Columbus, OH - Upper Arlington High School defeated St Charles Preparatory School in a decisive battle to take home the coveted Ohio Cup Trophy on Sunday at Thomas Worthington Aquatic Complex in Worthington (Columbus) Ohio on Sunday evening.
Saturday nights Ohio State-USC game at OSU set the local stage for Sundays finals which capped 2 days of play in which all 12 Ohio High School teams battled for supremacy over two courses at the beautiful 4 pool (indoor and outdoor) complex just outside Columbus.
Ohio Water Polo is a testament to what a group of dedicated parents and coaches can do to develop a water polo in a complete vacuum with no assistance from the outside. Now in its 18th year of existence, the Ohio program has grown, now sending both boys and girls into both the Olympic Development program and the USA Water Polo Junior Olympics through the closest USA Water Polo Club located 4 hours away in Ann Arbor Michigan. The local referee association has used the remote learning opportunities in USA Water Polo's Water Polo Academy to bring local referees to a newfound consistency and the parents booster club is now discussing implementing their own Junior Olympics team via a year round program with the help of Liz Grimes from USA Water Polo. Former Californians Greg Sanchez and Scott Allen have joined with Buckeye faculty member Peter Pappas to help the parents group and help sponsor a clinic each year to improve the training of both referees and coaches.
This is as dedicated a group of water polo people as you can find who simply do not use the term "can't be done". Worthington High School has only one set of shot clocks for the 2 course event, not a problem for Worthington's parent booster Shawn Kline who figured out how to adapt the scoring system used by the field hockey team to be used in water polo. This system does not have a synchronous time clock and shot clock so the parent on the main clock calls "reset, new clock" as they use the main clock to keep the shot clock in synch.
Tournament organizers had all tournament results posted immediately on charts at both pools as well as outside the concession stand to allow players and fans to keep track of the event. All games ran on time (on the hour) and there was not one delay all weekend in sunny 75 degree late summer weather.
Ohios coaches are an interesting eclectic group. Many of the coaches came from the ranks of the collegiate club system where Ohio high schools have fueled the growth of such collegiate club schools as Ohio State, Ohio University and Miami of Ohio. St Charles Preparatory School boasts head coach Geoff Gear, former player for Russ Yarworth's repeat Eastern Championship team University of Massachusetts.
The 'Can Do" attitude of the Ohio folks is exemplified by the Worthington teams. Thomas R Worthington High School recently grew to the point where they had to break into 2 different high schools- Thomas Worthington and Worthington Kilbourne. Lacking a Water Polo coach for the newly formed Kilbourne, Worthingtons head coach John Wolf now fills the job of Head coach for BOTH boys and girls teams, giving him a 4 team development job in 2 separate (rival) high schools which he has somehow managed to make work very well.
Kudos to this group of intrepid people who have shown their kids that "No can do" is simply not acceptable and have managed to forge a vibrant successful water polo program despite some heavy odds!
Gold Medal: Upper Arlington High School
Silver Medal: St Charles High School
Bronze Medal: Thomas Worthington High School
Ohio Cup All Tournament Team
Danny Trotier (goalie) Upper Arlington HS
Walid Chaieiky- Thomas Worthington HS
Chris Culin- Sycamore
Dan Matulis- Milford
Cris Miranda-Upper Arlington
John Spangler-Upper Arlington
Orion Swanson-St Charles
courtesy of Joan Gould
