You always wish to be writing under better circumstances. Celebrating victories. Previewing dark horses. Talking up superstars. This month’s piece is more a public service announcement. A call to arms if you will. In this article, we are going to shine a light on what is happening at Maryland for the water polo community in the hopes that perhaps what happened at UC-Davis can happen on the East Coast as well. The Terrapins are coming off their best season ever as they finished with a national ranking of seventeen and were third place at Easterns in 2010. That great performance has since been put on the backburner as their program is firmly on the chopping block, the details of which will be described below.
Maryland is led by Coach Carl Salyer. Salyer has been the Head Coach of Maryland since 2004 and in that time has led Maryland to two third-place finishes at Eastern Championships, two CWPA Southern Division Tournament titles and an outright win of the CWPA South last spring. Salyer came to Maryland from Navy where he was an Assistant Coach for two Final Four runs in 2000 and 2003. I sat down to discuss the plight of the Terrapins and below is our interview.
We have all heard about the current status of the water polo squad at Maryland. Can you give us an update on your team's situation?
As of right now the program has been cut effective June 30th, 2012 with the opportunity to save it by fundraising eight years of operating expenses (4.2 million dollars). We will compete this spring, and current players will have their scholarships honored until they graduate. My Associate Head Coach Serela Kay and I have been working with the administration to set up a fundraising plan and hope to have that rolled out soon. Both Coach Kay and I have been and will do everything we can to save the program here at Maryland.
How can the water polo community assist Maryland in this time of need?
I know that Water Polo Planet and the community as a whole has had a huge impact on saving UC Davis' men's program and am confident that the community will step up and help us. We will need a huge effort by everyone because the situation is a financial one in a bad economy. The Athletic Department is requiring us to have cash in hand by June 30th, 2012. So part of the plan will be to get a grassroots effort going with as many members of the water polo community giving what they can. We will also have a need for individuals or companies to gift more substantial amounts. Once we have links, and more information we will be getting that information out to the community in every way we know how. 4.2 million dollars is big, but in conversations that I have had over the last month, I believe that we will be able to attain that goal and the water polo community will be crucial in our attainment of that goal. Be on the lookout for fundraising events this winter and spring to Save Maryland Water Polo! We are open to any and all ideas - please contact us today.
Maryland is coming off a banner year that saw the Terps finish third at Easterns and achieve their highest ever national ranking. What does your team need to do to take that next step and make NCAAs?
We have finished third two of the last three years, so we are close. Part of what we need to do is already done, and that is to get the experience of competing with the top teams in our conference. The next step we need to take is to use that experience and turn it into belief in ourselves and teammates, doing that translates into execution.
Allison Campbell was outstanding in earning All-American honors last spring. What makes her the great player she is?
Allison is one of those athletes that does not ever seem to be taken off task. She is always focused on doing what the team needs and finding a way to fulfill that role. As a result, there is not a part of her game that she has not continued to get better in her first two years as well as this fall. By focusing on what the team needs, she has made herself better.
Shelby Reyes was an All-Conference goalie for the Terps. What makes her so effective in the cage?
Shelby is a gamer. Plain and simple she loves to compete. Shelby has had a great high school experience and has continued to be a student of the game during her collegiate career. But what sets her apart is that she loves to compete, she loves to step up and make the big save and because of that she gets the team playing well in front of her which makes it even tougher on opposing offenses.
"We're pleased that we're in position to add to the opportunities we're offering for student-athletes at Maryland," said Yow. "Many schools across the nation are having to drop sports, but we've been able to allocate resources in a way that enables us to create new opportunities."
— July 30, 2003 press release (link is http://www.umterps.com/sports/w-wpolo/spec-rel/073003aaa.html)
In a year where Maryland achieved its highest ever national ranking and began making repayment on the opportunity afforded it in July 2003, their program is very close to entering a graveyard that is inhabited by the ghosts of once thriving squads. We have been here before and know how the domino effect works. People forget the CWPA Northern Division on the men’s side used to boast schools such as UMass, Boston College and Queens. For me, the biggest tragedy in the history of United States water polo is still that we allowed UMass to go down. We should have backstopped a perennial power that gave us truly great players like Luis Limardo, Brian Stahl and Gaby Marrero and we missed the opportunity to do so.
Let’s not make that mistake again.
As important as it is that we add new schools no matter the size, I think it is more critical that we not lose and in fact add large state-sponsored institutions to the pool. I believe that these Universities boasting the sport make it more likely that private or smaller state-run schools around it consider adding or keeping their teams. I say this without prejudice as I am a proud alum of a private, Jesuit University in Fordham that is in many ways the exact opposite of a school like Maryland and has always had to rely on the strong support of alumni for their water polo squad.
It is going to be more important this time around that the greater water polo community be involved in helping Maryland either by spreading word of their plight or by kicking in a couple dollars because of how recent this program was incepted. Maryland’s first year of competition was in 2004. That means there are at best twenty to thirty graduates to tap for help and most of those alums are likely still in the process of truly getting their careers off the ground. Outside of those kids and the parents of the current and former players, there is no natural base to tap into.
I am sure there are many of you that will look at their plight and say to yourself, “this could not happen to me” or “this would never happen at my alma mater.” Before you do that, click on the roster. I know that when I did, I saw that Maryland fielded an athlete that played at my old high school in Marin Catholic who probably practiced at the same Indian Valley pool that I did for the same coaches. Know that concerning yourself merely with your own alma mater cannot be the right attitude. With budgets being cut and sports being dropped, one has to understand where our sport sits on the landscape. We are always going to be on the list when it comes to the chopping block. Only concerning yourself with the happenings at your own alma mater and not worrying about the overall health of our sport is like driving off the Golden Gate Bridge and saying, “I’m not worried, I can swim” when it is the fall that is going to kill you.
The time for complaining has passed and the time for organizing has arrived. All debating a decision that has already been made does is evoke a batch of nothing. Please continue to follow this story on Water Polo Planet and look out for the information that Coach Salyer will be sharing in the upcoming weeks. Before we can begin the process of expanding our sport, we must wall off what we already have.
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