Refrained fits of laughter can be heard by senior Andres Equihua Sanchez as senior teammates Gabriel Dee and Kevin Tseng offer their answers to the question: “Why is water polo important to you?” Built upon this lighthearted cheer is the friendship between these three water polo players.
During the summer, Sanchez, Tseng and Dee traveled to various cities in Greece with Foothill Club Water Polo. Over 11 days, their club traveled to the islands of Crete, Milos and Santorini to practice and scrimmage against Greek water polo clubs.
“I think what I got most out of it was the aggressiveness there and just getting used to that,” Dee said. “I feel like when I came back here it was a lot easier to manage the people that I used to play with.”
Another unique opportunity that the boys had was a two-hour training session with the coach for the Greek women’s national water polo team.
“What he taught us was stuff that we don’t usually do here. He focuses a lot more on the technical aspects of the game,” Dee said. “Then he explained what certain skills were used for and where you can see it in a real game. I think that really helped us because sometimes we even implement those drills into our practice now.”
Though the group learned from playing in Greece, it proved the transition back to water polo in the United States difficult.
“After we came back I noticed myself getting ejected a lot more because I was so used to playing the game in Greece,” Sanchez said.
“It was kind of like unlearning what you knew to adapt back again to the playing style here,” Dee said in succession.
However, the trip was not solely for water polo, as Dee, Sanchez and Tseng made sure to save time between their morning and evening practices for tourism.
“There was one day where we just did a whole day of boat rides,” Tseng said.
“That was Santorini, that was super fun. The whole day we just rode a boat around the island and we got to hop out and swim and even go cliff diving,” Sanchez said.
Through their time spent together in Greece, the trio’s teamwork has improved drastically.
“I feel like my chemistry in the water is a lot stronger with these two because I know how they play,” Sanchez said. “I know what Kevin might do, I know what Gabe might do. If they swim a certain way, I’ll probably know what they’re gonna do next. I’m thinking that they’ll probably shoot the ball, pass it, keep swimming or keep driving.”
This chemistry, however, does not only exist in the water. Rather, the bond between Sanchez, Tseng and Dee when playing water polo translates to their everyday friendship.
When Tseng responded to the initial question, “I think being able to play with a team is my favorite part. It gets really fun when you can assist a teammate or just bond together because a lot of the times during club we would eat together after the games. We got a lot closer and it was really a fun experience.”
