Many students go to the pool in the summer to relax, tan, and hang out with friends. Two students, however, prefer to skip the relaxing and tanning when they go to the pool.
Michael Venetos and Wyatt Tournier, juniors, play water polo in a recreational league over the summer. Venetos started playing water polo in sixth grade, and he introduced Tournier to the sport about a year and a half ago. Tournier has been playing ever since.
“Michael was doing water polo and I thought it was interesting, so I joined it. [Having Michael there] means that you two are going through [the sport] together, so you can support each through bad times at practice or games,” Tournier said. “Water polo certainly has strengthened our relationship.”
Both athletes play in Arlington Heights with other high school boys from around the area. After playing for several years, Venetos said he has come to appreciate the game more.
“It was really, really difficult at first, of course, but eventually I got better. When I first started, I remember I used to struggle with getting in a couple laps and then the coach was like, ‘alright everyone, let’s do our ten laps for warm-up,’ and I was like, ‘oh my gosh, that’s insane,’” Venetos said. “As time went on I really started to appreciate it a lot more and like it. When you really get to understand the game and the intricacies of the game, it’s really pretty neat.”
Venetos said it is not difficult to pick up water polo rules, but the strategies of the game make it challenging.
“Honestly, if you’re a good swimmer, it’s not that hard to pick up. You just have to work on the treading part, and ball handling, but you don’t even need a pool to work on the ball handling,” Venetos said. “But when you’re coming up with plays and strategies, then it gets harder to comprehend, and it can be pretty difficult.”
Tournier agrees picking up the basics can be pretty easy if people know how to swim, but feels like the treading is very difficult.
“Let’s see, how tired was I? Yeah, you don’t want to move the next morning. Treading is the most challenging part,” Tournier said, “but I love the sport. It’s exciting and usually most people that play it are pretty exciting and nice, so it’s an all around good sport.”
Although Venetos and Tournier appreciate the game, they both said they are disappointed they cannot play on a school team.
“When I was in middle school that was much more of a team, so we developed bonds with those kids,” Venetos said. “Lately, it’s been a bunch of high school kids that get together and they’re all teammates on their high school team and LZHS doesn’t have a team. I get to know them, but I’m not as close with any of them.”
Even though Venetos does not believe he forms strong friendship bonds with the summer recreational league boys, he believes that having Tournier there is helpful in several ways. Venetos said that Tournier helps to support him through the tough times in water polo, but also acts as a friend to joke around with at practice.
“It’s actually Michael’s goal every practice to dunk me,” Tournier said. “I try to get revenge, but usually he dunks me again.”
Aside from the joking around, Venetos appreciates having Tournier to play water polo with because he knows he always has a friend treading by his side.