Among the many people walking around campus are a group of guys who constantly have bloodshot eyes, bleached hair, and give off a strong scent of chlorine. This can only mean one thing: a new season of water polo has begun. Despite a grueling preseason, which featured six practices in five days, this year’s team has come through and bonded together as a team. While Andover has worked hard to get prepared for the season, some gaps left by graduation will need to be filled by players stepping up to the plate and taking on their roles head on. These losses include last year’s Captain and starting goalie William Faulkner ’09 as well as starters Brendan Deveney ’09 and Parker Washburn ’09. All three of these players were tremendously skilled players who were the best players in the league at their position. “We lost a lot of talent from last year, but I think the rest of the league lost just as much or more,” said Curtis Hon ’10 on the loss of so much talent from last year’s team. Despite the losses, Andover has brought in a host of new talent to fill the considerable shoes left by a talented Senior class from last year. The team hopes to fill its holes with some of the new additions to the team. Two exciting recruits going out for this year’s team are Richard Thwaites ’11 and Nick Camarda ’12. Thwaites, who played on the Jamaican national water polo team should be able to add both experience and skill to the pool in Andover’s starting lineup. Camarda is from California and has a great deal of water polo experience. These new players have been working with the returning players, adjusting to the intensity of the varsity water polo program here at Andover. “The team looks good and has a lot of potential, but needs some experience playing together,” said Alex Smachlo í11, commenting on both the talent and inexperience that seems to be characteristic of this year’s team. Despite many players lacking varsity experience this year, a strong core of returning players look to lead by example. Co-Captains Connor McAuliffe ’10 and Curtis Hon ’10 are going to be steadfast players who have seen a lot of water polo in their four years at the school . Also returning this year is Dan Larson ’11, who looks to step up and take the starting role left by Faulkner. A special attribute to this team is its quickness, as most of this year’s players are also varsity swimmers. With solid experience in the goal, great quickness, and solid fundamentals on offense and defense, the team is well-prepared. Andover hopes to start off the season with two wins in the games next Saturday against Deerfield, last year’s defending league champions, and Northfield Mount Hermon.
