The Lions water polo team won its 4th straight state championship on Oct. 14, continuing a streak of dominance over the other schools in the state. But, for the team, it’s just business as usual.
“All three games we played were comfortable wins,” head coach Trenton Calder said.
The team had standout performances from all four grades, which is a testament to the versatility and youth featured in the squad.
“Our team captains, seniors Caleb [Maddox] and Ethan [Gao], really put their foot down and said this is how we’re going to win,” Calder said, “and everybody fell in line and kept it going. We had big shots from from junior Leo [Scheiner] and great stops from sophomore Doan [Nguyen]. Tyson Diep is our only freshmen on the team and made some great plays.”
But, according to Calder, this championship is just a continuation of the team’s recent success and cohesion.
“We went to California a couple weeks ago and really had that aha moment – everything just blossomed for us,” Calder said. “Since that day, the guys have been firing on all cylinders, so it didn’t matter who we played right now. We’re just a very strong team.”
This winning streak, which has lasted six years when removing the COVID hiatus, is a clear statement of the levels Calder and his staff have brought the Lions to over his time at the school.
Calder, though, believes that the team’s intensetraining enables their massive success.
“I mean, we’ve consistently said, ‘Guys, you have to understand the little things, the fundamentals that everybody thinks are so boring to do’,” Calder said. “Once you put those little things into perspective of the game, you create that image in practice that you’re in a game situation.”
And, because of that training, the team is leaps and bounds over other squads they face.
“You realize how valuable those little things are, and other teams just aren’t willing to do that,” Calder said. “And that’s where we really excel – doing the little things correctly. That makes the big things a lot more fun.”
