I have been away for over 40 days now playing water polo all over the world. Being away for so much time has been challenging, I have played 3 different tournaments and went to a practice trip in Serbia. As any other athlete, I have faced many problems though out the trip. I was lucky because I started Reading Mindset, a book that guided me though some of my problems.
I have to mention that I didn’t have a lot of time to read this book since being in a world cup is a tough job that needs all of your concentration as an athlete but I did relate this book to my sport so I could take the most out of it.
In our life we have two options: we can be afraid or gain skills; we can be a winner or be a loser. Those are the two types of mindsets that humans face: the fixed and growth mindsets. I recall that I have faced both of these mindsets through my trip.
To begin with, the fixed mindsets state that every situation is evaluated blocking effort. This means that the FM has interfering thoughts and generally have inferior learning. For example: If things gets too challenging people with the FM lose interest. This is common in my team, based on the Peruvian culture. I realise that many of my team mates have talent and play well but when they meet a team that historically has been better than us, such as Brazil or Croatia, their FM blocks their ability and skills and they lose before the game even starts.
To make it easier to understand: For a FM: “Success is about proving you’re smart or talented. Validating yourself.” For a Growth Mindset: “it is about stretching yourself to learn something new, developing yourself”. I see myself in both of these quotes. When I started playing water polo I wanted to prove everyone that I was the best. I wanted to score, to defend well and only cared about me and not about my team. As years went by (I have been playing this sport for 5 years now) I realized how my GM has taken over and even though I still want to be the best, I don’t have to prove it to anyone. I know that with time, practice, reflecting and accepting my errors I will get closer to my goal.
“The GM is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate though your effort”
It is difficult to accept that we didn’t reach our goal in the World Cup. We lost all of our games and it’s hard to accept that. I know that I played well but water polo is a team sport where my team is like a second family. We all follow the same passion. In the book there’s a quote that made me realise this: “The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the Growth Mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their life.”
That’s why I know that we could have done better, much better; but as my coach would say: “we played well, but the other team played better, they made less errors than we did and that gave them the victory”. This is why we have the ability to reflect as a group and by our self and make our weaknesses become our strengths, to convert and setbacks into future successes.
I do realise that the FM is still in me even though I consider myself to have the GM. I was talking with my sports psychologist and she always tells me the same thing: “you will be better once you accept everything that we tell you and not complain, even if you are right”. In other words, I play in a position that’s tough, I have to organise both the defence and the attack and guard the 2m offense players, which are generally huge. It’s a difficult task. Sometimes I rely too much on my mates and forget about my actual job and when something that wasn’t supposed to happen, like a goal or an exclusion happens, I blame my team mates; WRONG! But then, my motivation, my effort, my hard work at all times, makes me smarter and helps me learn making me open minded and letting my tension fly out of my body letting me learn and grow.
Even though I failed, I learned more than ever, I got experience; I learned techniques, moves and realised that I have to train even harder. I know that good teachers surround me, great parents, great people and they will not let me fail but most importantly; I will not let me fail.
Todays game was played well. We played vs. Iran, a team made out of warriors due to it’s culture, that doesn’t have the best water polo but will play hard the whole game no matter what. We started losing 3-0. This time, Tony didn’t get mad and controlled himself; he even motivated us to do better. This is why we started to play better. We got a 6 on 5, we had 20 seconds to score if not we would be even again. I got the ball, two hands up plus the goalie, this had to be goal; I decided to make the shot. In less than half a second I noticed that I had to do a sideways shot that had to bounce, if I made that probably the goalie wouldn’t stop it. I decided to do he shot, if I missed, I was sure Tony would take me out of the game and start shouting, but sports is all about risk… GOAL! If you want to score, you need to take initiative, take lead, be the best.
Next quarter we started to build up trust. We played hard, followed Tony’s instruction (press). Irans two meter offense player wasent skillful but he was a warrior, he was strong and played hard. We tied the game and then scored, we were beating Iran by one. Third quarter ended 6-6, few goals scored by both teams. As I mentioned this match is very equal.
In my opinion, I played well. I made the 6-6 tie goal with a shot from outside the 5m line, following Tony’s instructions. He told us that the wind was in our favor, meaning that our shots should go faster and that the bounce shot should be even harder to stop. The team started to get a little tired, even though we trained 6 hours per day, this sport is exhausting. Everyone was tired but we knew that we were necessary for this game and that we had to give it all, we couldn’t show our weaknesses.
