Boys water polo ready for the upcoming season

Water polo is a challenging, intense sport that demands synergy and communication from its players. The Samo varsity team is ready to meet the upcoming season with new energy and expects good results from their training. The team started practice on Aug. 17, working on conditioning, fundamentals and are now focused on tactics and execution. Team captain, Sawyer Koetters (’19), is leading them through.“[Our strengths are] outside shooting and counter attack offense,” Koetters said. The water polo season starts when school does, so the team needed to grasp the basics of their training and get to work very quickly. They had a good start, winning their first game of the season, and they are confident in each other’s abilities. Starting goalie Aaron Akhavan (’20) feels that their strengths allow them to succeed.“I feel the team is doing well on communication, spacing out, and running plays,” Akhavan said. “We talk and tell each other what to do to further benefit offense.”Coach Matthew Flanders is confident in the team’s starting players and new players, like Sasha Lenkin (’21). He sees a lot of improvement, but would like to see them become stronger at fundamental passing and shooting and general awareness. Between games, they continue their training and build on what they started before the start of the school year. This year’s team has less seniors than usual, requiring more of his time to work with them and bring out their strengths.“We are a young team, and the future looks bright,” Flanders said.