Thirteenth place might sound humbling elsewhere, but not for the Santa Maria 12-and-under One Way Water Polo Club team. For the first time in team history, One Way qualified for the Water Polo National Junior Olympics (NJO)—the largest age group water polo tournament in the country.
One Way earned its spot by finishing 13th at the Coastal Zone Qualifier tournament in Los Angeles from June 2 to 4.
“I was super excited for these kids to make the National Junior Olympics at such a young age,” coach Justin Murrillo told the Sun. “It is a very tough tournament to qualify for, but they all stayed together as a team and came through in the end. It’s impressive to see a 12-and-under team play at the level they did in order to qualify.”
The NJO events take place in Orange County from July 22 to 30 this year. The boys’ 12-and-under team came close to qualifying for the tournament last year when they finished 19th at the qualifier, Murrillo said.
The team includes most of the same players from last year, coach Miles Whitfield told the Sun, so qualifying this year was an accomplishment for everyone involved.
“Our team missed qualifying by only one spot last year,” Whitfield said. “It motivated the team to practice and play extra hard this year to make it to the NJO.”
For Whitfield, the most gratifying aspect of coaching the 12-and-under team this year was seeing the boys improve at every tournament they competed in, he said.
“We played in several high-level tournaments in Orange County this year and we were very competitive with the top teams in our region,” Whitfield said. “That gave the team a lot of confidence heading into the NJO qualification tournament. It gave me a strong feeling we would qualify this year.”
The boys 12-and-under team is made up of 13 players: Lucas Anderson, Alex Andrade, Michael Brown, Jonathan Carcarey, Adrian Eisner, Aidan Fitzpatrick, Levi Pick, Morrison Steffora, Jacob Timmer, Kyle Timmer, Logan Todd, Cahill Tucker, and Zachary Whitfield.
The team is coached by Whitfield, Murrillo, and Charlie Bell, who co-founded the One Way Water Polo Club in 2007.
“Many of the One Way players go on to be outstanding students and athletes at our local high schools, and watching them succeed in all those avenues is a joy for me,” Whitfield said. “I strongly believe the life skills they learn playing this sport will benefit them for the rest of their lives as they develop into hardworking, productive adults.”
Although One Way’s home pool at the Paul Nelson Aquatics Center is located in Santa Maria, the team is made up of players from across the Central Coast.
“I was really stoked about making it [to the NJO] because we’ve worked really hard,” 10-year-old player Levi Pick told the Sun. Pick, a sixth grader at Trivium Charter School in Arroyo Grande, is the youngest player on the team.
“I was nervous during the qualifier because we had lost the first two games of the tournament,” Pick said. “We needed to win the rest of the four games in the tournament to earn a spot.”
And that’s exactly what they did.
During the remainder of the qualifier, One Way faced off against Pride Water Polo Academy, South Coast Aquatics, Commerce Aquatics, and Santa Barbara Premier Water Polo. After three victories in a row, the fourth game felt like a breeze, Pick explained.
“The last game of the tournament wasn’t intense at all,” he said. “We came out real strong, got an early lead and won.”
After winning the fourth and final game of the qualifier, “there was nothing but smiles,” Murrillo said. The team was confident they had qualified at that point, he added, although there was a waiting period before finding out.
Pick was vacationing on the East Coast when he heard the good news, he said.
“I was with my family in New York when I found out we qualified,” he said. “We celebrated by going out to a nice dinner in Brooklyn.”
Murrillo was ecstatic when One Way received its official invitation from the NJO, he said, but he had already foreseen it happening months before.
“I knew they had what it takes to qualify. Throughout the year, everyone on the team was determined to make the NJO,” Murrillo said. “That’s been the most rewarding aspect of coaching for me, watching these kids work hard and consistently get better at the sport they love.”
Contributor Caleb Wiseblood can be reached through Managing Editor Joe Payne at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jul 27 – Aug 3, 2017.