{"id":249114,"date":"2017-03-28T14:22:31","date_gmt":"2017-03-28T21:22:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=249114"},"modified":"2017-12-07T05:07:58","modified_gmt":"2017-12-07T12:07:58","slug":"special-report-water-polo-prospers-in-the-windy-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/special-report-water-polo-prospers-in-the-windy-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Special Report: Water Polo Prospers in the Windy City"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor<\/em><\/p>\n

Ike Marshall. Moose Mulcrone. Dave Perry. Phil Stelnicki. Joe Wendt. These are just a few of the coaches and parents who helped build Chicago into one of the country\u2019s most fertile area outside of California for youth water polo development. Over the past six decades, these movers and shakers\u2014along with many others\u2014have created a network of age group clubs, high school teams and a knowledge base of shared experience that has propelled boys and girls from the Windy City into the top varsity programs in America.<\/p>\n

Chicago high school graduates playing at the sport\u2019s highest intercollegiate level include Matt Farmer<\/strong>, a product of Fenwick High School<\/strong> in Oak Park who won back-to-back NCAA titles with UCLA in 2014-15, and Dani Jackovich<\/strong>, a graduate of Lincoln-Way Central High School<\/strong> in New Lenox, IL, now a senior playing for Stanford, the #2 women’s team in the nation. Farmer and Jackovich are at the pinnacle of a pipeline of Midwestern athletes playing all over the U.S.<\/p>\n

Swimming World<\/em> spoke with select representatives of Chicago water polo about their experience with the sport: Jim Farmer<\/strong>, Matt\u2019s father and now a high school referee in Illinois; Brian Kelly<\/strong>, a star in the 1980’s at Brother Rice High School<\/strong> on the South Side; Kyle Perry<\/strong>, head coach for the Fenwick boy’s water polo team; and Claire Muller<\/strong>, a freshman for the St. Francis Brooklyn women\u2019s varsity team who played at Mother McAuley<\/strong>, a Catholic all-girls high school also on the South Side.<\/p>\n

The Dad:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jim Farmer\u2014whose sons Matt and Danny (Bucknell) both played varsity polo\u2014is a veritable font of wisdom. Farmer was introduced to the sport in 1975 at Fenwick, located in a Chicago suburb more renowned for its Frank Lloyd Wright architectural masterpieces than star water polo players.<\/p>\n

In a recent phone conversation Farmer explained what makes Chicago polo distinctive.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor one thing the kids have a great work ethic,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a Midwest, work hard ethic. Plus the parents are very involved in the development of the sport. I didn\u2019t start playing polo myself until I was freshman in high school because I\u2019d never heard of it. But the Chicago Park District<\/a> <\/strong>used to have different park districts\u2014including Portage Park\u2014where Eastern European people [introduced polo]. That\u2019s how it started in Chicago.<\/p>\n

Brian Kelly, who starred for Fenwick\u2019s rival Brother Rice before going East to play polo for Iona College in New Rochelle, NY, got his start in the city\u2019s water polo program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Chicago Park District operates out of a centralized location now,\u201d he said recently about his experience of Chicago polo in the 1980\u2019s. \u201cWhen I grew up you represented your local park. Mine was Ridge Park on the South Side.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d go neighborhood to neighborhood throughout the city\u2014if you had a pool you most likely had a water polo team. You created some great friendships and there were some really intense matches. It was great fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

“The Chicago Park District still has a huge program; they\u2019ve always had the same coaches,\u201d Farmer said \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of dedication by those coaches to see these kids develop… coaches [that] are also coaching at the high school level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chicago high school play started in 1958 with Phil Stelnicki<\/strong> at Weber High School. In 1963 Fenwick Athletic Director Dan O\u2019Brien brought Stelnicki over to Fenwick and a polo program was born.<\/p>\n

\"farmers-matt-jim\"

Jim and Matt Farmer<\/p><\/div>\n

High school is where Farmer started playing, but his son was introduced to polo at an earlier age.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Matt turned eight, we belonged to Lyons Swim Club and saw kids playing polo. I said to the coach: \u2018Can Matt try this?\u2019 He didn\u2019t really want to do it, he just wanted to swim. I said: \u2018Just try it. If you don\u2019t like it you don\u2019t have to do it.\u2019<\/p>\n

