My Thoughts on ODP: Part 2

This post is just a wee bit late, since what I am talking about took place last year... haha get it. Oh wait, never mind. It actually happened in the beginning of January! I guess it's not that late after all!

Anyway, on the fine weekend from January 3-4, my sister, my dad, and I traveled to the amazing town of Albuquerque. Just kidding.  I hate Albuquerque. It's pretty much a drug town. Everywhere you look, people are exchanging things in brown paper bags... and I'm pretty sure it isn't lunch. We stayed in this weird part of town. There was so little people walking around (besides the druggies), that I thought we were in the middle of nowhere! Turns out that we were staying in downtown Albuquerque. I know, shocker, right!?

What People Think of Albuquerque
Photo Courtesy of: Trip Advisor

The Reality of Albuquerque
Photo Courtesy of: Wikipedia 

So, right when we got there, we were super hungry since it was right around noon. We went to this restaurant called Tucanos which is a good Brazilian grill. The buffet/salad part wasn't the best, but then my dreams came true. They had a bunch of waiters walk around with these long sticks of meat that they would cut off onto your plate. There were all different types of meat being served as well as vegetables and brown-sugar glazed pineapple! It was amazing.

Even though the food before the camp was the best part, the camp itself was still fun. There was a lot more space than there was at the Salt Lake camp, so that was a plus. We learned a lot of new skills which was also fun. After the Saturday camp session, we all went to Kelly's which is a fun little pub. Right after that, Clark and Joe (who were boys from the camp) came with us to Olo Frozen Yogurt. I basically filled my whole yogurt cup with sour gummy worms. Olo was actually the place where they filmed parts of Walking Dead which is a show about drugs (surprise, surprise: drugs in Albuquerque!). The following video is Joe being super cool at Olo, the frozen yogurt place.

A few days after the camp, we got our results back. Fortunately, Alandra (my sister) and I made the team! We were very ecstatic, and just recently ordered our team gear. It's funny because I actually just got back from the third team training camp a few hours ago, but we can save that story for another time. Stay tuned for more posts coming soon!

Swimming w/ The Cool Kids

I hope everyone is having a great winter break!! So, if you have been on my blog for the past few weeks, you may have noticed a little poll on the side of the page. I was asking what you guys wanted me to write about; and y'all said high school swimming! Let's dive right into it... (haha get it, "dive" like actually "diving" in swimming... OK never mind). The following picture shows major muscle action from a professional diver (and it's pretty funny).

Photo Courtesy of: Funny Place

The high school swimming season starts in October and goes until February. It's pretty long. You have to practice EVERY school day, but it is kind of nice because you don't have to swim when there is no school. Although, it is highly encouraged to swim on your own, but who wants to do that? There are a variety of meets, some dual, tri, or invitationals (which include a lot of teams). We just finished our annual PCHS Invitational, which was super-duper fun. A total of fourteen teams came! My team mates and I swam very well. We placed first in all of the relays, and in most individual events. The following are pictures from our previous meets!

Pre-Meet Talk
Photo Courtesy of: Coach Folber

Setting Up the Pool for the Meet!
Photo Courtesy of: Coach Folber

Post-Meet Victory Talk
Photo Courtesy of: Coach Folber

Swimming is a very important sport to do, if you want to get serious about water polo. It helps so much, especially on counter attacks, and coming back on defense. The high school season works perfectly with the water polo season because they are right after each other! Trust me, I know that swimming doesn't sound very appealing, but high school swimming is the bomb-diggity. I love being apart of the team and going to all of the parties! Get to know the team by following us on Twitter!!

Well, I hope that you guys enjoy the rest of your Christmas break. Make sure that you are having fun with your family during this holiday break because that's what Christmas is all about... JUST KIDDING! Everyone knows that it's all about the presents!! Stay tuned for more posts coming soon!

The Truth Comes Out

Okay, I have to say something. I kinda messed up on the whole "my favorite suit thing." If you have looked at my blog for the past few weeks, I have showed a picture of my favorite suit: a TYR Durafast. Now, I am taking that baby down.

