As team captain Andrew Zhang stepped out into the Levering Pool, cheers emanated from the back.
Looking to the stands, he saw a crowd of students and parents, who all showed up to support the team at their first-ever home game. It was an amazing sight, but for Zhang, it was an unexpected one.
The water polo team at St. Mark’s is an accomplished one.
Eight straight state championships, and many Division 1 and USA national team players. But even with all that success, the water polo team never attracted large crowds of fans to its games, the reason being a crucial missing piece: a proper home pool.
For many years, the team faced issues with trying to work with a pool that was not made for water polo. Half of the pool was too shallow, and the small width made maneuvering more difficult, making hosting games almost impossible.
Because of this, the team had to constantly travel to away games in order to compete, creating busier schedules for the players and making it difficult to get more spectators to support the team at their games.
According to team mom Tiffany Melvin, not having a proper home pool in combination with having to find opponents of similar caliber often meant long-distance travel across the state and beyond.
But, with the new athletic center, Melvin views the pool as a welcome sight, a reward for the obstacles they have had to face in their journey to become champions.
“What once felt like a constant uphill battle now feels like a moment of vindication and pride,” Melvin said. “The boys finally have a facility worthy of their championship program, and the relief and gratitude across the community is palpable.”
For Water Polo Coach Trent Calder, the Levering Pool is just as important to him. Having a home pool, and one the size of the Levering Pool, means more home games, less travel time, and most importantly, better practices.
“In the past, we had to run three teams, through two time slots, with a third of a pool,” Calder said. “I would extend practice so that each group could get ample time in the deep water but it was still not enough. Now, we are able to get so much more work done in a shorter amount of time.”
But maybe even more important than more efficient practice is the meaning of the pool to the team. For a team that was constantly on the move for games, having a home pool means something for Calder.
“We have a place to call our own, a castle to defend,” Calder said. “It’s something we are proud to show our opponents, and most importantly, a place for our school spirit to show through.”
With proper stands set up for fans to cheer on the team and being on campus for the home games, the number of student and parent fans turning up has dramatically increased.
The change has been very noticeable. While competing at other schools’ home pools, Zhang often dealt with the crowds cheering against him.
But, for the first time at the team’s first home game, he experienced a crowd cheering for him.
“For the first home game, there was a full student section, and it was a crazy experience. I’ve never gotten to experience that before,” Zhang said. “They’re doing the different chants and you can hear it, and it’s so uplifting, because we’ve literally never had a game where the fans were cheering for us before. It gives you so much momentum and makes you so much prouder to play for the school.”
The team’s continual success and now the new pool has led to water polo becoming more and more of a relevant topic on campus.
Before, students had heard about the team’s successes but were never able to see them in person.
On top of that, competing in UIL instead of SPC separated water polo from the rest of the sports at the school. But, with the students now attending home games, Zhang has been hearing more and more people talking about water polo and gaining interest.
To Melvin, the new facility is pushing water polo into the spotlight at the school.
Instead of being tucked away in the back of a building, the team is now playing in a front-facing light-filled natatorium for everybody to see. These last few games have been the first time Melvin has seen excitement building around water polo at the school.
For her, the new exposure means that the broader community around the school can finally start to appreciate the unique and intense sport that is water polo, and she hopes that this will encourage more Marksmen and families to try it out.
But while the Levering Pool is a facility that will serve the team for many years to come, to Melvin, it’s more than that.
“This is not just a facility; it is a celebration of years of perseverance, sacrifice and success,” Melvin said. “It validates the incredible effort these young men and their coaches have poured into the sport, and it gives future generations a chance to experience it at its highest level.”