“He came out of that first practice and said: \u2018This is my sport.\u2019”<\/p>\n

Key to Matt’s success was Joe Wendt,<\/strong> who played with Farmer at Fenwick and coached locally, and his son Chris.<\/p>\n

“Joe has a pool in his backyard and keeps it heated at 88\u00ba in the winter when the kids go out and play polo,\u201d Farmer said.<\/p>\n

\"farmers-ncaa-trophy\"

Jim, Matt, Danny and Beatrice Farmer\u2014with the 2014 NCAA Trophy<\/p><\/div>\n

Chris Wendt was a Fenwick senior when Matt was a freshman, then went to UCLA (2010-13), blazing\u00a0a path for his younger teammate that resulted in Matt contributing to back-to-back NCAA champions.<\/p>\n

Farmer acknowledged that it’s difficult for Midwesterners to succeed out West. But Chicago players have made rosters at Pomona, Santa Clara, Stanford, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, University of the Pacific, UCLA and other California schools.<\/p>\n

The Coach:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kyle Perry has been head coach for Fenwick High School<\/a> since 2011, posting a remarkable 181-28-1 record over six seasons. From March 2010 until April 2012, the Friars won 82 straight matches with two coaches: Dave Perry<\/strong>, one of the most beloved and successful coaches in Chicago water polo history, and Kyle, who assumed the head coaching reins following his father’s death in 2011. Perry not only coached with his father at Fenwick, he played for him as well, graduating in 2001.<\/p>\n

In 2011 Perry extended the school’s dominance in the sport, leading the Friars to their eighth-straight Illinois High School Association title. Fenwick has won 20 state titles overall including 10 of the 12 state championships since water polo became an IHSA sport in 2002.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s lots of commitment from the coaches here on a variety of levels,\u201d Perry said about youth water polo\u2019s success in Chicago. \u201cOur crown jewel in Illinois is the high school level [because] our sport is sponsored by the IHSA. We have a state championship like all your major sports\u2014basketball, football, baseball. Coaches are very much drawn to that because that\u2019s where the top level is.<\/p>\n

“But they\u2019re aware that if you want to get to the top and stay there you have to get younger kids excited about water polo.<\/p>\n

“Our sport is still small enough that you could take a freshman who\u2019s never played before and turn him into an all-state player or a kid who plays in college and does great things. Coaches are aware that if they invest some time with younger players it\u2019s going to pay off big dividends at the high school level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Farmer, Perry gave credit to the city of Chicago parks department, which annually introduces hundreds of kids to the sport.<\/p>\n

“The Chicago Park District has a huge water polo program for all levels. They run things through their parks for 10 and under, 12 and under, 14 and under. They have a national level program where they send a team to Junior Olympics, they\u2019ll have a team in our local Illinois league. They even host senior men\u2019s and women\u2019s events throughout the year”<\/p>\n

According to Perry, it was selfless coaches and administrators\u2014including his father, Jim Mulcrone<\/strong>, a former Olympian and for three decades the boys and girls water polo coach at Brother Rice, and Isaac Marshall<\/strong>, then-athletic coordinator for Chicago public schools\u2014who in 2001 transformed polo in the state by convincing the IHSA to make boys and girls water an official state sport.<\/p>\n

Mulcrone<\/a> was the Crusaders coach when Brother Rice won nine Illinois titles in the 80\u2019s, including wins in 1988 and 1988. The Fenwick Friars ended the Crusaders dynasty in 1990 and started a dynasty of their own.<\/p>\n

Brian Kelly has fond memories of the Brother Rice coach, who he played for from 1987-90.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis athletes were always fundamentally sound on offense and defense,\u201d said Kelly, now the head men\u2019s and women\u2019s polo coach for Iona. \u201cHe ran practices that way. He was a great motivator\u2014both psychologically and athletically.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Perry, it was Marshall, an inspired administrator that made state recognition possible.<\/p>\n

