May 16, 2013
By Greg Mescall
On November 3, 2012, the boys of North Allegheny (PA) High School topped Cumberland Valley (PA) 12-9 to win their first state championship. The victory last fall was amazing for a number of reasons, as inaugural titles often are. The Tigers traveled a minimum of two hours for every road game. They defeated Pennsylvania's perennial powerhouses all located closer to Philadelphia, a solid five hours away. And the entire team consisted of athletes from the same club, Tiger Water Polo.
But perhaps most importantly, it confirmed one indisputable fact: Scholastic water polo had arrived in Western Pennsylvania.
Six years ago club president Jim Staresinic walked on to the pool deck for practice with only four or five athletes, and remarked at the near-perfect attendance. Such was life on the water polo island of Pittsburgh. Then earlier this spring on the weekend of April 6-7, athletes were turned away from a clinic that had reached capacity at the University of Pittsburgh, featuring Olympic Silver Medalists Ryan Bailey, Merrill Moses, and Jeff Powers...along with nearly 80 area water polo players.
"My experience with the Olympians was absolutely amazing, a once in a lifetime opportunity," said Chloe Baierl, a 17-year old high school junior in her third year with the club. "I remember at one point in particular each player had a chance to defend Ryan Bailey in hole set. We were all kind of scared at first, but it ended up being a very fun--and funny--experience. I mean, who else can say they defended the center player of the USA Olympic team?"
To say times have changed would be an understatement.
The clinic--orchestrated by Club and North Allegheny Head Coach Nikola Malezanov, who spent time with the Men's National Team coaching staff in 2009 and 2011--highlighted a growth in Pittsburgh Water Polo that's far from reaching a plateau. As the three Olympians spent two jam-packed days teaching skills, imparting wisdom, and posing for photos, the next phase of growing boys and girls water polo in the Steel City was just hours from unfolding.
Once the clinic wrapped, the Pittsburgh Water Polo Club--now referred to as Tiger Water Polo, in deference to their home pool at North Allegheny--began spring league. Every Sunday for two to three hours, the club conducts extended introductions to water polo. This league features a variety of athletes, generally middle-school age, who are new to the sport or perhaps returning after a hiatus. The goal is to get them involved in water polo; they aren't officially club members, but that is the hope.
"Our goal right now is really two fold. To continue to try and provide quality experience to learn and play at higher levels," said Staresinic. "We'll continue to try and develop those types of opportunities. Equally important is membership growth. We're focused on growing our membership through marketing and promotions and awareness campaigns as well as developmental programs. Attracting children at younger ages to at least give the sport a try. [We are] all about exposing water polo to kids to maybe who have seen it, but predominantly those who haven't."
Sixty-five kids signed up for the spring league; 37 were younger than 13. The spring league will give way to the first-ever summer league. The club has partnered with local swim clubs to offer water polo one day a week, concluding in a series of games. While Staresinic has helped lead efforts to help the club offer more opportunities to all, Malezanov has taken water polo to a new level.
A veteran of the U.S. Naval Academy water polo scene as a Midshipmen coach (as well as a coach for its accompanying aquatics club), the former Serbian pro has helped the club--and the area--excel in the pool.
"In my mind when I got here the kids here were already heavily involved," said Malezanov. "But a lot of kids were on loops between swimming and water polo, and there was always an issue here with swimming coaches," Malezanov made efforts to unify the two groups and ease concerns any coaches had about letting their kids play water polo. "Pittsburgh is a big swimming town; it's a good thing. We are trying to make a strong aquatic program overall and let the kids do both."
Strength has been achieved--and it resulted in teams going to the Junior Olympics, athletes taking part in ODP and earning invites to the National Training & Selection Camp (26 and 7 in 2013) and the state championship team, chock full of club players. Malezanov took his high school team of veritable road warriors all across the state. Only two schools were somewhat nearby--
two hours away in Erie. All other destinations were on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Same goes for the club; Navy is the nearest competitor, almost five hours away.
But none of it seems to faze this group that's determined to play water polo and get better along the way.
And that determination pays off with the weekends like the one in early April.
"It was fantastic; it far exceeded everybody's expectation--even our own. We weren't sure what to expect," recalled Staresinic. "With Ryan, Merrill and Jeff there, they just ran a fantastic clinic; I hate to even call it a camp or clinic because it sounds too normal. They were in the water with the kids nearly the entire time."
Moses--a first time visitor to Pittsburgh--raved about the community, the kids, and the coach. He's making plans to return soon.
"Nikola is doing an amazing job bringing such a high-level club team to that area that never had water polo before," Moses said. "And giving kids access to the Olympians is priceless for them. We hope we can have more coaches do what Nikola did and bring Olympians in touch with [other] kids around the country. We want to promote our sport and make it popular in other states outside of California."
Charles Ross, a 16-year-old sophomore who plays in the cage, credited Malezanov with the success of the club and took away some big memories from the weekend: "The clinic was very challenging, and it showed me my legs were a lot weaker than I thought. I learned a ton and had a great time. My favorite part was blocking Jeff Powers when he shot. He might not have been really trying, but I still blocked an Olympian!"
The excitement surrounding that weekend is great fuel for the spring and summer seasons, Staresinic noted. For those who've been around the club since the beginning, the change is nothing short of impressive. "Now it's a robust organization that's regularly providing great opportunities through events like the clinic or tournaments we put on, or Junior Olympics or ODP, just so many avenues and venues available to kids who are in our club," added Staresinic. "The opportunities they are getting now to have great water polo experiences and get better as players--there are just so many now [compared] to where we were six years ago."
With the age-group program thriving, a masters club expanding annually, and talk of other Pittsburgh area high schools adding water polo, the next six years of water polo in Western Pennsylvania might be even more amazing.
This article will appear in a future issue of SkipShot Magazine
