Coach lobbies schools to add water polo teams

Dream’s biggest obstacle: ‘Most of our high schools don’t have pools.’

When you think of high school sports in the South, you think of water polo, right?

“I can’t dream that big,” said Father Dan Rogaczewski, who founded the water polo team at St. Pius X Catholic High School in 2007 and helped lead it to four of the past six state championships.

Rogaczewski hopes to eventually move the sport from club to varsity status in the Georgia High School Association. That would be great news for the 16 high school water polo clubs in the state, all but one in metro Atlanta. Rogaczewski talked about the challenges water polo faces, the most pressing being a lack of water, as well as the benefits of the sport that he believes will win Georgians’ hearts. Q: A lot of Southerners don’t know anything about water polo. Is it akin to a sport they might know about? A: It has been described as full-contact swimming. I put up posters in the hallway that say “All-star basketball and championship wrestling in 8 feet of water.” That is a good description. I look for lacrosse players who swim — they understand the offense. Soccer and baseball players also pick it up quickly, and swimmers bring speed. Q: How did you get into water polo? A: Growing up in St. Louis, I played it in physical education but was not confident enough to play in high school. I tried it again after graduate school and I was hooked. I got successful at the sport when I stopped trying to play and started refereeing and coaching. Q: What is addictive about it? A: I don’t know that it is one thing. It is very intense and physically challenging — most kids like that. Once a new player puts the ball in the net the first time, they are hooked. The two comments I get most often are A) this is the most fun of any sport I have played and B) I wish I started playing it sooner. Q: Other than the physical aspect of the sport, what does water polo offer kids? A: Water polo fills a gap in the fall sports lineup. We have kids who tried other sports that just didn’t fit but have really discovered a new skill and new passion with this game. A fall season of water polo will leave you in much better shape for whatever you play next. Q: What is the biggest hurdle to the sport taking off ? A: Most of our high schools don’t have pools. It is amazing to me that we have gone through a period of school construction in recent years and pools are still seen as a frill. Q: Is water polo maligned by other sports? A: Being able to point to a trophy in the hallway takes care of a lot of that. I had some kids from the football team come out to try it, and the first couple of minutes they were hanging onto the gutter completely out of gas. They had a new level of respect for the kids who play it. Q: What about the uniforms? Are they maligned? A: The hats look goofy. The ear guards are there to make sure the water doesn’t shoot up your ears and bust your eardrums.

For more on this sport, go to gapolo.com.