In the fourth quarter we scored a goal, we were back to the lead by one. We knew this game was important for us, we needed this victory. With just 48 seconds for the game to end, we lose the ball in the offense by a bad pass someone made and then one of my teammates gets expelled. 6 on 5 in favor of Iran and the score. 5 seconds left, I take the shot from half court but miss, we tied the game.
The team could not believe what had happened. Tony and Fernando exploding of anger, they didn’t know what to do. I got out of the pool and tell the team: “head up, lets go to swim, we played well”. I was so pissed off that I had forgotten something essential until someone told me that we had to go handshake with the opponent. We finished and went to swim 50x25m.
Being defeated and losing a game hurts but ties like this one hurt even more, the difference is that you learn 10 times more as well. The team finally played with their heart, player that hadn’t been playing at their max finally did, our goalie stopped more than 10 shots. We still have to get better, we need to be perfect.
After a long talk with our coach Tony, we decided to change. This wasn’t as effective as we thought it would be because we were told to be in the Lobby of the hotel at 3:45pm and no one was there. This was because all of our electronic devices are taken from us for concentration reasons and reception forgot to send the wake up calls. Even with this problem, everyone got 5 minutes late, some rooms got 8 minutes late, but one room never arrived so our coach ordered that we left without them, and we did. Tony took this lateness problem as a lack of respect and he gave us another speech, he said that: “I have left all of my family in Cuba, this means that you are in front of my family right now. If there are no results, and instructions are not followed then I don’t think of placing my family in front of water polo, they don’t deserve that. If this continues I am going back to Cuba”. Tony has been very stressed lately due to personal and team issues.
The game started with Piero in position 1, Morales in 2, I was at 3, Santi was at 4, Noriega at 5 and Diego at 6. Nick was one of the guys who is in the main team that didn’t arrive to the lobby so he missed this game. We only had 3 subs, tis meant that few changes were going to be made and that our limits were going to be enlarged. Before the game vs. USA started, we all hugged each other and entered the pool together, we made a circle at the center and I told the team: “Remember that they are like us, they have two legs, two arms and two eyes. Don’t think that they are the USA and lets go place some respect and play for our country. Play with Peru in your chest, do it for you, for Tony, for us, for the whole Peru, lets go get them”! The game started and the Americans got the ball but we stole it immediately. They doubled Diego and I was left alone, I got the ball and shot… GOAL! We were beating USA 1-0, they tied us 1-1 and then Diego created an expulsion. We formed correctly and with just 2 seconds left of play Santi scored the 2-1. With 16 seconds left of the game, USA takes a time out. 3 seconds left… USA scored, we are tied 2-2.
The game continued like this, very tight, never had this happened in a game Peru-USA. Santi was expelled of the game due to 3 20 second foul accumulations. Eduardo entered in his replacement, he played well. The game was 6-4, I scored my third goal of the game, 6-5. Diego expelled another player and we formed the 3-3 with an extra man for just 20 seconds. I was playing outside of the 3-3 formation got the ball and made a bounce shot through the face of the goalie and scored… 6-6!!! I remember that I thought to myself, Augusto, you need to score, this is your shot.
In the last quarter, Tony changed the game play. We were losing 6-8 and we were told to do the M, it’s a time of zonal defense where 3 shooters are left free with two defenders in between them swimming like crazy. I knew this was not going to work, every time we do this play we get scored, vs. Mexico, Chile, etc. I knew we had to continue on playing press but we had to follow the coach’s direction. I knew this because we were tired, there were no subs, and we were only playing with our heart. We did what we were told, and didn’t score a single goal that quarter and got 3 goals scored. Morales, Diego and I had 2 20-second fouls, one more and we were out of the game, and we had to be careful. I felt like Manel Estiarte in that game when he wrote in his book: “few seconds left of the final. Our coach said to play press but I knew that we had to play zonal, I did what I was told to do and they scored in the last second and tied the game.” I felt like that… Only that it was not an Olympic final!
The game ended 11-6, I played well, the team played well and Tony was kind of satisfied. This was a historical score. Last time we had played vs. the US we had lost by almost 17 goals! From these games we learn a lot, we played well, we scored 6 goals and got our confidence back, we have to maintain it now.
