While many Marksman are talented athletes, few can say they’ve trained alongside world-class, Olympic-medalist players. Over the course of 53 days in Fountain Valley California, seniors Leo Scheiner and Gage Fojtasek honed their water polo skills among the best of the best.
Hand-picked from candidates across the world, Scheiner and Fojtasek were two out of only 19 chosen to work with legendary player Ricardo Azevado and his elite team of coaches. From the get-go Scheiner and Fojtasek were put to work.
“The morning it would be different each day. Training, lifting weights, stretching or being talked to about different aspects of the sport beyond just (the physical part),” Fojtasek said. “Then we would be in the water from 9:30 to noon just working on skills.”
Aside from physical training, Scheiner also talked about his mental training.
“We’d talk about the mental side of sports,” Fojtasek said. “Your mindset going into games, how that can affect you, how you can reset breathing techniques, all these different techniques of trying to reset during a game to keep yourself focused.”
For both, however, the nearly eight-weeklong camp wasn’t all work. Both Fojtasek and Scheiner fondly remember spending time enjoying life and messing at the Southern California beaches with their friends.
“(My favorite moment was) spending the Fourth of July at Newport Beach. It was just a lot of fun the entire day,” Scheiner said. “That practice, we didn’t have Fourth of July off, we had the day after off, but that practice we scrimmaged and messed around, and we drew USA flags on our bodies and stuff like that. It was really fun.”
After returning to Dallas, Scheiner and Fojtasek set their sights on a successful fall water polo season. Both have started the season strong, making an immediate impact on varsity. As the first-string goalie, Fojtasek has played a pivotal role in leading his team to victory against tough opponents, applying the skills he honed at 6-8 Sports Academy.
“I think I’ve pretty much overhauled how I play goalie, and it seems to be working really well so far,” Fojtasek said.
Scheiner echoed Fojtasek’s sentiments and also acknowledged the collective progress of the team.
“We’re a stronger team,” Scheiner said. “Not just because of me, not just because of Gage, but there’s a lot of people stepping up and being more mature.”
