Dragons water polo looking strong
The water polo season is just underway, and Carroll’s hopes are to improve on its state tournament finish last season.
It was Carroll’s highest finish last year, but with experience and talent, the team hopes to continue to build the program of the head coach’s alma mater.
Joey Yglesia, who played for the Dragons water polo team during his years at Carroll, returns for his third year.
Carroll returns from a season in which the boys finished fourth and the girls, ninth.
The girls team was the North Region champion while the boys were third, demonstrating the boys regional is loaded with other talent.
The Dragons have had just two tournaments so far this season, as the weather hampered travel plans for previously-scheduled meets. Last weekend, they hosted an eight-team event with top teams from the area.
The North Texas area has over 30 programs now, but not enough for the UIL to accept water polo as a sanctioned sport just yet. It continues to be a club team sport. There are also select teams in operation which afford swimmers additional playing time and competition.
The challenge for Carroll to maintain a top-end program isn’t an easy one.
Much of the success and potential on the boys side hinges on the return of young but talented players such as Zachary Lowery.
Lowery, just a sophomore, has been playing water polo for five years. He’s also a member of the Carroll swim team, competing in the 50m and 100m Freestyle. He also competes with the Thunder Water Polo select team, which is made up of Southlake and Grapevine-area talent.
The transition from one sport to the other was easy for Lowery. The water polo season starts just after the state swimming and diving meet.
“I’d be swimming and saw them (the water polo team) every day,” Lowery said. “I liked it and it caught on.”
This year, Lowery has been invited to try out for the Olympic development team.
The tryouts are in about two weeks, with only five Southwest Zone men chose to attend the National Training Selection Camp in Orange County, Calif.
A total of 24 are selected to the team –12 on the team and 12 on the practice team – out of about 56 total invitees to the tryout. A majority of the players are California-based, the mecca of this country’s water polo.
“I’ve never made the national team,” Lowery said, “but I hope to this year.”
As an attacker in water polo, Lowery said defense is actually more of his focus but offense is critical.
“To excel defensively, you have to press hard and use your strength and work as a team to get the ball back,” Lowery said.
Players such as Lowery develop more rapidly with local youth and club teams, but the competitive level takes time to show itself.
“We’ve improved quite a bit in the last few years,” Yglesias said. “We used to not be able to compete with Houston-area teams. Now, we can hold our own and we’re continuing to improve.”
Other top programs in the area include Dallas St. Mark’s, Flower Mound and Denton.
The big tournaments coming up are in Conroe on March 28, with the regional championships April 17-18, with the top four boys and girls teams heading to the state meet in Austin on May 1-2.
This story was originally published March 23, 2015 at 3:24 PM with the headline "Dragons water polo looking strong."