One day I was watching the Olympics for water polo and thought to myself, why doesn’t Santaluces have a water polo team? I’ve seen other schools that have water polo teams like Boca Raton, Saint Andrews, Palm Beach Central, and Suncoast. When I get asked what water polo is I always get weird looks when I describe it as a combination of swimming, basketball, soccer, and wrestling.

My obsession with water polo began when I participated in my swim team’s Water Polo Wednesdays. It was so thrilling to split into teams and try to get the ball into the goal, even though our goals were just lawn chairs that we had to knock over in order to get a point. My love continued to grow for the sport over the summer when I got to play water polo at work for lifeguard training in the mornings. There were some intense battles over the ball just to get a leg up on the other team.

I knew I had to come up with a way to be able to play this sport that I love. This is when I thought to myself that Santaluces needed a water polo team and this is what sent me on a wild goose chase to start a new sport at my school.

My quest began with me going to Mrs. Robinson’s office to ask about the steps I needed to take start this team. I was soon sent to Mr. Garcia because he is in charge of clubs at the school. After speaking with him, he told me I needed to talk with the athletic director, Mr. Sheppard. Once I finally found Mr. Sheppard, he asked me questions about water polo and other schools that had teams. He convinced me that the team could be a real possibility. Now my next step is to get a coach and gather a team. Before we know it, Santaluces will be district champions of water polo.

“I’m excited because whenever we play it’s so much fun,” said senior Anastacia Gonzalez . “We aren’t a team that has a lot of drama so we all are able to come together and play this fun game and none of us get angry or mad and it’s just about having fun. No one is left out and everyone has an equal opportunity to play.”