Our first match in the Pre-World cup stage started with Turkey B. This team started its tournament with Croatia, great game to watch; lots of positive and aggressive attitude.
In the national team I am the two-meter defense, Tony, my coach always tells me that I am the only one in the team that can play this position. This was my first error in the game. The game started, we won the possession of the ball and immediately I made a sprint and ended as a second two-meter offence or “boya”. We lost the ball and Nick (wp2) ended up guarding the two meter player. We recovered the ball position and went to attack, Diego (wp10) who plays in the 2 meter offense, didn’t enter to his position so, I sprinted again and entered. The second that I got in position, we lose the ball and sprint towards defense. This time Diego ended defending, and they scored us a goal. Tony, told me to get out of the pool and that my only job was to be the defense in the team, I cant to anything else. He ended by telling me “Repeat that to yourself 1000 times, when you finish, tell me and you can get back to the pool”. I didn’t play the rest of the 1st quarter.
In the second quarter, I was back in the pool. In the first play of the game, I got send to the 20 second foul line, meaning that my team was without a player for 20 seconds. I made the foul due to bad positioning, the Turks where slippery and I was guarding them by the arm and back. I got back in, started to swim, but this time I stayed in my position and if by any reason someone ended up in my position I knew that I had to swim even faster to make the change and organize my self better. While attacking there was a small gap between players so I got in the gap, got the ball, shot and scored! Tony told me that I had made the correct decision, if my player swam slow, I had to counter attack but once he got to his defense position, I had to be intelligent; if we lose the ball I needed to be back on my original position. This quarter ended 4-4.
In the third and fourth quarter I played better. Since the Turks where slippery I grabbed them by the bathing suit and play “harder”. I hadn’t been scored in the whole game but in the fourth quarter I reacted slower and wasn’t able to get to my position and a pass from position 1 (2m player) came. That same quarter a Turk punched me in the face because I stilled the ball from him, the referee didn’t do anything so I decided to do the same as the Turk and kicked him. I consider that to be one of my strengths, I am not afraid of my rivals.
In conclusion, the game was better than the average game play in the Pan-American games and in Serbia. Even though we lost 8-6 we played well and hard. The team is getting even more united, our goalie was fantastic and experience was gained. It is important that we realize how the referees arbitrate since it is completely different than in Peru, the games are tougher here, we have to be stronger.
19 days ago, I set off to a new adventure, a trip that would allow me to follow my passion, water polo, and enjoy every second of it. For the first time in history, Peru national team was going in a 41-day trip participating in three different tournaments and a one-week practice camp. We would be going to the US for the Pan-American games, to Serbia for the practice camp and to Turkey for the Pre-World Cup and the World Cup.
The Pan-American games have a high level, lets say 75/100, we would be measuring our strengths with teams such as: Brazil, USA and Canada, who are Americas leading countries in these sports. We would be playing with other teams such as: Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina and Mexico. This tournament classified the top 5 teams to the World Cup in Russia on 2015.
After 11 days of competitions we went to Serbia, the home of water polo. Where you can actually gain a living from this sport, where water polo players are called Patriots and especially where water polo is one of the national sports, just imagine how many players there are! In Belgrade, we would be playing against Serbia’s national team U18, U16 and U15 and be training 6-8 hours per day! 7 days after we would be leaving towards Turkey, for the real challenge.
At turkey we would be playing the World Cup and Pre World Cup, these tournaments have 100/100 toughness level; intense! Croatia, Serbia, Iran, USA, Egypt, Turkey and Turkey B will participate in the Pre World Cup. Every team will play hard to win respect, not only for their countries and teams but also from the referees.
Then, the World Cup. It’s the first time that Peru classifies to a World Cup in all of its history. It’s an honor to be chosen as team captain and represent the country in an event like this. There are just 20 teams that qualify. Four series of five teams are separated.
