As the fall season settles in, UC High’s Boys Water Polo Team is gearing up to have a successful season with the help of hard work and team chemistry.

   Varsity Team Captain Senior Jeffrey Harrington said, “I am feeling really good about our team this year. We started off a little rough losing our first games, but we are now building back up our confidence and momentum.” Harrington has been playing on varsity all four years of high school, and is optimistic about this year’s season.

   Harrington said, “We just recently had back to back to back games and won all three of them. I think we have a very strong chance to do well in our League. I would love to win it all but I would be happy with any outcome.”

   A Junior Varsity Member, Junior Justin Griffith said, “I just started in water polo this season, so I’ve only been playing for about a month. I joined the team because the sport sounded fun.” He said, “I plan to play again next year, I’m excited to see where this season takes us and I’ll be back for more in my senior year.”

   A change for this year’s team, thanks to local UC construction, is the new pool designated for UC High’s aquatic sports. In previous seasons, aquatic teams would travel to Clairemont or the Jewish Community Center or UCSD to practice and compete. Griffith said, “I’m glad we don’t have to share the pool with other schools anymore. This is much nicer.”

   The team’s Head Coach Jackson Ziegler shared his appreciation, “It is great having the Standley pool for our season this year. It’s an excellent space, and easy for everyone involved with the program. Thanks to that and the number of new players we had this year, the future looks bright for UCHS Boys Water Polo.”

   Griffith believes his season will be greatly successful. He said, “I predict we’re going to win the rest of our games. We’ve already won the majority of the matches we’ve played, so it’s not unrealistic.”

  Ziegler said, “We are a good contender to be first in our League. I predict our second round of League games in mid to late October are going to be pretty intense, and should be a lot of fun.”

   According to his biography on the school’s website, Ziegler is a long-time lover of water polo who had previously played the sport (uchscenturions.com). He has been coaching since he was 18 years old, going on his eighth year now. “This is my fourth season at UC, which is a cool year because I have seen students like Jeffrey Harrington, Noah Bolton, and Alex Knight develop from freshmen to seniors. I’ll miss them next year,” Ziegler said.

      The school’s team has already played against teams from all over San Diego County. According to Maxpreps, a sports statistics tracker, the team has already taken on schools such as Mission Bay High, Eastlake High, Point Loma High,  Ayala High, and Scripps Ranch High (maxpreps.com).