Venezuelan coach feeling right at home in Canada
Bautista says water polo has given him the chance to see, experience new places
Victor Bautista has an interesting philosophy when it comes to coaching water polo.
Instead of having positions set in stone for his players with the Regina Water Polo Armada, he puts an emphasis on movement in the water.
“Generally in water polo, a lot of coaches like to set up their players in more of a traditional sense. Victor isn’t like that; he likes a lot of speed and action in his play,” said Jamie Flaman, who has been coached by Bautista for five years.
“When we go on offence, for instance, he doesn’t really like to be bogged down and unable to move, so we’re constantly moving.”
Bautista has held this movement-centric mindset since before he stepped foot in a pool, and it’s also what brought him to the Queen City in the first place.
As a youngster growing up in San Cristobal, Venezuela, Medina couldn’t get enough of sports, spending his time swimming and playing any sport he could. At the age of 15, Medina was introduced to water polo and quickly earned a spot on the national team.
“When I got on the national team, that’s when I realized that this could be an opportunity to go somewhere else. I was never really motivated to stay at home; I always wanted to go somewhere else,” Bautista, 30, said in retrospect.
At the time, Bautista was studying to become an engineer in Caracas, but he was more interested in exploring new adventures than following the beaten path in Venezuela.
At the age of 20, Bautista earned a scholarship to study business at West Valley College and play water polo in California. That ultimately led him to Fordham University in New York, where he continued his education in finance.
As a non-American citizen, Bautista had trouble finding consistent, gainful employment in New York, but he also wasn’t ready to move back home to Venezuela.
Economics came easily to Bautista, but it wasn’t his passion. He was, however, truly infatuated with water polo, so he decided to explore ways in which he could make his living in the sport.
There was an opportunity for Bautista to coach water polo in Australia, but he decided on Regina in 2012.
“Initially, my plan was to spend two years here, then spend two years in Australia, where I could explore and have some fun, but things went really well here, right from the beginning,” Bautista said with a smile.
He admits he never in his wildest dreams thought water polo would lead him to a life in Canada — much less Saskatchewan — but nevertheless that’s exactly what happened.
“My wife and I really enjoy the people here in Regina. The way that people treat others here — very respectful, very kind — is what attracted us,” he said. “The second thing is that we started to do well in life. In New York, for example, it was difficult for both of us to find good work, but that wasn’t the case here.”
Bautista loves water polo, but not strictly for the action in the water. He’s passionate about passing on the attributes that it takes to excel in the sport — like commitment and dedication — and helping his players apply them in their lives.
“Those life lessons are what motivate me to coach water polo,” Bautista said. “Passing on those lessons is extremely important.”
Flaman has travelled across Canada and to France to compete with Bautista, and he echoed his coach’s sentiments.
“For Victor, everything is about how you carry yourself — in the pool and in life — so he’s always trying to teach us about water polo and help us improve as people as well,” Flaman said. “An example of how he does that is he makes sure that we, as players and students of the game, understand what the drills we’re doing are, and how they benefit us in the sport, but also how lessons we learn in the sport can make us better as people, like discipline, punctuality and things like that.
“I couldn’t tell you about all the ways he’s impacted my life, because there are just way, way too many to name,” Flaman added. “He’s taught me almost as many things as my own parents have taught me.”