Water polo club ready to go for the gold

Its competitors say in several ways, including the amount of physical contact, their sport most closely resembles hockey. But the difference in water polo is much of the roughness happens underwater, where the referees can't see it. The Penn water polo club team belongs to the 30-team Eastern Water Polo Association. Penn stands near the top of one of its divisions. This weekend marks the conference tournament held at Yale, to which Penn was invited based on its 6-1-1 record. "Our best scorer, Steve Fallon, was a high-school all-American, and could have easily played for the best varsity teams, but chose to come here instead," club president Steve Slone said. Almost all of the other 20 club members have had some previous water polo experience and swam competitively, which provides a solid basis for the sport. Being able to quickly swim back and forth in a pool is an important water polo skill, but it alone does not make a successful water polo player. "Not only do we have to be advanced swimmers, but great leg strength is required to tread water for a long time and elevate our bodies," Slone said. Slone said many former swimmers, himself included, have made the transition to water polo because unlike swimming, it is a team sport. But the difference between swimming and playing water polo is clearly the level of physical play above and below the water's surface. Some of it is legal, but some is not. Referees, who are positioned on the pool deck, call what they can see, but usually cannot see through the water. This year's club has translated its talent, skill and hard work into its 6-1-1 record. After attaining the No. 6 ranking of national clubs, Penn's only loss came at the hands of then-No. 3 Maryland. The club's victories have been convincing. This weekend in New Haven is the perfect opportunity for the club to test its power among the strongest club teams in the country and achieve not only regional, but national recognition. · The Penn women's frisbee team, recently one of the best in the nation, closed its autumn season last weekend by capturing the tournament championship in Massachusetts. Penn put the finishing touches on its season by winning the eight-team tournament made up of regional teams. Play resumes in the spring. "[The fall season] is really great for learning and, for the new players, to absorb a lot just by playing people better than them," senior co-captain Karen Tuazon said. The club season, which starts in mid-September, is also good preparation for the more competitive college season during which the National Tournament, an event Penn has frequented, is held. "We really have a mixture of people from all different types of sports," said junior co-captain Val Kelly, who was involved in track in high school and never heard of ultimate frisbee before coming to Penn. "There are track stars, soccer and field hockey players, and a variety of others." These backgrounds have certainly proved to be a recipe for success. This year's team hopes to further that record this spring. "With a little luck this year," Kelly said, "We should make Nationals again."