Holding me by the feet, my best friend and water polo teammate, senior Nathaniel Acker, shouted “Happy Birthday!” as he threw me into the pool, fully clothed.

I haven’t always been a water polo player. I spent my childhood playing other sports, like soccer and baseball, but neither drew me in the same way water polo did. One of the biggest reasons I stuck with water polo is because of the amazing teammates I’ve had over the years and the shenanigans we pull. 

The Boys Water Polo team, both JV and Varsity, have been my family during my time at Arcadia High School. Many of my teammates, now friends, I met playing water polo. I met seniors Warren Luc and Logan Wong during my freshman year, and even though they were Varsity while I was JV, we became great friends. My greatest inspiration playing water polo was now alumnus Jaden Joemtree, a national level water polo player and an amazing mentor to the team. Even my underclassmen, juniors Nico Ocampo, Kurt Wijiya, and Shaun Sathe, along with sophomores Matteo Santacruz, Callahan Tsai, and Terrence Chung, have all been great motivators and amazing teammates.

This year in particular was the best year I could have asked for. We made it to the second round of CIF after placing third in the league. I still remember the day before one of our league games; the entire team went out to get all-you-can-eat sushi. We ended up eating 800 pieces between the 10 of us, and none of us could swim during the game. We had a lot of ups and downs, pulling off a major upset against Hoover High School before losing to Burbank High School during the end of season tournament. Every game day, we would make a post on Instagram, and every bus ride we would blast music in the back with a speaker someone brought and sing until we annoyed our coach enough for her to tell us to tone it down. 

If you asked me where my most fond memories of high school come from, I can say with confidence that the majority of them happened on the pool deck. We might be a rowdy bunch, but I can truthfully say that it was the best time of my life. Every day we spent together we were making memories, and I truly couldn’t ask for a better team.