This is the first year there has been a women’s water polo team. The girls worked very hard and prepared tediously for all of their games this season. Because water polo is an action-packed sport, many hazards are associated with it.
“The biggest struggle for our team was learning the game of water polo,” women’s water polo coach Maggie Bowen said. “We are swimmers first and water polo players second. Learning how physical the game is was a big struggle for the girls.”
Water polo is a sport that comes with many hazards. According to Better Health, “Water polo can cause head injuries such as concussions, broken noses, scratched eyeballs, and perforated eardrums.” The women’s water polo team has experienced their own handfuls of injuries.
“Emily Bujak was involved in an altercation in the water, Alexis Gow sustained a cut on her eye, and Shefali Desai was hit in her stomach by a kick,” Bowen said.
The girls have experienced many victories and failures this season. One of the games this season was the water polo game against Kempner on Sep. 8. Though the Lady Rangers were well prepared, the aggressiveness of the Kempner team took the Rangers by surprise and hindered the victory of the Rangers. During the game, a few players stood out. Elizabeth Johnson helped score multiple goals for the team while remaining to be an active team player. On the other hand the goalie, Theresa Andrews diligently blocked many of Kempner’s attempts to score, saving the game from ending on multiple accounts.
“The girls tried their best but they needed to be more aggressive to the ball,” Bowen said. “Safety was a huge concern in this game, but the girl still tried their best.”
Though the girls faced many injuries in challenges, they still continued to work hard.
“Water Polo is a contact sport, so we have to expect all the same injuries that come with contact sports. We’ve had concussions, stitches, black eyes, hits, kicks, etc. in water polo,” Bowen said. “But what is great is that outside the water, players conduct themselves professionally, they leave the competition in the water and have great sportsmanship outside the water.”
