Swimming World’s Top Five Women’s Water Polo Events for 2018

28-07-2017: Waterpolo: Amerika v Spanje: Boedapest (L-R) during the Gold medal waterpolomatch between women USA and Spain at the final of the 17th FINA World Championships 2017 in Budapest, Hungary Photo / Foto: Gertjan Kooij

Winning NEVER gets old for the American women. Photo Courtesy: Beeldboot.nl\Gertjan Kooij

By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor

As 2018 draws to a close, Swimming World looks back at the year’s top five events in women’s water polo. Despite only one international tournament of note—the European Championships in Barcelona—there was more than enough to discuss now and in the future, as the Olympic qualification cycle begins in earnest next year.

#5) Ban of Israeli Women’s Water Polo Team in Spain. This controversy exploded last month, as a team of young women from Israel—all of whom were playing in their first-ever FINA World League competition—endured a memorable trip to Europe. It started uneventfully, with a 24-5 loss to the Greeks in Athens, then became a full-scale media sensation when the Israelis traveled to Barcelona to face the Spaniards in the second leg of their three-city trip.

Israeli national women’s water polo team. Photo Courtesy: Israeli Water Polo Association

There, the harsh reality of global politics awaited the Israelis. CUP (Candidacy of Popular Unity)-Capgirem, part of the Catalonian separatist movement that in recent years has gained prominence in Barcelona, moved to ban the Israelis from competing in their city, citing a pact made with Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS), a pro-Palestinian movement that has become globally prominent in attacking the Jewish state’s treatment of its Arab citizens and neighbors.

[Revital Gluska, Israeli Water Polo Association: “You’re not going to hide the Israeli national team”]

After a heated protest by Miri Regev, Israeli’s Minister of Culture and Sport, a compromise was reached for a hastily organized match in Sant Cugat. The Israelis were no match for one of Europe’s best sides but made a strong showing in an 11-5 loss.

Part of Regev’s outrage has to do with consistency. Last July the Israelis participated without incident in the 33rd LEN European Water Polo Championships, also in Barcelona. They finished a program-best 10th, paving the way for their inclusion in the FINA World League.

#4) Concussions in U.S. age group water polo. The issue of concussions, which is threatening to curtail American football’s place in the pantheon of U.S. sports, has moved front and center in the discussion of age group polo, in particular in the women’s game. Mayall vs. USA Water Polo, a 2015 lawsuit filed accusing the governing body for the sport in America with negligence in the circumstances surrounding a 16-year-old female’s exposure to multiple blows to the head, has been reinstated upon appeal.

Photo Courtesy: M. Randazzo

The circumstances surrounding this young athlete’s alleged injuries is in dispute; what is not is Americans’ heightened awareness of the dangers of youth sports—now threatening to alter the way a fringe sport is played. This brings into question what sort of support staff, training and equipment will be necessary for age group polo athletes to compete.

[9th District court reinstates class action against USA Water Polo over athlete’s concussion-related injury]

#3) Dutch Women Win the European Championships. In a year that saw great strides for the women’s game in Europe—American star athletes Ashleigh Johnson and Maggie Steffens crossed the Atlantic for professional contracts in Italy and Hungary respectively—it was the Netherlands, led by star-striker Sabrina Van Der Sloot (tournament MVP; 20 goals) that made the biggest splash at the year’s most prominent tournament.

Sweeping unbeaten to the finals of the European Championship in Barcelona with a +76 goal differential—a 6-6 tie with Italy their only blemish—Head Coach Arno Havenga’s squad avoided a match against the host Spaniards, an 11-9 upset victim to Greece—then delivered an exclamation point to their fantastic tournament, capturing a 6-4 win over the Greeks and securing the Netherland’s first European Championship in 25 years.

[The Netherlands, 2018 European Water Polo Champions]

Question is: are the enigmatic Dutch— who, despite hosting the 2016 qualification matches, missed out on the Rio Olympics—ready to advance to prominence on the Olympic stage?

May 12, 2018; Uytengsu Aquatics Center, Los Angeles, California, USA; Women's Water Polo: NCAA Championship Game: USC Trojans vs Stanford Cardinals; Photo credit: Catharyn Hayne- KLC fotos

Trojans triumphant! Photo Courtesy: Catharyn Hayne

#2) USC wins 2018 NCAA women’s water polo title. If American women’s colleges offer the best—albeit amateur— competition in the world, as many observers believe, then the world’s best team in 2018 may be the Trojans of USC. Head Coach Jovan Vavic’s side—anchored by 2018 Cutino Award winner, goalie Amanda Longan and phenomenal newcomer Paige Hauschild—racked up an impressive 26-1 record (USC’s lone loss was to Stanford early in the season) in advancing to its first NCAA Women’s Water Polo Tournament finals since 2016, an 8-7 win over the Cardinal that was part of a perfect 26-0 campaign.

[USC, Behind Mammolito Hat Trick, Tops Stanford for 2018 NCAA Women’s Water Polo Title]

Opposing the Trojans again in the 2018 final was Stanford, seeking revenge as well as their sixth NCAA championship in nine straight trips to the title match. It was not to be. A determined USC wore down John Tanner’s squad for a 5-4 win to claim the sixth Trojan women’s title of the Vavic era.

#1) U.S. Senior Women remain the world’s best. A squad anchored by Olympians Johnson, Steffens, Rachel Fattal, Aria and Makenzie Fischer, Kiley Neuchul and Melissa Seidmannn romped through international play without any significant stumbles—a lone loss to Australia in the FINA Intercontinental Tournament—going 33-1 and winning every tournament they entered, including the FINA World League and World Cup titles.

In a non-Olympic or World Championship year, that may not appear to be such a feat. But attacker Maddie Musselman was absent most of the year, and Team USA still dominated. In a series of friendlies just concluded in California, the Yanks swept all three matches against the Dutch, outscoring their European visitors 36-14

[Team USA – Best Female Water Polo Team | FINA World Aquatics Gala 2018]

None other than FINA itself honored the Americans as the top women’s water polo team of the year—for the fourth straight year. With a championship run now extended to ten major tournaments, including back-to-back world championships and Olympic gold in 2012 and 2016, the question is: can anyone stop the Americans?

December 18, 2017; Joint Forces Training Center, Los Alamitos, California, USA; Waterpolo: RockTape; Maggie Steffens Photo credit: Catharyn Hayne- KLC fotos

Maggie Steffens. Photo Courtesy: Catharyn Hayne

Honorable Mention: Maggie Steffens. When she’s not gracing magazine covers as the world’s top female player, the 25-year-old is being profiled in The New York Times or is part of a panel on polo’s future at the all-important FINA World Water Polo Conference last April in Budapest.

[Notes From FINA: 2018 World Water Polo Conference in Budapest]

With a shot at a third-straight Olympic gold—a feat not seen since Hungarian dominance of the sport earlier this century—in the 2020 games in Tokyo, the American captain is one of the world’s most visible polo athletes. Her enduring popularity is a testament to the incredible strength of women athletes in a year marked by the #MeToo movement.

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