., 54 West 11th Ave., Denver, CO 80204 Adam Krikorian 303-454-8888 • goadrenalin.com New Quadrennial, New Challenges USA Water Polo Skip Shot Magazine (ISSN# 15507580) is published four times per year by United States Water Polo, Inc., located at 2124 Main Street, Suite 240, Huntington Beach, CA 92648. Periodicals postage is paid at Huntington Beach, CA 92648 and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Skip Shot Magazine, United States Water Polo, Inc., 2124 Main Street, Suite 240, Huntington Beach, CA 92648 usawaterpolo.org 1 INSIDE WATER letter from the CEO, Christopher Ramsey USA WATER POLO The Beauty of Our Game “When this team plays the way it can, that’s beautiful water polo.” – Coach Adam Krikorian Art is eternal, unforgettable. time, it was 10-4. The final result, less interesting Committee Member from Hungary, wrote after than how we arrived there, was 15-7. the game, “It was water polo in its prime; Steffens Last month a rare moment of beauty occurred & Co. seemed to walk on water as they scored from in our sport. It was unleashed in the first half of One difference between sport and art is that we all possible situations, man-up, counter, action, a game against Greece—and may be remembered keep score. Where art and sport can merge, on an drive-in. Any angle, any time.” beyond the score or the tournament or even the uncommon day, is when the score is less compel- prized Olympic bid. ling to the observer than the Technicolor memory It’s not terribly often in the whitewater churn of of the contest. international water polo that we are truly inspired It was my privilege to attend the Olympic Quali- by the splendor of our game. That splendor exists, fication tournament in Gouda, Netherlands. At In the Greece game, Team USA played stunning, though, and can reveal itself at any time, just as game time of its match with Team USA, Greece exceptional defense. The relentless pressure led to Michelangelo described when he “saw the angel in had been the surprise of the tournament, unde- wave after wave of counter attacks, so rapid that the marble and carved until I set him free.” Con- feated in its first three games. For our part, we were at times our team reminded me of a dolphin pod gratulations to our team for making a memory not coming off a hard-fought 8-6 victory over Spain. racing from Dana Point to Laguna Beach. The speed of transition built upon itself. You could soon forgotten while qualifying for Rio—and for Gouda boasted a small venue, and I watched from sense the anticipation on our defensive end of the inspiring all of us to make more memories from a few feet away with an assortment of water polo our beautiful game. pool spanning seamlessly into each of our offen- lifers from many of the world’s great sporting na- sive possessions. Anticipation led to creativity. The tions. gaps between defenders widened under the relent- The game began innocently enough. Kami Craig less torrent of speed, allowing an array of wet and scored on a skip shot for a 1-0 lead. Greece evened dry passes, drives and shots of all descriptions. The the contest, but the United States came back with players in each case not only converted chances two more, one from Kiley Neushul and another but also created original pathways and combina- from Makenzie Fischer. Greece mustered another tions, gorgeous in their conception and result. power play goal to pull within 3-2, but we were just One veteran Australian turned to me in the second Chris beginning our work. In the span of two minutes quarter and said, “Your team is playing really beau- Aria Fischer, Maggie Steffens and Neushul strung tiful water polo.” Gergely Csurka, FINA Media goals together to build a 6-2 advantage. By half- 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 www.instragram.com/usawp www.pinterest.com/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, 2124 Main Street, Suite 240, Huntington Beach, CA 92648 or 2 send an email to: [email protected] Stop by Sea Air Federal Credit Union’s booth for information about our exclusive package designed to support our student-aged savers and learn about our youth programs for great saving opportunities. 888.732.2471 Colorado Time Systems is pleased to announce the introduction of a completely wireless timing and scoring solution for water polo. The portable scoreboard can be moved within your facility to accomodate the best viewing for your audience (caddy sold separately). Game and shot time are displayed in an all-new ruggedized polyethylene molded plastic enclosure. All components are controlled with a 2.4GHz wireless controller. 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My Lewisville, never watched water polo before but came out club had over 200 kids last summer. The Texas, recently due to the media coverage. We’ve had more number of club teams throughout our zone hosted the interest in our club programs from people in has nearly doubled. As the level of high school FINA Women’s the area. water polo has improved, more kids want to play year round. Intercontinental SS: You’ve worked hard along with many Tournament, the others to get water polo sanctioned by the SS: The high school season is underway in first time a water state of Texas at the high school level. What’s Texas, and you coach in Denton. For boys’ and polo event like the latest on this initiative? How would UIL girls’ teams, which are some of the top ones to that has come to sanctioning change things for water polo? beat in 2016? Texas. What was CC: Currently the UIL Legislative Council CC: I say you can never count out the that experience has the proposal to sanction water polo in a champions. For the boys, St. Mark’s lost a like for the “continue to study the growth” pattern.