Being a student athlete at Arcadia High School (AHS) is no easy feat, but sophomore Warren Luc makes the task of maintaining academic and athletic excellence seem easy. Beginning his second year on the Boys Varsity Water Polo team as goalie, Luc demonstrates incredible dedication and passion for his sport.

Luc has been playing water polo for seven years, and his passion for the game began while he was training for a different sport.

“During swim practice when I was young, I saw some older boys playing water polo,” Luc said. “It intrigued me that there was something fun to do [other than swim] in the water.” Ever since then, Luc picked up the sport and never looked back.

In just his first year on the school team, Luc and his team won three major tournaments: the Long Beach Tournament, the Western Tournament, and the Pacific League. Luc intends to stay on the team for the remainder of his high school career, and there will definitely be more achievements to come.

Luc attends practice from 2:30-4:45 p.m. on weekdays until December, when the season comes to an end. In addition to long afternoon practices, the water polo team also meets at the crack of dawn on Mondays and Wednesdays, training from 6:30-8 a.m.

“Practice is serious almost every day, and we work hard to become a competitive team,” Luc explained. “Our team captain, Jaden Joemtree, encourages us and makes sure we’re working hard.” While practices are long and arduous, Luc praises the captain’s ability to motivate the team to practice productively daily. 

In turn, Co-Captain junior Jaden Joemtree described Luc as “one of the hardest workers on the team…he puts in the work when no one is watching, [the] last to leave the workout, and dedicates himself to perfecting his technique.”

“Warren is hands down one of the hardest workers I’ve ever met,” Joemtree continued. “Most of [the team] played with Warren growing up in clubs, and personally, he was one of my first teammates.”

In addition to school practice, Luc joined a competitive club outside of school to ensure that he keeps his skills sharp off season.

“I joined a club after [last year’s] season, and I’ve been able to balance it,” Luc said. “[the club] has practice at 6:30-9 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday, [along with] a 7:30-10 a.m. practice on Sunday.”

Luc finds the club practices inconvenient at times, but overall, he prefers the early weekend practices because it frees up the rest of the day for homework or fun activities.

With so much time committed to water polo, one may wonder how the young athlete has time for anything else. However, Luc seems to have no issue maintaining his school-sport balance.

“School is more of a priority to me than water polo, so I skip practices [if necessary] to study for a test or finish homework,” Luc said. “I still maintain good grades while playing water polo.”

The sport plays a huge role in Luc’s life, and it will definitely make an impact on him for years to come. Water polo is a highly interactive sport, and Luc has spent countless hours in the pool training with his team. Their time spent together has brought them closer, not just as a team, but as friends. Luc enjoys spending time with his teammates both inside and outside of practice.

“At the end of the day, water polo is put aside, and we make memories together as a team,” Luc said. “Whether we win or lose.”

The sport also taught Luc a couple life lessons, such as maintaining a positive attitude in life. He learned to shrug off the little things in-game. Luc remembered struggling to maintain this mentality when he was younger, but as he grew more mature, he learned to move on from his mistakes and instead focus on correcting them in the future.

The AHS athlete is inspired by Olympic goalie Merril Moses, who “isn’t very tall, but is argued to be one of the best goalies,” recalled Luc. “This applies to me because I’m one of the shortest goalies in the sport, and he inspires me to overcome that hurdle.”

When asked for a piece of encouragement for other student athletes, Luc said, “It’s not the accolades that define a team, it’s the journey.”

Luc has shown incredible dedication and skill in water polo while still achieving his academic goals. The young athlete has set high goals for the fall season, and Luc intends to work diligently with his team to win league finals again this year. Good luck to the Luc and the Boys Varsity Water Polo team, and we look forward to upcoming games in the months ahead.

Photo by Arya Desai