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Swimming World<\/em> checked in with select individuals who either are or have participated in what has become the world\u2019s largest polo tournament\u2014and one of the largest youth sporting events anywhere. A key consideration for each of those we spoke with is the extensive history all have enjoyed with JOs as players, coaches or administrators.<\/p>\nFirst and foremost, following is a brief accounting of this year\u2019s JOs from Chris Ramsey<\/strong>, USA Water Polo\u2019s CEO:<\/p>\n People always ask us about California vs. non-California: this year, membership growth in California is 1%; membership growth outside of California is 14%. Junior Olympics is fascinating because in the past, we used to give zones from other parts of the country their slots back [and] they were picked up by the bigger zones in California. That is no longer the case; every zone is filling every slot. <\/em><\/p>\n From the Mountain Zone in Nevada to Oregon, to Illinois to the Northeast zone\u2014everyone\u2019s using all their slots. That just shows you JOs are truly becoming a national event. <\/em><\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Bruce Wigo. Photo Courtesy: ISHOF<\/p><\/div>\n Historically, the first “open” Jr. Olympics were held at the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1992 [in Fort Lauderdale, Florida]. Prior to that, there were qualifiers; the number of teams allowed was limited to approximately 50 teams total. The JOs of 1992 had almost 200 teams and they were held at the same time as the Barcelona Olympic Games.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The NBC “Triple Cast” made it possible for the athletes to watch all games as they were being played in the ISHOF auditorium, where there were also food stands and video game consoles, like Pacman.<\/p>\n Bruce Wigo, <\/strong>Trustee ***<\/p>\n I have two fond memories of Junior Olympics. My first trip in an airplane was in 1972, as my high school team flew to Fremont, Nebraska, where the event was being held that summer.<\/p>\n [On The Record with Dan Sharadin, CWPA Commissioner<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n The other was having the privilege of coaching the 17U boys (age class at the time) to a National Championship. All the difficult work had been done previously by Mike Schofield<\/strong> (Annapolis\/U. S. Naval Academy coach) and Lloyd Robinson<\/strong> (Iona coach), as they had trained the team throughout the preceding spring. Due to their scheduling conflicts, I had the opportunity to fill in on deck and enjoy the culmination of their efforts. Two notable kids from that team went on to enjoy Olympic success: Brad Schumacher<\/strong> in swimming and water polo and Wolf Wigo<\/strong>, who served as captain and played in three Olympic games.<\/p>\n Daniel Sharadin<\/strong>, Commissioner ***<\/p>\n if I was limited to one story \u00a0related to the Junior Olympics it would be this one…. even though it occurred the weekend before the 1990 JO’s.<\/p>\n As has been well documented, that group of boys from Annapolis was actually a\u00a0Zone team before Zone teams were a thing. It was a cooperative effort between the\u00a0top clubs & coaches in the Northeast. Dan Sharadin coached the group at the Junior\u00a0Olympics, I had them the weekend before at the Villa Park tournament, then left to coach\u00a0the Naval Academy team elsewhere. At Villa Park, most of\u00a0 the top JO teams were\u00a0also entered.<\/p>\n This was a very motivated group of athletes who had invested several years of\u00a0extra training, competition, and their parents\u2019 money to try and duplicate the type of\u00a0competition schedule of the top California teams. We all had a chip on our shoulders\u00a0and went out there to make a statement.<\/p>\n [On The Record with Mike Schofield, Legendary Navy Water Polo Coach Turned Referee<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n Anyhow, we played really well at Villa Park and ended up in the championship game on Sunday\u00a0afternoon against Newport Harbor, coached by the late, great Bill Barnett<\/strong>. At the time, I knew Bill\u00a0a little bit, but not well. (He was also the U.S. Olympic Coach at the time and needed no introduction)<\/p>\n Mike Schofield at Navy. Photo Courtesy: Phil Hoffmann<\/p><\/div>\n After we won our semi-final game, Coach Barnett approached me and said “Coach Schofield,\u00a0I have a conflict- we’re playing you guys this afternoon in the final, but I also have to be at\u00a0Newport Harbor High School an hour later to coach the USA vs Russia game. Would you be willing\u00a0to do us a favor and play at Newport Harbor? We’ll promote it as the preliminary game right before\u00a0we play the Russians”. Needless to say, we jumped on that offer immediately. In his typical low key,\u00a0humble way, Coach Barnett offered our team a once in a lifetime opportunity and made it sound like\u00a0we’d be doing him a favor.<\/p>\n [Passages: Bill Barnett, Former Olympic Men\u2019s Water Polo Coach, Passes Away at 76<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n The game with Newport and the subsequent USA – Russia event was an unforgettable experience\u00a0for us, Coach Barnett became a lifelong friend and mentor, starred at our Navy camp for 20 years,\u00a0and brought a USA vs. Italy game to the Naval Academy in 1991.<\/p>\n By the way, final score was Annapolis 8 Newport 5.\u00a0and USA over Russia!<\/p>\n Mike Schofield, <\/strong>Collegiate Water Polo Association Referee ***<\/p>\n I would have to say my most memorable moment was in the summer of 2011 when our 18 U girls were playing Stanford and in the last few seconds of the first half of a game we were tied, they used most of the clock wisely, took a shot, Ashleigh Johnson<\/strong> made a great save, her sister Chelsea was up on a counterattack and drew the attention of the opposing goalie.