Team ready for action
After several seasons of relative obscurity for the Utah State water polo club, the team’s captains are looking to make the club known in a big way. Captains Shae Bundy and Paul Wilson have high hopes, both for the team and for increasing publicity among Aggies.
For those unfamiliar with the sport, water polo is played with a team of seven people in the water: A goalie, left and right wing, hole man, point man and two posts. The most familiar sport to compare game play to is soccer.
The point man is in charge of bringing the ball to the front. The ball is passed and plays are run to set picks or set up an open shot for the opposing team’s goal. With the exception of the goalie, players are allowed to only touch the ball with one hand at a time. The game is divided into seven-minute quarters and is played in a minimum depth of 8 feet of water.
“The teams are really looking pretty good,” Bundy said. “[We’re] going to be real competitive.”
Currently, the team is getting into the men’s season, which typically lasts from September to November. There are four major tournaments, all of which are out of state.
The first was last weekend in New Mexico. The team split the tournament – two wins, two losses. +The wins were over Wyoming and the Colorado School of Mines. The losses were to the University of Utah and a close game against Colorado State.
“The team played well and learned a lot,” said Wilson. He added that the Colorado State game came down to the last two minutes and Utah was “really good and showed it.”
The next tournament for the Aggies will be in Colorado in two weeks. The women’s season will then start after the winter break with a similar schedule.
According to Bundy and Wilson, the teams have a lot to look forward to. The women’s team is in its second season and is looking forward to the new blood brought on this season. Although the Aggie women won’t compete until spring, they’re practicing hard with the men to prepare.
“Some good things that came out of last season,” Bundy said, “are that we learned how everything works. We had to go through how we set these tournaments. We held the Aggie Invitational last year, had the high school teams come up and play against each other. We did a lot of networking on the women’s side.”
The men’s team is working just as hard to improve, Wilson said.
With a tournament schedule including Air Force, Colorado State , in-state rival University of Utah and a local schedule that’s still being worked out, they hope to make a turnaround from last year’s season.
“We’re looking forward to new players,” Wilson said. “Really, we have a lot of them and we’re looking forward to facing the teams in our division. For the guys, we have about four returning players and 10 new players, so about two-thirds [are new].”
Despite most of the team being new to USU, they’re not inexperienced. Most played in high school and many played on college club teams at other schools.
The most notable addition to the men’s team is goalie Corey Holmgren.
“[He’s] definitely one to look out for,” Wilson said.
Other players that could be a force on the men’s side include veteran Matt Steed, newcomer Brandon Vaughn and, Bundy added, Wilson himself.
“We’re definitely better than we were last year,” Wilson continued.
Wilson listed a better understanding of the game, continual improvement and beating the teams that they were close to defeating last year as his goals.
Bundy had similar goals herself, hoping to see success for the women’s team.
As Bundy said, “We’re really trying to build a foundation for later on.”
-tathornley@cc.usu.edu
One of the USU water polo coaches swims to block a ball tuesday night during practice at the HPER. The Ags had two wins at a tournament over the weekend.