Nashville, TN – February 15, 2012— The Tennessee Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association (TISCA) has announced the addition of water polo as a varsity sport beginning in 2013. The announcement was made last week at the 2012 State Swimming Championships Spring meeting. The move to add water polo was spearheaded by Tim Davis, Head Coach of the swim teams at Cleveland High School in Cleveland, Tennessee.
"I am pleased that TISCA has chosen to include water polo as part of the aquatic sports represented in the state of Tennessee," said Davis. "I know the athletes will enjoy the sport and I look forward to the day when collegiate teams will have rosters that include representatives from Tennessee."
Davis' efforts were bolstered by a presentation from Christy Medigovich, USA Water Polo Membership Manager at the meeting. Medigovich introduced USA Water Polo programs including US Leagues, USAWP Club programs, and athlete memberships. With infrastructure already in place including pools, coaches, and aquatic athletes there is a high level of excitement around the announcement.
"USA Water Polo felt that it was important to do what we could to support Tim Davis and the other Tennessee coaches and Athletic Directors who were interested in adding water polo as a high school sport," said Claudia Dodson, USA Water Polo Director, Club & Member Programs. "Sending Christy Medigovich, our Membership Manager to represent USAWP at the Tennessee Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association (TISCA) Spring meeting in Nashville enabled us to engage in a live discussion and answer questions. I believe Christy's visit illustrated to TISCA that USAWP was committed to supporting their effort and helped facilitate the unanimous decision to add water polo in Spring 2013."
The TISCA Water Polo Task Force is in the midst of developing a blueprint for the inaugural season in 2013. Early plans envision the state divided into four regions for water polo competition including Chattanooga, East Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and West Tennessee. For the first four years of competition play will be co-ed and water polo will be offered to the over 140 schools that compete in swimming in Tennessee. TISCA along with assistance from USA Water Polo will work through additional necessary steps to begin competition including equipment purchase, coach and referee instruction, rules application, and sport designation status.
About USA Water Polo USA Water Polo, Inc. is the national governing body for water polo in America, overseeing our United States Olympic program as well as 20 different championship events annually, such as Junior Olympics and Masters National Championships. With more than 40,000 members, USAWP is also the sanctioning authority for more than 500 Member Clubs and more than 400 tournaments nationwide. USAWP is committed to the development of the sport nationwide. It fosters grass-roots expansion of the sport, providing a national system of affiliated clubs, certified coaches and officials.