First of all, it is way to showy! Instead of being called a "low back" suit, it should be called an almost "no suit" back. It hangs down so low and makes even the most outgoing people (like me) feel self-conscious. Secondly, it wore out in seriously like five practices! Fifty dollars on a suit that only lasts you a few practices is horrible! The material of the suit was so stretchy after a little bit, that I could blow into it and make myself look like a sumo wrestler. There were very many small air bubbles in my suit as well which were really annoying when I was swimming.

Photo Courtesy of: Me

So, since that suit is going on my hate list, I have decided to try out a new kind of brand and suit... drumroll please... a Nike brand! Besides being stylish and cute, they are also made with the best kind of material:  50% Polyester and 50% PBT (which is a mix of a polyester and a type of material that is more stretchy). Click here for my previous post on suit types!

I actually did quite a bit of research to see what type of suit would last me the longest, and this was the best choice. It is pink and white (kind of an acid-wash look). It is low back (but not too low, if you know what I mean) and thin straps. It is almost like my dream suit, but coming to life!

Picture of My Beautiful New Suit!
Photo Courtesy of: Me

Well I hope you enjoyed this post, and also figured out that you should never get the TYR Durafast brand again. I am not quite sure if it is illegal to be doing what I'm doing right now (bashing on a suit company), but I feel that it is appropriate. Stay tuned for more posts coming soon!

Thanks to One Very Important Person...

Your coach!

So, today on the fine morning of Thanksgiving, I have decided to power through the rest of my homework. Yes, I know, I probably won't do that, but I thought I would try by starting off with a post! Thanksgiving Day isn't all about the drumsticks and the mashed potatoes (even though thats what my stomach thinks it's about). It's about giving thanks to everyone that has helped you achieve your goals. You don't have to thank EVERYONE per say, but you have to thank the ones that have been an important asset in your life recently. Here is a mini history lesson on The First Thanksgiving:

Thanksgiving History!
Photo Courtesy of: Wikipedia

Since this blog is about water polo, I have decided to talk about thanking your coaches. Coaches take time out of their day to help other people achieve things. That is the most unselfish thing ever! Some people may take their coaches for granted, which is totally unacceptable. Now for the ideas part.

If I think of Thanksgiving presents, I think of pie. Well, when am I not thinking about pie? So, bake your coach a pie and drop it off at their doorstep, and he may make practice a bit shorter on Monday. Here is a great recipe for pumpkin pie from my friend Amy's Blog. If you are not the baker type, pick up a card from the store, and send it to your coach.

Our Thanksgiving Dinner!
Photo Courtesy of: Me

On Thanksgiving day, it is important to help out with everything possible. A lot of stress may be going on your parents, so they would probably love for you to help out. Let's get a little extra love from our parents this fined day by grabbing some marshmallows from the pantry and sprinkling them over the sweet potatoes. (Okay I am seriously joking about the marshmallows for my family because we don't like the whole sweet junk and sweet real food mixing) - Come to think of it, I forgot to tell y'all that I am an American Citizen as of last weekend! I am now a dual with Canada as well.



Well I hope you enjoyed these fun ideas! Stay tuned for more posts coming soon!

Wait... What?

So everybody knows that I have a huge problem with procrastinating and I really want to just get all my homework out of the way before the weekend. So then I was thinking "let's get this party started" and then it struck me. All of you non-water polo players have no idea what I'm talking about half the time! I mean I have never really explained the whole game rules and stuff. So that's why I have called this post, "Wait... What?" just to enhance what everyone is probably thinking when reading this blog.

Photo Courtesy of: Tails Doll

So I am basically just going to go through the game start to finish... At first, everyone lines up on their opposite walls, and the swimmer is the one closest to the lengthwise wall (I'm one of the swimmers on the team). When the ref blows the whistle he drops the ball right in between the two swimmers, everyone on either team swims towards the middle of the pool. The swimmer goes the fastest to try to get to the ball first, so they can have the advantage.  In higher level games, the ball will be placed in the very middle of the pool, on a magnetic ring.

Next it goes on like any other game, and the offense lines up in a D-shape. Look back at my previous post for a view on how the offense lines up. Your team has thirty seconds to get the ball into the net. A variety of passing and plays happen during this thirty seconds.

