Belen boys beat defending state champion Gulliver to win the Gulliver Invitational.

Article (scroll down the page to see scores of both girls and boys games)

German water polo players may wear orange robes at the Beijing Olympics, the same color as Tibetan monks.

More on this and general political statements at the Olympics and sporting events.

thaindian.com: German athletes explore Olympic protest options

Ex-Carondelet HS water polo player Jayne Appel and the Stanford women’s basketball squad are one win from the Final Four (they play No. 1 seed Maryland tonight in the Elite Eight). There has been a lot of talk about how being a 2m player helped her low post strength and passing abilities by TV analysts and newspaper reporters. This recent article in the SJ Mercury News highlights water polo as good training on her way to dominating in hoops.

Full article: Stanford’s fate may rest in strong hands of Appel

Most credit water polo with helping Appel develop the upper-body strength that has made her a pain to stop in the lane. Even when double- and triple-teamed, Appel can softly plop the ball into the basket.

Appel says water polo also gave her mental toughness, the cornerstone of this season’s Cardinal.

Lots has happened since the site went down last week. No. 1 UCLA remained undefeated, beating Hawaii in Honolulu. San Diego State beat Cal then lost to USC, both at home. Michigan over Hartwick, then squeaking out a win over Santa Clara in Ann Arbor. Bucknell continues its best season ever with wins over Princeton & Maryland.

We’ll get links to these stories up on the site soon…

Michigan wins two at Fluid Five
No. 6 SDSU over No. 5 Cal 7-5
No. 1 UCLA over No. 4 Hawaii
No. 3 USC over No. 6 SDSU 13-8
Bucknell over No. 16 Princeton 6-5
Bucknell over Maryland 7-6 in OT
ASU: McGrath sets season scoring record
Stanford over Hawaii 10-9 in OT
UC Davis edges Hartwick 4-3

Sorry for the problems, we got hacked……Anyway, we are back and will go back to our regularly scheduled updates

The Daily Pilot has named their co-girls high school water polo players of the year: Newport Harbor High senior Mimi Bury and cross-town rival Corona del Mar junior goalie Kate Baldoni.  Over the course of the season, Bury had 40 goals, 35 assists and 60 steals while Baldoni recorded 343 saves.

Read more 

Women
Group A: USA, Russia, Italy, China
Group B: Greece, Hungary, Netherlands, Australia
Analysis of women’s draw from waterpolo-world.com

Men
Group A: Spain, Australia, Hungary, Montenegro, Greece, Canada
Group B: Serbia, Croatia, USA, China, Italy, Germany
Analysis of men’s draw from waterpolo-world.com

Good article in Honolulu Advertiser on ex-UCLA and current Hawaii assistant Maureen Flanagan. Read more

San Diego.com rounding up the various all-league water polo nominees.  SignonSanDiego.com:

San Diego State is focused on returning to the NCAA Championships, and the veteran squad pulled out a big come-from-behind win over Long Beach en route to a perfect 5-0 weekend.

Daily Aztec article
Results from the Aztec Invitational

In response to a New York Times article about youth sports and parents hanging hopes on college scholarships, Jennie Nash wrote about the benefits that she see her daughter gain by playing youth water polo.

Here’s just a small portion but the whole thing is worth a read (link below)

Through water polo, our child has learned how to work with teammates who are more talented than she is, better connected, and more motivated, as well as those who are more lazy, inconsistent, and desperate. She has learned how to take direction from a wide range of coaches who represent a wide range of attitudes - from loud-mouthed and narrow-minded to quiet and unassuming. She has learned how to work hard for something day in and day out, what to do when you get it, and what to do when you don’t. She has learned how to sit patiently on the sidelines; how to lead a team to victory; how to perform under pressure; how to entertain herself without a TV, an ipod, a cellphone or an expense account; and how to make friends based on a shared love of an activity. We actually made the decision as a family to stop going to church and start attending weekend water polo tournaments because we truly felt that we were learning more about the meaning of life at the pool than we were in the pews.

Read Jennie Nash’s article from the Huffington Post