Cal State Long Beach’s new Water Polo Club is trying to go with the flow – but they need to get in the water first.
The Water Polo Club, which already has more than 20 male students participating, has been added to the list of club sports at CSULB. Sophomore business major Jordan Lisnock and Associated Students Inc. Senator-at-Large Manuel Nieto are trying to get the club ready for spring.
Lisnock said he came up with the idea to start a water polo club at CSULB when he noticed there was not a team club for students. He said the club is for everyone, including those who played in high school but do not want to play competitively in college.
Those who are playing competitively, however, are on the NCAA Division I Long Beach State water polo team. However, according to Nieto, it is hard for an average person to be part of that team.
“There is nowhere to play just to have fun, maybe compete outside the school once in a while,” Nieto said. “So that’s why Jordan [Lisnock] wanted to start a club.”
One of the biggest differences between the water polo club team and Long Beach State’s NCAA Division I team is that it is less competitive, according to Lisnock.
“The coaching and practice is less intense,” Lisnock said. “It is more of a relaxed condition than the actual team. It would be more chill.”
Lisnock and Nieto have been working on getting the club started for more than five weeks. According to Nieto, four of those weeks were spent on waiting for pool time approval.
“We are already recognized by Student Life & Development and the kinesiology [department] as a club,” Lisnock said. “We just don’t have anywhere to practice, and we are at this point where we are trying to get approval for pool time, and that is a hard process.”
Nieto said that the club is still waiting for pool time because the water polo team is in the middle of its season and needs the pool for practice.
“All [the club asks] for is two, three hours a week, and I don’t see the problem,” Nieto said. “That’s why I met with people to see what the problem is and so we can fix it.”
The Long Beach State water polo team usually plays games Thursday and Friday nights. Nieto said he is trying to find time conflict resolutions.
The Collegiate Water Polo Association has leagues throughout the U.S., and when the water polo club is ready, it plans on playing in the Pacific Coast League and competing in Pomona all the way down to San Diego, Linsock said. Because water polo is a fall sport, Linsock said that the club will have to wait until next year.
“We will try to establish ourselves for next year because the finals were last weekend; it’s already over,” Lisnock said.
