Arizona State water polo has a huge family tree. There are many NCAA licensed teams and clubs. However, the vitalization of this sport needs to run deeper. The success of water polo in our desert state depends on it.
So ASU rises to the occasion. The university fosters almost every level of water polo, even including high school students. It does branch out. For the sport of water polo, ASU coaches and players have an initiative incorporating more than the Sun Devil name.
AJ Grucky, the club men’s and women’s coach and founder, said that Arizona water polo has grown exponentially since he stepped on the deck at Mona Plummer Aquatic Complex.
“(ASU water polo is) involved around the promotion of teamwork, athleticism and hardworking lives who understand working as a team will establish a common goal,” Grucky said. “We build really strong life fundamental skills at a young age. The ultimate goal is to develop the sport as a self-sustaining unit within Arizona.”
That is the total Sun Devil initiative, not just a national title. The state of Arizona does not sanction the sport of water polo at a high school level. This is where ASU comes in. By creating clubs within designated areas, those clubs come together at the aquatic complex and compete.
According to Elaine Bentley, a teacher and coach at Desert Vista High School as well as ASU class of 2006 alumnus, if an individual high school can round up enough people for a team, that team will represent that one school. For schools that lack numbers, they will combine with other schools that receive small numbers.
“What we try to do is eventually grow so a high school can develop their own club,” Bentley said. “(At ASU) we have some sort of foundation. (High school students) will know where to go to play water polo.”
Sun Devil club water polo — both the men’s and women’s — practice and compete with the high school clubs. To show how close the system is within the sport of water polo, ASU club water polo also gets reps in with the divisional teams. It’s a collaborative effort to meet the total initiative: to bring water polo into the state of Arizona.
This is what Grucky wanted. Grucky was a high school swimmer from Brophy Preparatory School who looked to swim Division I. After a wrist injury, he was threatened to be redshirted, an unwanted road for him.
Closed doors open new ones, though, as he chose ASU to walk on. He wanted to see if he could “make something out of it.” Who thought that “something” would be a sport that he had never tried up until that point. He became involved with water polo.
Grucky remembers his lack of water polo skill being laughable. He played Masters polo, which was an open division. He learned. By sophomore year, Grucky created what is now the Sun Devil’s water polo club.
He had learned partially from senior Wes Sjoholm, an economics major. Grucky is the head coach for both the men’s and women’s clubs but cannot take full credit. In Grucky’s case, he learned from one of his players. Out of respect, the leadership system is not concrete; everyone contributes.
“(Sjoholm) is arguable the best player in the collegiate water-polo club circuit,” Grucky said. “He’s one of the guys I’ve looked up to for more than six years.”
Six years ago, the club process all started with posters and fliers to get the club out there. Now, it’s just a matter of finding the best coaching system. Grucky said that there is no established group.
Grucky has leaned more toward the women’s end, but still is a leadership figure for the men’s. He is looking to lighten the load though, and find teachers of the game to step up.
“Leadership needs to be earned,” Grucky said. “Wes is right there helping out.”
Sjoholm said that he leads by example, what he has been doing since his high school days playing water polo. He was the captain for his team in Albuquerque, NM, and was president for the men’s club team. Leadership has been there.
He wants to prolong his leadership resume and help the men’s team win a national title. He wants to help stabilize the coaching system.
“(Grucky) is like the godfather of ASU water polo,” Sjoholm said. “I want to continue what AJ’s done and just keep it going.”
Sjoholm said that the team is done with just getting to the national championships, that it’s not enough anymore. He wants to be the benefactor that will launch them from a 5th place finish to a championship.
Another process in the works for men’s water polo is hosting an invitational.
Although the coaching system is not yet established, Grucky says the players make up for that. Grucky says he likes how there is no monetary incentive to play.
“At the club level there is no money incentive,” Grucky said. “There’s no entitlement. You earn yourself a spot. You earn to play. That’s what is inspiring.”
Grucky looks at his women’s team as successful. The team is currently training for a competition with the U of A. The tournament they will be competing in will be in Albuquerque, NM, from March 31 to April 2.
What is sure is that despite there being no coach on paper, the total initiative to bring water polo and club competition to Arizona is organized.
“We are so gracious for ASU to share their facility,” said Jeff Reed, the Arizona USAWater Polo representative and parent coordinator for the high school clubs. “We certainly will try to give back.”
Giving back would be national championships and, for the high schools, to spotlight a shadowed sport in water polo.
Ideas. They’d be cool. bcapria@asu.edu.