If the ball is shot into the net, the ref blows the whistle, and everyone lines up again; this time in the middle of the pool. The ball is given to the opposing team. If the ball misses, and the goalie gets it, then the previous defense switches to offense and attacks the opposite goal. If the thirty seconds has gone up, then the ball is turned over (this is usually a good time to swim as fast as you can).

Photo Courtesy of: Download CNet

Above is a picture of a water polo score board. There are four quarters with breaks in between each quarter and an even bigger break during half time. They are all 6, 7, or 8 minutes long, depending on the age of teams playing. The top number shows the time. The period (actually the quarter) shows what number out of four. The two numbers on the side of the period number are the goals scored for each team. underneath the goals scored are the T.O.L 's which are the ejections for each team. Finally, in between the ejections, is the shot time which counts down from 30. Here is a video (courtesy of YouTube) of the beginners guide to water polo (the video doesn't work on this site, but it will give you an option to watch on YouTube)

I hope you enjoyed learning what water polo is, and your time on this blog isn't just a whole lot of "wait... what?"'s. Stay tuned for more posts coming soon!

My Thoughts On ODP

Two weekends ago, the ODP camp took place. Overall, it was pretty fun. I met a lot of new people, and practiced my skills. Haha skills is a really funny word. Anyway, I feel like I was in the top area of the girls which is pretty good I guess. My sister also tried out, and she did well as well!

The only problem with the camp was that we didn't even get to show our skills (no comment). The reason for this was because we didn't have enough time. We spent way too long on learning how to play center defense which guards the set. Here is a good picture to show the basic diagram of water polo positions: (for more help go to www.waterpolobasics.net)

Photo Courtesy of : Rain City Polo

Only one person is the center defense on a whole team! Also, we didn't really scrimmage at all, so swimmers like my sister and I couldn't show our skills talent in beating people across the pool. there is going to be another camp in January, so hopefully we actually PLAY WATER POLO. 

I couldn't quite tell if the girls from New Mexico were being rude or just shy. At first, they seemed pretty nice because they wanted to be partners on this drill that we did, but then it was different. They seemed really annoyed whenever I missed a shot, but that was probably just my imagination. I really hope that we become good friends, since we will be spending a lot of time together if we make the team. This is how I feel about my feelings towards the girls feelings on me. Confused yet?

Photo Courtesy of: Illustration Source

One thing that I didn't know about before was the fact that there is a select team! They take three people from each team to go to this National Camp. If you get to go to the camp, you are trying out with people from all over the United States to get on a team for your age group. That team then goes all over the world! Last year they went to Hungary, and I am pretty hungry to go to Hungary, if you know what I'm saying. Just joking, I probably won't even make it to the camp, but it would be a great opportunity if I did. 

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my thoughts because I enjoyed sharing my feelings with you. Anyway, stay tuned for more posts coming soon!

ODP But Not Really

With the Water Polo Fall Ball season coming to an end, the tryouts for ODP commence! ODP is the Olympic Development Program and has different zones. The zone that I will be trying out for is the Mountain Zone Team. This team includes Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. There are two tryout camps that are both two days long. The first one is in Salt Lake at the Kearns pool. The second camp is in Albuquerque, where we will be traveling to shortly before winter break ends. There are a few players on our team that are hoping to make it.

The reason why I have called this blog post "ODP but Not Really" is because we are trying out for ODP, but they make it sound like we are getting ready for the Olympics. In reality, it is just a step up from the club sport. Now, don't get me wrong. I am REALLY excited for this opportunity because you get to travel places, and you might even get to go to Nationals! The team that I would be trying out for is the U15's. There are about eleven people to a team, so I am hoping that I am one of these lucky few.

It's really important to get out of your state sometimes to see how sports work in other states. In Utah, water polo isn't very good because they don't play the way that should be played. In California, they teach Olympic-style water polo which would obviously be the best choice. There are a few techniques that are taught in Utah that should definitely be shut down if a player ever wants to get past the club level.

Team Suit

Team Jacket

Overall, I am very excited to start ODP camps, for I think that it will be a great experience. If I make the team, it will be even better! Below are some pics of the cool gear you get if you make ODP. Stay tuned for more posts coming soon!


All photos courtesy of : USA Water Polo

Team Bag

Team Shirt

Team Pants