Series A
USA Kazakhstan Hungary Italy Egypt
Series B
Australia Montenegro Iran Japan Argentina
Series C
Brazil Spain Turkey Russia South Africa
Series D
Peru Serbia Croatia Canada New Zealand
Only two teams of each series will pass to the next round, where they will be able to have a chance to play for gold. On the other hand, the other 3 teams will play for the remaining spots. The World Cup will take place from August 2nd to August 10th. After the FINA Youth World Cup we will be returning to Peru. Now our goal is to concentrate and be in the top 12. #Porla12
Comentario personal sobre los estereotipos de un waterpolista
El waterpolo es un deporte donde el objetivo principal es anotar la mayor cantidad de goles al equipo contrario. No se puede tocar el piso y la pelota solo se puede agarrar con una mano con excepción del arquero. Para jugar waterpolo tienes que prepárate de una manera sobrehumana ya que es un deporte de alto contacto y de alto rendimiento haciendo que tu vida se amolde a este magnifico deporte olímpico. Los waterpolistas son personas que están preparadas tanto física como psicológicamente permitiendo que los niveles de cansancio del organismo lleguen a un nivel extremo y que el cuerpo tenga una adaptación biológica al cansancio creando un waterpolista de alta competencia con ciertos estereotipos.
Ser un waterpolista no es algo fácil. En primer lugar, un deportista de waterpolo debería de tener tres sesiones de entrenamientos diarios, cada una compuesta de 3 a 4 horas. En estas practicas los waterpolistas entrenan potencia y resistencia dentro del agua y asimismo el físico afuera del agua. También entrenan los ejercicios técnico-tácticos, es decir entrenan para llegar a la perfección de la técnica de los lanzamientos, pases, recepciones, entre otros. Elevarse del agua sin tocar el piso no es sencillo, por eso el atleta debe tener buen tamaño físico, midiendo entre 1.85m-1.95m en promedio y con una envergadura de mas del 100% y si es posible un 105% a mas es perfecto. Esto facilita al deportista a poder tener mayor capacidad de alcance afuera de la superficie del agua creando un tiro con mayor potencia y evitando que la pelota frene con el aire complicando al arquero. El peso de un atleta tiene la misma importancia. Un waterpolista debería pesar entre 90k-100k, lo cual parece una cantidad bastante elevada. No me malinterpreten, este peso no es en grasa, la mayor cantidad del peso es compuesta por los diferentes músculos del organismo. El waterpolo es un deporte que desarrolla una gran cantidad de músculos, desde la cabeza hasta los pies, se usan todos los músculos del cuerpo de alguna forma. Es por eso que un waterpolista debería tener aproximadamente un porcentaje de músculo de entre 50%-58%. De esa manera el deportista tendría las extremidades largas, seria lo suficiente mente pesado para que el oponente no lo mueva y resista los golpes y finalmente tendría un gran porcentaje de músculo dándole fuerza a su tiro y haciendo que su natación sea explosiva.
Segundo, al igual que el músculo, la grasa tiene mucho que ver con el cuerpo de un waterpolista. Un deportista profesional de waterpolo debe estar entre los 26 a 30 años de edad. Esto complica el resultado de grasa del cuerpo ya que se le hace mas difícil al organismo tener poca grasa por su manera de funcionamiento. El waterpolista debería tener entre 5%-10% de grasa corporal lo cual es difícil de alcanzar. Ya que los entrenamientos descomponen el cuerpo. Haciendo un trabajo de natación que alcance los 10k diarios el cuerpo puede llegar a tener ese porcentaje de grasa tan bajo. El cuerpo se adapta a los obstáculos que uno le pone, pero para que esto pueda pasar satisfactoriamente hay otras indicaciones físicas que tienen mucho que ver con el desarrollo del atleta. Uno debe tener los pliegues del cuerpo entre un 60, eso se logra con el entrenamiento diario y esta muy relacionado con los genes.
#WP11 / #AO11
A si mismo, la masa ósea (el peso del hueso) no debe ser mayor de 11%. No tengo intenciones de ser racista, pero genéticamente hablando la raza negra por lo general tiene huesos mas pesados es por eso que no hay tanta cantidad de atletas morenos en el waterpolo. El peso del hueso complica la natación del cuerpo haciendo que se pueda hundir en el agua fácilmente. Cabe mencionar, aun sabiendo este dato, que el mejor waterpolista a nivel mundial, Ivan Perez, es moreno.
