Splashing back into the 2023 season, the Diamond Bar High School boys water polo team has yet again proven their adaptability and resilience as they work with their third new coach in three years.
After former swim and water polo coach Melanie Gonzalez stepped down from her position last year, the team is entering the 2023-2024 season with new head coach Marco Garcia. Garcia is well acquainted with the workings of high school league play, having previously coached varsity water polo at Ayala High School.
The boys struggled in the previous season with a 6-13 overall record and a 2-4 league record, down significantly from the 2021-2022 season. In light of these hardships, however, the team is moving forward with a revamped offensive strategy to increase their effectiveness inside and out of the pool.
“It’s almost like a triangle offense — there’s two separate groups, the left side and the driving side,” Garcia said. “We’ve still got a couple things to fine tune, but if we keep running it the way we’re supposed to, I think it will be picture-perfect by the end of the season.”
Garcia highlighted a few players who were crucial to the team’s success, especially in lieu of the new offense, including juniors Matthew Arauz and Diego Solis and seniors Abdelrahman Hassan and Juan Covarrubias.
“Our new strategy is very simple but hard to counter,” Arauz said. “I’ve done it before in club, and we’ve seen lots of success with it. I can only see a prosperous future if we keep grinding at this rate.”
Despite their successes thus far, the team still finds that they have areas in which they can improve.
“I think [we can work on] teamwork and communication,” Garcia said. “I think communication is a little lacking, which is especially crucial to the offense we are running.”
The boys look to improve on these aspects through further training and drills during both practices and games. Specifically, the team has adopted a new practice schedule focusing on maximizing their pool time. On Mondays, Wednesdays and occasionally Fridays, players come to school extra early for morning practice, which generally revolves around conditioning and swimming, while afternoon practices generally focus on polo-related drills.
The team won their first game in a 13-4 blowout against Chino, largely thanks to their newly implemented strategies. The team plays Schurr High School on September 18, followed by their first league game against rival Walnut on September 20.
