Co-Captain Ethan Zhu ’26 joined Boys Water Polo as a Junior and, now as a Co-Captain, hopes that his prior experience with the team will help to lead Boys Water Polo with a positive outlook and an empowering mindset, whilst uplifting his teammates. Having already made an impact with three commanding wins this season, Boys Water Polo is off to a strong start with a change-making leader.
Zhu credits his friends for getting him to join the team. As a swimmer, Zhu had no other option during the off-season but to stay in the water — which Boys Water Polo offered — and his love for the sport quickly blossomed.
“I wanted to get in the water as much as I could because swimming isn’t available in the fall, so that’s what I did for the fall as my sport. And, a lot of my friends were doing it as well, so I just wanted to join them,” said Zhu.
Victor Hillier ’28 shed some light on Zhu’s leadership style, especially emphasizing his vocal abilities and how Zhu serves as a strong role model to the team. Hillier also praises the Co-Captain’s determination and focus.
“He’s pretty vocal with his opinion on everything. He’s always leading and showing a good example of what we should be doing. He’s never really goofing off, and he’s a pretty good role model for us,” said Hillier.
Teammate Lincoln Tomlinson ’27, who also competes alongside Zhu with Boys Swimming, praised Zhu’s professionalism and how he serves as a perfect example to the coaches’ expectations. Tomlinson also emphasized how Zhu’s leadership helps keep the team together, making them better.
“As a leader, Ethan does a great job of upholding what the coach explicitly describes as our expectations. He keeps the team together, and he has great attention to detail. He makes sure that when we’re warming up, we’re doing it right, we’re not rushing anything, and we’re doing everything from small passes to bigger passes to make sure that we have all the fundamentals down,” said Tomlinson.
Hillier commented on Zhu’s best qualities as a leader, crediting his flexibility, sincerity, and how willing he is to take responsibility for his actions.
“His best quality is being able to admit that he’s wrong, because there are a lot of people who, when they make a mistake, are always blaming others. But Ethan, if he realizes that he made a mistake, he’ll take ownership of it, which is a great quality, because it tells the rest of us to do the same,” said Hillier.
Zhu has accepted his role of Co-Captain with great maturity. Specifically, he has shown that he has grown into his role tremendously and is willing to step up when the team needs him by leading by example.
“The role of captain is to lead by example. Obviously, you may not necessarily be the best player at all moments or the most skilled, but what’s most important as a Captain is to show some leadership and especially accountability and responsibility. When things go wrong or when things aren’t going your way, you have to step up and you have to say something to try and turn things around,” said Zhu.
Zhu has plans of playing water polo in college, although he sees himself competing at a recreational level more than collegiately. He hopes that the team will serve as a way to stay fit, and doing something he enjoys will release stress from classes.
“I would like to do it recreationally. Even going into college, I’m still very open to trying to keep on playing water polo. It’s a very fun sport; it’s a great way to stay in shape, and also to just release the stress they have from school and stuff because you get to be in the water, you get to be shooting around, things like that, which are all really fun,” said Zhu.
