The Auburn Water Polo Club is preparing for its home tournament Oct. 1-2 when the Tigers will take on other teams in the Southeastern Conference.
Coached by James Fergusson, former water polo player and bronze-medalist of the 1972 Summer Olympics, Auburn's water polo team is currently the underdog of its league.
"These past couple years have been our building years," said Patrick Gilday, team president and super senior in software engineering. "So we haven't been winning as many games as we did in the past."
However, Gilday said he expects this year to be different.
"We recruited freshman with experience in water polo," Gilday said. "So compared to the last two years, we will be a more successful team.
Gilday said the team's chemistry is strong, and it correlates with how they compete.
"The freshman have been a great addition to the team," said Jaclyn Wilson, junior in marine biology and team vice president. "Since last year, our team's chemistry has grown. We've become more like a family than just a club team."
Wilson said it's this chemistry that makes Auburn water polo stand out from other teams in its conference.
"I absolutely love playing Auburn water polo," said Diamonne Scott, freshman in graphic design. "We work well as a unit, and I think we'll do very well this season."
Scott said the key to being a successful team is doing more than just practicing and attending mandatory tournaments.
Gilday said they participated in a preseason scrimmage last weekend.
"We beat Emory and tied with Georgia Tech and UGA," Gilday said. "Last year we couldn't beat any of these teams, so this makes us think that we'll have a much better season."
Gilday said the team's dynamic has a direct effect on what happens in the pool.
"When we compete, we play in tournaments, not just matches that are over in a day," Gilday said. "We spend the whole weekend together outside of Auburn. This helps in practices and in games when you get along with the people you play with."
Wilson said their practice routine is rigorous.
"We practice four days a week, Monday through Thursday, from 7-8:45 p.m. in the Aquatics Center," Wilson said. "A typical practice basically includes a warm-up swim of about 200 yards and about 100 yards of just treading water, a lot of drills to work on passing and controlling the ball, shots and our defense, and then we usually end with a full-court scrimmage that lasts about 30 minutes."
Gilday said some of their most critical drills include man-up and a specific drill the University of California Los Angeles water polo team uses.
"These drills focus on working with your teammates to score while being heavily guarded," Gilday said.
Wilson said Auburn will take on teams next weekend from the SEC, including Georgia Tech, University of Georgia, University of Florida and Louisiana State University.
"The tournament generally lasts all day on Saturday starting at 8 a.m.," Wilson said. "We'll start just as early on Sunday, but we'll be through a lot earlier, probably around 3 p.m."
Wilson said she would love to see a good crowd at this home tournament, as water polo can many times be forgotten.
"It's a great sport to cheer on and watch," Wilson said. "We'd love for students to come show the other teams what Auburn pride is all about."
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
