The start of this year has brought in a lot of great wins for Granada sports teams and the boys’ water polo team should not be left out of the list of wins. On the weekend of September 8-9, Granada’s boys’ water polo team played in the Sierra Shootout, a varsity-exclusive tournament at Sierra College in Rocklin. There they won 3 out of the 4 games they played and solidified their standing as a team to beat this year.
For those who don’t know, water polo consists of four eight-minute quarters with 7 players from each team, including a goalie, in the pool. A game begins with a ball in the center of the pool and both teams sprint for it from their goal lines. The point of the game is to push, carry, or throw the ball into the opponent’s goal. Whoever has the most points at the end of the final quarter wins the game.
During the tournament, Granada played against Sierra College, Johansen High, Rodriguez High, and Del Oro High. Most of the games they played were very close and could have gone either way for much of the game like Sierra (Granada: 8-9: Sierra), Rodriguez (Granada: 10-8: Rodriguez), and Del Oro (Granada: 9-6: Del Oro). In the game against Johansen on the other hand, Granada had a sweeping win of 18-8.
The water polo team incorporated strategies that allowed them to win both during practice and at the tournament. One particular strategy had a clear beneficial connection between practice and the game. Abraham Mercer (12th grade) explained that during the practices leading up to the tournament, the team focused a lot on improving their “counterattacks” and another player Brody Manolopoulos (12th grade) cited “counterattacks” as a key strategy that gained them success in the tournament. Manolopoulos also explained, “On offense, we would move around and confuse the defenders by screening each other and we started using quick shots so that defenders didn’t have time to react”. The team found ways to use the skills they had already developed in a way that would confuse defenders and let other players on the Granada team perform to the best of their ability.
Mason Woodward, Alex Piscotty, Brody Manolopoulos, Elliot Kerr, and Abraham Mercer were crucial players who helped their team secure their 3 wins. Abraham Mercer scored a lot of goals in the tournament breaking a previously standing Granada record for the amount of goals in a water polo game. Mercer informed me that “Brody had a lot of assists which helped us [the team] score more and Mason was dominating on defense and had a lot of steals”. Highlighting these players gives credit to some of the hard-working players on the team but does not overshadow the other players who make up the team and all played a part in Granada’s success over the past weekend.
Mercer explained that winning gives the team more confidence and teaches the team how to work well together not just as individuals. The boys’ water polo team plays games every week and will participate in a tournament in Turlock during homecoming week. Get out and go watch a water polo game, it is sure to be exciting!
