General 1/18/2023 12:00:00 PM Aimee Berg

DC Panthers Tries To Expand Water Polo Opportunities For Underserved Kids

The DC Panthers are less than a year old and already, its five founders have grand visions. They hope their fledgling nonprofit water polo club in the nation's capital will eventually provide a template for cities across the country.

Since June, the group has been introducing water polo to boys and girls ages 9 to 15, from lower-income communities by partnering with the DC Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) who provide pool space and lifeguards rent-free.

The group also enlisted Good Sports to donate swimsuits – all in an effort to lower barriers of entry and solve what co-president Rob Rosenberg described as a potentially "generational problem." Most people learn to swim because their parents take them to the pool, he explained, but when whole communities have historically been denied full access to aquatic sports, kids never get access to the game the founders love.

The idea was born at a Tastee Diner four days before Christmas 2019. "It seemed like all of us had the idea germinating in our heads in different ways," said Rob Whiteside, an account director at LinkedIn and president of NOVA Water Polo masters club in DC. "How are we actually going to make this happen?"

When they approached the DPR, Whiteside said, "I expected it was going to take heavy salesmanship, a lot of pitching, but our mission of helping kids from underserved communities get more aquatic experience resonated with them from the first conversation," which led to more conversations and eventually a partnership. "In government terms, it moved pretty quickly," Whiteside said.

On June 8, 2022, the summer pilot began with 12 enrollees practicing twice a week at an indoor pool in Ward 7, just a four-minute walk from the Deanwood metro stop.

The fall session began September 21 and drew 20 kids, including several returnees. Practices were Wednesdays and Saturdays for one hour each. The only prerequisites were a DC Parks and Rec fee ($54 for residents; $108 otherwise) and a bronze membership in USA Water Polo ($47).

"Ideally, we also wanted them to be able to swim two laps in the 25-meter pool and not touch the wall for about three minutes," said head coach Adrian Cummins, a dentist and former captain of Barbados' national team.

Some could do it; some couldn't.

As a result, Rosenberg said, "We haven't gotten to any full scrimmages. But from day one, all the kids are working on handling the ball."

No one wanted to turn kids away, so the program had to adapt.

The original vision was to create a competitive team that eventually might be able to take on Capital Water Polo, one of the best teams on the East Coast, according to coach Jose Magro who played semi-pro in Spain and is a professor of sociolinguistics at the University of Maryland.

Magro was also hoping to replicate a bit of what he had experienced growing up in Spain where water polo had once been considered to be a rich kids' sport, but after socialists won elections in the 1980's, new public pools opened and working-class kids like himself excelled, and eventually, according to Magro, revolutionized the game with their fearless style and contributed to the golden era of Spanish water polo, following its Olympic medals in 1992 and 1996.

"That was the dream," said Magro. "Give opportunities to kids in underprivileged neighborhoods that have been swimming. They will take to it fast and succeed. But so far, we haven't had access to those types of swimmers yet, despite the proximity to swim teams with a strong minority contingent like DC Wave and Takoma Park DC."

For now, said coach Cummins, "It's important to give exposure, which I think we're doing a good job of."

Katherine Ghimenti agrees. Her son, Syler, 12, and daughter Mikaela, 10, are both in the fall program. Neither had any idea what water polo was when they started. Compared to the summer pilot, which her son attended, she said, "there's a more diverse group of people coming. I see it gaining traction and also encouraging the girls. But all these kids are at an age where the parents really have to be behind them for them to go and enjoy it, so whatever little cheer or pep we can give them, we do."

Coach and co-founder Heather Walenga Wheeler appreciates that. "The support of the parents has really helped move it forward because not only are they responsible for their children getting there, but when we send videos about: this is what an eggbeater [kick] looks like, they have to show it to them."

The next goal, Walenga Wheeler said, was to set up a field trip in lieu of a Saturday practice to watch the masters' team she coaches compete in its first tournament in three years. "All the coaches will be playing or coaching in some fashion," she said, so that should appeal to the kids as well.

Whether the DC Panthers will have a winter session remains to be seen, but, DPR director Delano Hunter indicated via email that "the plan is to revamp for the summer with more locations and opportunities for youth to experience water polo. As we expand to more locations, we will be more aggressive about marketing water polo to fill new slots."

Coach Cummins is looking even beyond that. "I want to make sure there's a way for them to go further once they have been exposed," he said. "I think a misconception in the DC area is that kids in the city can't swim at all. There are some very, very good swim programs. I'm still looking forward to recruiting some of the kids that know how to swim – maybe competitive swimming isn't their pathway – and allow them to get into water polo. At that point, I think we'll tap so much talent. That's when you'll start hearing about DC teams at Junior Olympics and getting players into college. I think we're going to unlock something that we haven't even anticipated."

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