“Ike Marshall <\/a>got Chicago public city schools to commit to water polo. Not all\u2014there\u2019s tons of them\u2014but every one that came in he was the driving forces behind that. He really saved the day because that first year they had maybe 15 Chicago city schools playing water polo and numbers-wise it was enough to go to the IHSA and say: \u2018Look, here\u2019s what we have numbers-wise. Adding our sport would be a great help for our school but also would be great for the state of Illinois.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"fenwick-2013-champs\"

Fenwick: 2013 Illinois State Champs<\/p><\/div>\n

Perry also spoke about the influence his father Dave\u2014who from 1980-2011 won 793 matches, including a 711-70-1 mark and 17 state titles in 24 seasons at Fenwick\u2014had on both the sport and his son.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got a great \u2018rags to riches\u2019 story in that he never played water polo before. He came from a small town in Michigan where he grew up on a lake and learned to swim. He was a football, basketball, baseball player in high school and got into swim coaching.<\/p>\n

“When he got his first job teaching he knew he would be coaching swimming. [Then] the athletic director said: \u2018The water polo season starts next week.\u2019<\/p>\n

“At that point he dedicated himself to both swimming and water polo and, because he was already an accomplished swimming coach, went to every water polo clinic and read every book he could find. He was always consuming water polo.<\/p>\n

\"kyle-dave-perry\"

Kyle and Dave Perry<\/p><\/div>\n

“There\u2019s very few people who have anything negative to say about Dad. He was caring and loving to everybody\u2014my mom, my sister, me. If you needed something he would help any way he could.<\/p>\n

“A lot of the things I do as a coach mirror things that he did. Hopefully I have the same impact he had.\u201d<\/p>\n

Key to the Friars’ success is a strong bond between Fenwick players and water polo.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of our alums fall in love with aquatics. And the beauty of it is: you can do it forever. You can swim until you\u2019re 100 years old.<\/p>\n

“That\u2019s the biggest thing. These guys form a love of water polo and it creates these great connections with their coaches and their teammates who become their friends, some of them for life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Player:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Claire Muller, one of six children of Noreen and Kenneth Mueller, was eager to leave her Midwest comfort zone. Heeding the advice of siblings who suggested she get \u201cfar away\u201d from Chicago, the 5-10 utility player took advantage of her polo skills to come East. Now a freshman for the St. Francis Brooklyn <\/a>varsity water polo team, Muller is excited to take a bite of the Big Apple.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started when I was nine,\u201d Muller, on the St. Francis pool deck, said about her Chicago polo experience. \u201cI played on a co-ed team at a country club. It wasn\u2019t that big of a deal; we all just wanted to have fun. I went to Mother McAuley and it was a big competitive jump.<\/p>\n

\"c-muller-chicago-03-25-17\"

Photo Courtesy: Chicago Tribune<\/p><\/div>\n

“Something we focused on in high school was team effort. Me and the other players on the Terriers that are from McAuley [senior Kristin Kleist and freshman Julie Oliveras] grew up learning how to become a team before we learned how to play individually.<\/p>\n

“California\u2019s very physical, very tough\u2014and Chicago\u2019s getting more like that. Illinois water polo started out small but it\u2019s getting bigger.<\/p>\n

“What I learned is you have to be a team before anything. The fact that I come from somewhere that really focuses on being a team, that\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Muller, a love of the sport, a key friendship and a belief in her ability all combined to make it possible to play varsity polo in New York City.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight from the start I knew I wanted to play in college. Kristin, a senior on my team went to St. Mary\u2019s [South Bend, IN] and then transferred to St. Francis. I wanted to be on the East Coast, so I stated to look at all the schools. Kristin was a good friend of mine so I learned a lot more about St. Francis.<\/p>\n

“Once I believed in myself I knew I could do anything I wanted to\u2014and I wanted to play on a Division I team and I\u2019ve made it here. It\u2019s pretty awesome!\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all about confidence, the Chicago native said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t believe in yourself you\u2019re not going to go anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor Ike Marshall. Moose Mulcrone. Dave Perry. Phil Stelnicki. Joe Wendt. These are just a few of the coaches and parents who helped build Chicago into<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4875,"featured_media":248726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-249114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-water-polo"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\nSpecial Report: Water Polo Prospers in the Windy City - Swimming World<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ike Marshall. 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