Signs of improvement in sophomore year
September 17, 2015
The Diamond Bar boys’ water polo team treaded through its first year with a few bumps and bruises, but it has been working year-round in order to improve its gameplay.
“Compared to last year, this year we have a lot more club players. A lot of people got trained over winter, spring, and summer seasons. They all played at this club called CHAWP,” senior Dylan Lee said.
Though the Brahmas do not have the experience that some of the more established teams have, they are not letting that get in their way. The team members are focusing on enhancing their skills in the water, such as reading the defense and working on different plays. They are also working on their attitude towards the game.
“The experience is something that plays against [us], but we are not going to use that as an excuse. We are just going to keep working hard as we have been,” head coach Alexander Matal said.
Another challenge that comes with the lack of experience is the absence of team chemistry. Only in its second year, the team is still in the process of strengthening bonds with one another. Therefore, they have been doing multiple team building activities as well as spending more time with one another to strengthen those bonds.
“One of the biggest challenges will probably still be building that team chemistry out in the water just because we have only been playing one year together,” Matal said. “It is definitely going to be stronger this year, but it is still something that we are working on.”
Key players on this year’s team will include returning upperclassmen junior Diego Hammond and Lee. Joining them will also be sophomores Logan Knight, Cameron Belden, and Tyler Parquette, all returning players said that they have improved their skill in and out of the water.
For the team, last year’s season was more about developing the basic skills they needed to catch up with rival schools. This year, all of the players are more prepared after training diligently during the offseason. After getting down the basics, the team is now working on more in-depth water polo strategies.
“We have one year of training under our belt so we are definitely going to improve off of our season from last year, it being our first year ever,” Matal said. So we will definitely have a better outcome as far as the wins and the losses but we are still trying to build the new program.”
The Brahmas won their first non-conference game against the Los Amigos Lobos 18 – 9.
The team took control of the game in the first quarter leading by three points. They continued to maintain the upper hand all the way to the final quarter.
Hammond and Belden scored the most points of the game securing the team’s first win.
