By the time they get home from practice, the players on Franklin’s newest sports team are exhausted.
For years the Franklin Amateur Swim Team have stayed in shape while their classmates relax, spending long hours in the pool throughout their summer breaks. Recently, FAST’s top athletes have dipped their toes into a new sport.
“It’s like sprinting, swim, wrestling and handball combined – that’s the easiest way to describe it,” said Malik Walker, a member of FAST’s newly-formed water polo team. “[Head coach Dwain Picou] was talking about it, and he was like, ‘Oh, I was thinking about [starting a team].’ I was like ‘sign me up,’ because I’d seen a little bit of it and I’d always wanted to try it.”
Played ideally in a deep pool by two teams of seven players each, water polo is basically aquatic handball, with both squads attempting to throw a melon-sized ball into each other’s goals. Decades removed from coaching his last water polo team, Picou felt the time was right to bring the sport to Franklin.
“I did 28 years in Florida, and then did it again here,” said the man affectionately referred to as ‘Mr. Coach.’ “We did a little bit in middle school, but we just played around with it; this is the first real polo we’ve played. I've contacted teams in Charlotte and Raleigh – there's club polo over there – trying to get over there so we can play. And then Florida does it big-time, so we can go to Florida.”
Hours away from their nearest would-be rivals, FAST’s middle and high school athletes have been playing amongst themselves, after the end of their normal practice at the Macon County Rec Park. But while both sports are played in the water, they couldn’t be further apart.
“Water polo is physically more challenging, and swimming is more mentally challenging,” said Lana Walker. “[Polo] gives you something to think about instead of just swimming back and forth, and I get to take as many breaths as I want. … I like how aggressive it is on defense.”
“The physical aspect [is more difficult], because you’re having to push against somebody else, you have to tread water and there's not really a break,” said Malik. “At a normal swim meet you swim and you have a break, but in water polo you're out practicing and treading water for half an hour or an hour without even getting a break. It’s just a different physical aspect, but a harder one because of the roughness through the wrestling in the water and the lack of breaks.”
A contact sport involving constant jockeying for position, water polo is extremely demanding physically, with players barred from touching the bottom of the pool or the wall. As with any sport however, referees can only call fouls that they can see.
Kenna Keyworth said trying to egg-beat in place and pass to people in the water is more challenging than regular swimming. "Egg-beat" refers to the continuous underwater kick players use to tread water which resembles the rotating whisks of a kitchen hand mixer.
“If you're wanting to foul, you've got to be sneaky about it and make it where the ref can't see. It's pretty aggressive, and you can get away with a lot if you're really good at it like Cadee [Breedlove] is," Keyworth said.
Already some of Franklin’s best swimmers, FAST’s water polo team have rekindled their love of the pool, staying late into the night to hone their skills. With exiting, collaborative and fast-paced play, the sport has something for everyone.
“Scoring,” said Malik Walker simply of his favorite part of the game. “I like the rush from it.”
“I like just working as a team,” said Keyworth.