Water polo season is heating up at Winter Springs High School . Although not as popular as the volleyball or football team, the water polo team is a favorite sport among some students at WSHS, and every game pulls in spectators of friends and family.

For those who do not know, water polo can simply be described as a combination of hockey, soccer, and swimming. There are seven players in the water at a time: six attempting to score goals, and one goalie. The objective of the game is obviously to score, with each goal worth one point.

The difficulty in water polo lies in the fact that it takes place in the pool. The players must be treading water or swimming the entire duration of the game, which is “a lot harder than it seems,” junior Erica Scales, a player on the girls team, said.

Last Wednesday, February 1^st, 2017, both the boys and girls teams faced off against University High School in their first game of the season. The girls team beat out University by a landslide 14-3. The top scorers of the night were senior Jordan Manecke with a whopping six goals and senior Katie Swalby with three.

Although the boys did not do as well, losing 8-12 to University, the team came out fighting in their very first game of the season, and the loss has not discouraged the Bears’ spirits. In fact, this year’s team feels very confident about this season.

“This team has more chemistry than Ms. Nikles’s room,” junior Jarod Kaltenbaugh, driver on the boys team, said.

Like all sports teams at Winter Springs, the water polo team have formed an incredibly close bond with each other over the years they’ve played the sport together. Because water polo is not very popular, there are no prospects to the team turned away at tryouts. Also, there is no JV team, therefore everyone who wants to play makes varsity. This close bond and small team size allows for relationships between teammates to flourish, creating friendships in the pool that will last a lifetime.

Jarod Kaltenbaugh said, “It’s hard work in the pool, but the friendships I make with my teammates are ones that’ll last.”

Whether or not the WSHS water polo teams finish the season at the top of their district, the teams are sure to bring pride to the .