There’s water everywhere, splashing in your eyes and mouth while your teammates scramble to get organized. This may sound similar to a Navy Seal operation, but it’s just a regular day for water polo player Lukas Sheckherd.
Sheckherd, an up-and-coming water polo star, took up the sport as a hobby in elementary school.
“I saw an ad in the paper, and my cousin already played water polo, so I decided to give it a try,” Sheckherd said, describing how he began playing club water polo in fifth grade.
From there, Sheckherd couldn’t get enough of the sport; he practiced once a week with One Way Water Polo, joined the Orcutt Polo Association, and practiced with Righetti High School’s water polo team.
“He’s one of the most accomplished young players I’ve seen in a while,” said One Way Water Polo Coach Charlie Bell. “He’s a hard worker who loves polo, and he shows a lot of potential.”
Sheckherd’s good attitude, strong work ethic, and patient nature when helping teach younger water polo players also made him stand out among his teammates.
For the first four years of his athletic career, Sheckherd practiced once a week with the local water polo organization. Now that he’s an incoming freshman at Righetti High School, he practices every day of the week to stay on top of his game.
This major time commitment doesn’t seem to phase him.
In his free time, Sheckherd swims to stay fit and maintain the speed that gives him the extra edge in the pool as a utility player, one who can play any position in the game.
Only 14 years old, Sheckherd already has a decorated athletic career: He was nominated to train at the USA Water Polo Holiday Camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs in 2010; only 100 athletes were selected for this honor.
Sheckherd qualified for the Olympic Development Program Coastal Zone Team in 2011. He advanced to the Regional Championships before getting cut.
This didn’t discourage him, however: “It was OK. I made a lot of new friends and learned a lot that I didn’t know already.”
As his most recent accomplishment, Sheckherd qualified to train in Hungary and Austria for two weeks with the Righetti High School varsity water polo team. As one of 16 athletes going, he’ll compete against international teams in a tournament.
This article appears in Jul 21-28, 2011.