From the Coach

Great Lakes Water Polo Club, December 2006

Hello. Thought I would catch you up on a few things as we enter another year of growing the sport of water polo and players here in the Mid West. It is a new era of players and competing that I am looking forward to. I will go further in depth over a couple topics.

What happened to having Junior Olympics in Ann Arbor the summer of 2007?

Junior Olympics is a championship tournament that consists of approximately 275 plus team in age categories 12/14/16/18 for girls and boys. As you may or may not be aware Great Lakes hosted in 2001 and did a fantastic job. Almost 300 teams and nothing but positive reviews! So we signed up to do it again—or so we thought.

A tournament like that costs monies to run. Pool rental alone is in the high five figures. So as has been the case for 20 years the governing body United States Water Polo (USWP) splits the entry fee with the host club to cover costs. Considering that USWP has very little involvement in the tournament it is a huge money maker for the governing body—not necessarily the host club. Well the short of it is that USWP reversed its long-standing agreement and decided to take 100% of the profits outside of gate. This was unacceptable as we would be looking at multiple tens of thousand dollars to cover our costs and that would bankrupt the club and water polo as we know it in the Ann Arbor area. They knew that it was going to be impossible for us to do this and thus were able to pull the plug so they could take it to California. Proving again that USWP cares more about CA then nationally developing the sport. So that is the short of it. They wanted the club to do 90% of the work, and pay the bills while they took majority of the profits. While this may seem very harsh to put it this way, the bottom line is that they wanted the tournament in California again.

Joining American Water Polo. http://www.americanwaterpolo.com/

Let me make this clear: We are still a member of USWP. But we are also now a member of American Water Polo.

We have decided to operate in a way that grows water polo and our players. USWP will still be there for the elite players that do the zone team and the national team tryouts. As a current coach in our Men’s National Team Program, the only coach outside of California for the last 8 years, I am still heavily involved in the development of National/Olympic players.

American Water Polo is what USWP is not. It is for developing the sport in areas other then California. AWP operates out of Pennsylvania and has over 2,000 members and 55 clubs in 13 states and growing. They have summer competition that are within driving distance and leagues that are close enough to do on an overnight driving trip. The have an end of the year festival that is close enough that we can send more players and parents can attend without breaking the piggy bank. There are NO USPW national events outside of California except for the 14 and under Speedo Cup in St. Louis in Nov!! AWP gives us many more options to do what the kids want to do: Play the Game!

Another plus is it is cheaper for the players and club and coaches, and the secondary insurance coverage is actually better. You are able to attain more personalized help and awards (clothes etc) by being a member. The big difference is AWP does not cater to the Elite National Team level Athlete.

So we are having the players register for AWP and be ready to participate in more competition in the Midwest and East Coast. 90% of you will notice no difference in which organization we are under. But what you will notice is the opportunities for your sons/daughters are going to be much greater from a competition standpoint.

PLAYERS AND COACHES INFO:

The current coaches for the 2007 school year are

Matt Anderson: Head Coach University of Michigan Women’s Water Polo and Assistant Coach of the Men’s National (Cadet) 16 and Under team.

Jennifer Durley: Assistant Coach University of Michigan Women’s Water Polo.

Brian Semple: Head Coach Dexter HS Boys, Volunteer Assistant U of Michigan Women’s Water Polo.

Rebecca Godek: Head Coach Dexter HS Girls. Rebecca is the main pre-high school group coach.

Brad Silverman: Head Coach Saline HS Boys and Girls teams.

Brendon Whelan: Recently graduated from University of Redlands where he was Team Captain and won multiple Div 3 national Championships.

Exciting time for former and current GLWP players!

Betsey Armstrong (Huron HS and U of Michigan) is now the starting goalkeeper for our Womens National (Olympic) Team! Follow her on www.usawaterpolo.com

Allison Gregorka (Pioneer HS and Stanford Univeristy) is on the Womens National (Olympic) Team with Betsey! Follow her on on www.usawaterpolo.com

Carrie Frost (Saline HS and U of M) is on our Top 13 travel team for the Junior National (20 and U) team! Follow her on www.mgoblue.com under water polo.

Jill Stapf (Hudsonvile HS, Cal state Northridge)) is a part of the training group for the Women’s Junior National team.

So that is 4 of the top 38 women’s players our Women’s national team program are from our club!! How’s that for development! Let’s get ready to watch some of them in the 2008 Beijing Olympics!

Look forward to seeing you at the pool!

Matt Anderson, Head Coach, Great Lakes Water Polo Club

2007 Session Dates:

Winter - December 5, 2006 - March 11, 2007
(no practice Dec 22- Jan 8; no practice Jan 28th due to pool conflict)
Spring - March 20 - June 10, 2007
Summer - June 18 - August 5, 2007
Fall - October 3 - November 21, 2007