Finalmente, ya que el waterpolo es un deporte de alto contacto y alto rendimiento, el deportista debe estar preparado psicológicamente. Esto es principalmente para que el cuerpo pueda resistir la exigencia de los entrenamientos, ya que los entrenamientos del waterpolo son anormales. La mente maneja al cuerpo, si el deportista piensa que lo puede logras, lo va a lograr, no hay espacio para mediocres en este deporte. De la misma manera es un deporte muy sacrificado. Al waterpolo se le tiene que dedicar grandes cantidades de tiempo, haciendo que el deportista sacrifique horas de sueño, su vida social, por parte su familia y hasta pueda afectarlo en el colegio. Estos atletas se levantan a las 4am para entrenar y se acuestan a las 12am después de terminar el ultimo entrenamiento del día, es decir que duermen tan solo 4 horas. Por eso tienen que estar preparados psicológicamente. De la misma manera, el waterpolo puede ser comparado con el rugby pero personalmente yo lo represento como una guerra acuática. En el partido vas a recibir muchos golpes, patadas, puñetes, codazos, cabezazos todo tipo de acciones que impacten el cuerpo. Esto se usa para desgastar al oponente, asustarlo y poder marcar un gol al desmarcarse con una patada. Es por eso que el atleta de alto rendimiento debe estar preparado muy bien psicológicamente haciéndolo que lleve a su cuerpo a una estación optima bloqueando todo lo negativo y absorbiendo lo positivo, creando a un líder que apoye a todo momento a sus compañeros de juego.
En conclusión, el waterpolo es un deporte que poca gente llegue a soportar, ya que sus niveles de fuerza, potencia y resistencia son altos, creando a un deportista de alto rendimiento que a la misma ves se incorpora con un deportista de alto contacto. Sus extractos de entrenamiento aeróbico y juego anaeróbico hacen que el deportista tenga estereotipos bastante únicos, creando a un ser único, un waterpolista.
Before writing about this wonderful game, I wanted to give you a little bit of background knowledge.
So, we arrive to Serbia with a team of 13 players from ages 14-18; only two had 18. This team had 3 players on their first international debut. Due to some inside problems, our coach, Tony Luque was not able to travel with us. This gave me a even bigger responsibility since I was the captain. We had come to Serbia to learn and gain experience as our main objective but I wanted to make sure that the Elite of water polo knew that Peru was getting stronger and that we were not here doing tourism; we came to play water polo.
The day when we played our first game, we noticed that the players of the other team where much taller than us, they had long arms and legs. I guess that they saw the Peruvian team who’s tallest player measures 1.84m and thought that this was a joke; plus I bet they didn’t even imagine that Peru had a water polo team either. Their first impression after checking us out was to joke around, laugh and play a little without being disrespectful but we could sense that they were not taking us seriously. We won that game 16-8 and started to gain the respect of the teams.
Going back to our hardest game, the semi finals. If we won we classified, if we lost we played for bronze. Players, especially the newbies where nervous. Our coach Tony was not physically with us, so this was the moment where we really had to show off who we were. Tony is the BEST coach I have had . He has 32 years of experience as a coach and has trained players such as Ivan Perez). As a captain, I wanted to make sure everything went well, that players were ready for the game, that we knew the positions, that we all warmed up correctly. Since our team is united, I wasn’t preoccupied that there would be problems, I knew everything was going to be fine.
Before the game started, we talked as a group. Everyone gave their opinion and then we reached consensus on how we were going to arrange the team. Diego, Sebastian, Eduardo, Nick, Jefferson, Gabriel and myself would be the lead players. We where sure that this game was going to be tough but not impossible. We where playing vs Radnicki. A team that has a division one adults team and who is number 4th in the Serbian ranking. I remember Jefferson, the goalkeeper telling me “Augusto, remember what Tony said that the team that makes the fewest mistakes wins the game. I promise you that I will stop all of the balls but you have to score the goals”. This gave me the strength that I needed after having a lot of pressure as team captain and in some way coach in this tournament. The referee blowed the whistle and we swam to our positions.
The game started, Diego immediately scored a goal. He plays “Boya” or “Set” and is one of the most talented players in the team. He crashed the ball into the goal and did what he knows best, score a goal. Nick, who is the calmest player told us “It`s just one goal, lets keep on scoring. Good job Diego”. The game continued and Radnicki tied. The score was 1-1. The first quarter was ending but just before the 8th minutes, Sebastian, the teams sharpest shooter scored another goal. I saw the bench and they where all standing and clapping. I gave him a high five and the bell rang.
