Boys Varsity Water Polo had their first and only tournament against Sunnyside, which resulted in a loss for our Wildcats, with a score of 17-18. No matter the outcome; however, the boys did play their hardest and worked together as a team. During the first three games, our shortcomings were on full display for coaches to take note of, so we did. In the final game against Sunnyside, we kept “inside water” by cutting off our defender’s counterattack. We called out many of our passes, and kept them dry. Best of all, we kept a short leash on our emotions by learning to encourage each other and “brush off” the mistakes before they ruined our mental game.

In the first game against Reedley, they had better endurance and just flat “outswam” us. Other than that, our ball passing skills were on par with theirs. Too many times, they had open access to our goal line, which resulted in an unfortunate final score of 0-16.

The second game, against Chowchilla would be proven a loss as well, with a score of 8-15. This game was exceedingly aggressive and physical; to call it rowdy would be an understatement. The Wildcats kept cool and avoided ejections and flagrant misconducts. In the last half, the boys played as a team and marginalized the point spread.

The third game would be against Madera South. Once again the Wildcats were hard pressed to get back on defense to cut off inside water. The boys also were plagued by a team which was altogether too “clingy” with grappling and grabbing. After a short tutorial on how to escape hand and leg locks, the boys put their heads back in the game and ended up with a score of 5-18.

The fourth and final game was against Sunnyside; it was like a totally different team showed in place of the previous Wildcat Boys Team. They were communicating, they were cutting off inside water, only briefly letting the Sunnyside guys through for scoring opportunities. They never gave up mentally or physically. They fought hard the whole time, this game would prove to be the best game of the weekend. Best of all, they battled against their own inner demons, and would prevail.Their teamwork showed up quite visibly in the final score, a 10-14.

Kaleb Hillan had 13 total goals for the weekend, most as a result of careful dodging into center cage. Paul Pitts had four goals, many made from half tank. Ryan Hickernell had two goals, most made from Hole Set. Presley Golling, Jack Layton, Sergio Gomez, and Kaden Hielscher each had one goal as a result of quality assists by the other members of the team. Speaking of assists: Presley Golling had five assists, Jake Johnson had four, Ryan Hickernell had four. Stealing the ball, Ryan Hickernell had the most: six for the weekend, while Kaleb Hillan had five, Presley Golling had two, and Alex Toro and Jack Layton had two as well.