Fillmore Flashes Boys Water Polo Update

Submitted by Coach Lindsey Cota

9/26/18 - Fillmore vs. Nordhoff; Score: 10 - 1 Nordhoff

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9/27/18 - Fillmore vs. Villanova; Score: 26 - 0 Villanova

Although the scores may not reflect it, our boys are improving and made some improvements from the first game to the second this week. Every team we've played has brought a different strength to the table, so every game so far has been a major learning opportunity for our players.

The biggest issue our kids face is probably conditioning. This is a fairly new program for our high school and we really struggle with recruiting our male students to come out and give the sport a shot. Not being able to have that depth on the bench kills us every single game. Imagine running a football program with little more than the 11 players required on the field. There are no breaks in each quarter and play is continuous, so with very few subs to give our players the breaks they so need, it becomes difficult for them to keep up with teams that are able to field every required position two or even three times over. I've definitely seen improvement from year to year, but next year I'd like for our kids to come out of the gate with a serious fighting chance so we're going to have to hit both the conditioning and recruiting hard.

For the rest of this season we're going to have to find a way to be confident enough in our actions on the field to play aggressively and commit to our choices even if that means making mistakes. Although, like every other coach, I'd obviously prefer that they occur during practices and not during games, as long as we can learn from them and not repeat them, I'm all for the mistakes. It comes with the territory of a new program and provides us with learning opportunities to build off of. I'm looking forward to watching these boys improve through the rest of this season and particularly, the fact that we get to see all of these teams again. That'll be a great way for us to be able to markedly see the improvements we've made as a team and individually this season.