Girls varsity water polo is searching for team balance without the security of their seniors from last year’s season.
Last year, the varsity girl’s water polo had a total of six seniors on the team; primarily acting as mentors to their teammates. The 2021-2022 varsity team’s bond became especially close over the COVID-19 pandemic as they practiced together every day for a full year. This year, with them gone, the team has explored a new dynamic.
“I think last year’s seniors had a really good, cohesive, team,” junior and varsity player Kate O’Toole said. “They all really relied on each other, knew how to have trust in the water between each player, and trusted that everybody knew where they needed to be. I think that it’s definitely hard coming up to varsity because it’s a whole different kind of field in the water. Everybody in the water has a lot more experience.”
Although adhering to this new environment is difficult, players on the team are working hard to fill the shoes of last year’s veteran players.
“I do think that it feels like a big responsibility because there are only four of us seniors, and there’s a lot of new players,” senior and varsity player Elodie Serres said. “So at least at the beginning of the season, we had to teach them a lot and help guide them.”
In order to bring in more varsity players, players from junior varsity have been playing up for scrimmages in preparation for the upcoming season.
“We’ve been weaving in a couple of JV players into each scrimmage, both to give them experience but also to bolster the numbers because we have a smaller varsity team than last year,” junior varsity and varsity coach Cara Skourtis said.
With this newly formed varsity team, both the players and coach are anxious to begin their season.
“I’m really, really happy with the work that everybody’s done to get to this point, and I’m looking forward to the season.” Skourtis said. “We’ve been practicing for five weeks, and we’re going to have a game. Finally.”
