Are there any WP related camps or summer programs for elementary school-aged kids? I know Landon has a WP camp, but its youngest participants are middle schoolers.

There are four youth WP clubs in the DMV -- Capital in Springfield and Navy in Annapolis are the oldest and biggest. Both are nationally competitive--although Capital has done better in recent years. Blossoms is a startup, good for more casual, less-experienced players. Panthers is a developmental club mostly intended for underprovided kids. There was a good article in the Post about DMV water polo a few months ago.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/10/21/water-polo-gonzaga/

Sorry, hit send too fast: the only dc youth clubs I know about are Blossoms and Panthers? Is there another?

It would be nice to have high school water polo in FCPS. Such a fun sport for good swimmers who might burn out on competitive swimming otherwise.

Dc water polo clubs

FYI - I think there is a second team starting or a recently started in DC or. That means there are two in DC, one in Springfield and of course the Navy for club.

I am surprised there are not more high school teams especially given how strong swimming is in this area. IMO swimming leaves only a few opportunities for top seated individuals.

Pool time is a limiting factor here I think. It would be great to have high school water polo teams in public schools. There is only one that I know of, and then a few private schools.

Anonymous wrote:Could not agree, more OP.
DC did both for two years and it was tough. It helps that there are not that many tournaments for WP, so meet conflicts were few.

The problem was the early am swim and later WP practices. We finally told them they had to alternate which practice was going to take precedence, by season.

WP is definitely growing on the east coast, though mostly NE and PA areas right now.

Yes, morning practice is a no go for us because DS is in the pool until 10PM three nights a week. His swim season has been phenomenal this year but mostly because of all the hours he spends at WP practice lol. He still needs to work on race strategies and technique though …just not tons of extra fitness work, which is what his club swim is mostly focused on. Tough to balance. If he had to choose, he’d obviously choose WP.

Could not agree, more OP.
DC did both for two years and it was tough. It helps that there are not that many tournaments for WP, so meet conflicts were few.

The problem was the early am swim and later WP practices. We finally told them they had to alternate which practice was going to take precedence, by season.

WP is definitely growing on the east coast, though mostly NE and PA areas right now.

Anonymous wrote:It’s a great sport but it’s hard to compete nationally with the teams from the south and west.

Yes, I wish it would grow in popularity here. So many good swimmers who may quit swimming before college but would excel at water polo if it were more accessible. More local teams would up the opportunities to compete, affordably. It’s pretty darn expensive to travel so far so frequently to get any real competition.

It’s a great sport but it’s hard to compete nationally with the teams from the south and west.

How many of you are in here?

There are very few clubs and teams in the area so it’s a small community — which means it can be easy to out yourself here. But, just wondering how your kids are handling the club swim + water polo thing?

Are you doing both? How many hours in the pool? What about sleep and nutrition?

The kid is a talented swimmer who LOVES WP.

Would love to see more kids play and more local clubs start, but I feel like there is an unfortunate tension between swim clubs and water polo clubs which is silly. They compliment each other. Ideally there would be aquatics programs that offer both, like they do on the west coast, so there would be fewer schedule conflicts.

It’s such a great sport for strong swimmers. Highly encourage local parents to check out what’s around if you have a good swimmer who is also interested in team sports! Boys AND girls.