I remember that I don’t like shooting penalties, I never have. Generally Sebastian or Diego are the players that take the penalties. In the Second quarter, there was a penalty shout out in our favor committed by myself. Diego was not on the field so I remembered Manel Estiartes book: “As a captain, you have to take the responabilities on the court. You have to give trust to your players and know that you are the chosen one for the penalties and that you will score”. I grabbed the ball, threw and scored. The second quarter finished 4-2. Number 5, the best player of the opposite team scored the second goal. Diego scored the 4th goal for us.
Gabriel, the fastest swimmer on the team asked for a change so Dancourt entered the water. He is also a very fast swimmer. Eduardo who is the oldest of the team asked for a change as well, so one of the players debuting entered the water, Nicolas Villar-Cordoba, a player who has 15 but has a gift to play water polo. The third quarter started and the opponents scored their third goal. The score was now 4-3. The game continued, Dancourt started to swim and gained an explosion on our favor, we asked for a time out. Diego and I discussed the alignment that we were going to use. We decided to start in a 4-2 arrangement and finish in a 3-3 with Sebastian, Diego and me attacking. We formed correctly but the strategy didn’t work. We went to defend, got into our positions, I was guarding set. Suddenly a fast shot was made out of the 5m line but Jefferson stopped the ball, amazing block. We went on the counter attack; I decided to enter set and scored. The third quarter ended 5-3.
The last quarter was about to start, we knew that this was the toughest part of the game, the quarter that would define if we entered the final or not. Javier, a 15 year old started playing this quarter instead of Diego and entered set. He created an expulsion in our favor. Sebastian scored the 6th goal for your team! We where winning by 3 goals. Pacheco, the smallest of the team members jumped in the pool. He played well. Gonzales our sub for the Set entered as well instead of Javier and played tough. One minute remaining and Radnicki scored a goal… 6-4. It was important to use our time wisely and use up 30 seconds by passing in the attack formation. Then Nick shot, the ball hit the bar and stayed on the goal line. He almost scored! We went to defend again, 10,9,8,7 seconds and number 5 shoots, Jefferson stopped the ball with a two hand incredible save. 3,2,1... we made it to the finals!
Once again, I am lucky to be playing with such an amazing team. A team whose players are totally committed and fell honored to represent Peru. Playing tough but nice at the same time. Having fun together while playing and helping each other in the court and out of the court. We are a family, and now we are in the finals, ready to keep on doing what we know best… Play Water polo!
After 4 intense months, the water polo u18 national team was able to measure their abilities in a tournament. The team just got back with the gold after playing the Becej international tournament at Becej, Serbia.
The team, made up of 13 players: Augusto Otero (C), Diego Villar, Sebastian Morales, Jefferson Pinedo, Gabriel Noriega, Eduardo Angulo, Rodrigo Gonzales, Sebastian Dancourt, Rodrigo Pacheco, Nick Pizarro, Javier Chueca, Nicolas Villar-Cordoba and Sebastian Bravo and the coaching staff: Tony Luque (Coach), Jhonny Dario Hu Rey (physical therapist), Ale Vilchez (psicologist), Ely Bonilla (assistant) and Vicente Hinojosa (FDPN) . The national team played 9 games, beating all of the games and finishing the tournament unbeaten.
Mirko Blazevic, world cup medalist, said: "The Peruvian team had a good tournament. They have prepared well and play with their heart well placed on the court”
Lets not forget that this tournament is a preparatory tournament for the World Cup taking place on Istanbul, turkey on August. Tony Luque, national team coach said “Its great that our players are having more games. They are gaining experience and are gaining more game time hours; especially if they are playing with the elite of water polo”.
As coach Luque mentioned, Serbia is Olympic medalist. It is important that the athletes keep on playing games with the best of water polo in the world. In Peru you are only thinking of soccer but if you go towards the other side of the world Serbia’s national sport is water polo. They have 2 teams in the champions league quarter finals.
“This tournament serves us well to guide our performance. We came here ready to give everything in the pool and learn. The team had a good performance and I am really proud with them, they are incredible”.
Also, Pedro Pablo Kucsynski congratulated the water polo team on his official Facebook page and wished them luck on their next tournament.
It is important to mention that the H20 polo players train from 6pm-11:30pm from Monday-Friday and from 2pm-6:30pm on Saturdays. Water polo is considered in the top 5 toughest sports in world due to its high performance and its high contact level.