Charlie Long, junior geoscience major, recalls starting the water polo sports club as an incoming first-year in the summer of 2022 when he attended a first-year resource fair. At the fair, Long’s father found Kristen Harrison’s — the associate athletic director for recreation and sports camp — table, and connected Charlie to her to start a club for water polo. To help catapult his newly founded club, Long started an Instagram and a GroupMe, along with making flyers and t-shirts for the first student involvement fair in the fall of 2022.
“Starting many is a little easier than starting just one,” Long said. “It was pretty tough to start things off with one person. I found some people [at the fair] who were similarly interested in water polo. There’s actually pretty good talent here at Trinity in terms of water polo. More than I was expecting.”
Among the students who were interested in joining Long with his water polo ventures was Michael Ard, senior international studies and Russian double-major. Ard had no water polo experience before participating, but that did not stop him from asking Charlie Long about joining. The men’s club started out with three members in its first semester of existence. Despite the strong start of the program, there have been challenges along the way.
“Sometimes we have issues with scheduling,” Ard said. “The ones who show up are really committed. All the officers — men and women’s side — are both very committed to growing this club. … I definitely can see us growing into one of the larger clubs on campus in the coming semesters.”
A monumental step in manifesting Ard’s statement of being one of the larger clubs on campus has resulted in the women also starting their own water polo team. The women’s team started last year when current co-captains Cassie Brown, Ava De Leon and Ashley Cooper went to the Student Involvement Fair and met with Long, who encouraged the three of them to meet with him at the first practice to get a team set up.
“It was amazing to have the [men’s team] already have laid the foundation for how everything was going to work,” Cooper, sophomore neuroscience major, said. “We were really able to work off of that, and we started practicing with them.”
However, organizing leadership among the coaches has been the biggest challenge with the club being so new. There was a lack of a coaching presence which posed another challenge for the water polo enthusiasts as the captains for both the men’s and women’s teams were delegating and running practice.
“As great as that is, it’s also difficult to be a player when you’re also trying to lead,” De Leon, sophomore psychology major, said. “Our greatest challenge was really trying to find someone that can be like a rock for us and guide us through it all.”
Both teams aim to continue to build on the momentum that has kept them thriving within the past year. Their current focus is growing outreach for the community and to compete in more places not just around the state of Texas, but across the country as well.
“I think we did a solid job of [outreach] last year,” Ard said. “Although I’m not [on campus] this semester, it seems like we have a lot going on. We’ve gained a lot more interest this year. I’m excited to see where it goes.”
People who have always been interested in participating in water polo but lack the proper skillset don’t phase the team captains one bit. They encourage Tigers with a wide range of skills to participate in their activities. Those who lack the basic swimming skills altogether are also welcomed.
“We had a guy last semester that didn’t even know how to swim, but he wanted to play,” Ard said. “He would show up to practice and we’d help teach him how to swim while also learning the sport. We’ve fostered this environment where we’re very welcoming, regardless of skill level. Anyone’s invited to come show out with us.”
A key goal for the water polo program altogether is to have more scrimmage and practice time. For the moment, they are currently planning to return to participating in intramural tournaments and hope to play with Masters teams within San Antonio and teams at other universities like Texas A&M University and Baylor University.