<\/p>\n Ashleigh moved out to about 3 meters out of her goal, pumped fake a pass to her sister and shot a bar down full court goal to go into half time up by one. We were able to hold that lead and advance.<\/p>\n [On The Record with Carroll Vaughan, Head Coach for Gulliver Prep and Miami Riptides Water Polo<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n Carroll Vaughan<\/strong>, Head Boys and Girls Water Polo Coach ***<\/p>\n I played for a long time and I loved it, JOs is a fantastic tournament\u2014it\u2019s the biggest of the year and biggest in the world. Kids have a great time here, and like my team, a lot of kids who might not have opportunities to travel with their own clubs are able to combine and come to JOs. For many of them it\u2019s their first experience traveling out of state and they have fun and learn a lot.<\/p>\n We play in some tough games and we learn from those.<\/p>\n I\u2019m from Utah and we made an all-star team and practiced a few months [to prepare]. We did well competitively but mostly it was fun to be with my friends, playing games and going to the beach.<\/p>\n As a coach, two years ago I was coaching the 16U girls and we ended up playing a Lamorinda, a team coached by my college roommate. I went to the University of the Pacific and played water polo and my roommate was Lance Morrison<\/strong>. He ended up coaching against me on the other side and the game went to a shootout. It was really intense. We ended up losing, but for me just to coach against a former teammate. Both teams played really well and it was a lot of fun.<\/p>\n Adam Huff<\/strong>, 14U coach ***<\/p>\n John Abdou (right) with Tony Azevodo. Photo Courtesy: Jeff Cable<\/p><\/div>\n For me it\u2019s been about 25 years. I first tried to qualify for Junior Olympics at the age of 15. I played for the Rose Bowl club. I\u2019ve seen [the tournament] evolve over 25 years and the number one thing that we are proud of\u2014what I think about when I see this tournament\u2014is the geographic diversity that\u2019s reflected here. What you\u2019re seeing is, there\u2019s a reason for people to be playing water polo and starting clubs anywhere in the country so they can come to an event like this.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what I\u2019m most excited about and I love seeing and running into teams literally from every part of this country playing water polo. This is their carrot, this is their summer; it\u2019s what they train for.<\/p>\n [Catching up with USA Water Polo\u2019s John Abdou<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n John Abdou, <\/strong>Chief High Performance Director ***<\/p>\n My first JOs were in South Bend, Indiana, which is where my father went to college\u2014he\u2019s a Notre Dame guy. There\u2019s a healthy distaste in the family for SC [Laughs]. One team from every area went, so you had to win the Northern California part to get to JOs. From California it was us, Clovis and Newport from down south. There were three teams from California that went. JOs had a really good team from St. Louis\u2014that was the top four; the three teams from California and that St. Louis team that was really good.<\/p>\n I remember having a great time, staying in the dorms, summer thunderstorms, indoor pool, great competition. It sparked a love for the sport in me.<\/p>\n – The scale of JOs makes it impossible for the it to be staged outside of California but should this tournament be more portable?<\/strong><\/p>\n For sure. You\u2019re going to give up something in sheer numbers of pools if you want it to be this big. They do a pretty good job starting big and then creating smaller tournaments within as teams are weeded out. And the kids get competitive in their own little world. You play yourself into your world and now it\u2019s competitive. You try to be the best team that you can be in your pocket of six or eight or ten.<\/p>\n [Catching up with Cal Water Polo\u2019s Kirk Everist<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n With this many teams, it\u2019s gonna be hard\u2014I don\u2019t know what pool situations are in Orlando or someplace like that. I\u2019m sure there are places where there are a lot of water. Whether or not the quality California teams would travel\u2014I think they would if it was an anomaly\u2014but you’re not going to get a \u201cB\u201d or a \u201cC\u201d or \u201cD\u201d team.<\/p>\n You lose something and I don\u2019t know how you fix that. It’s a Herculean task to organize this thing, and [the organizers] do a good job of making it easy for people to get around. I\u2019ve enjoyed it.<\/p>\n Kirk Everist<\/strong>, Head Men\u2019s Coach ***<\/em><\/p>\n I did play for the only girls\u2019 team on the East Coast at Navy, so I played under Mike Scofield\u2014he was our coach back in the day. [My first JOs] was down in Fort Lauderdale at the Hall of Fame Pool\u2014I think in might have been 1992\u2014that one year with Wolf Wigo<\/strong>, I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n I\u2019m still good friends with most of my teammates to this day. Serela Kay<\/strong> is the Santa Barbara coach. Cat Von Schwartz<\/strong> who\u2019s also a National League coach\u2014all these women who are still part of water polo were my teammates when I was 15 years old.<\/p>\n [Greenwich Local Makes Youth Water Polo Grow<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n I still keep in touch with them all because of that Navy club team\u2014the only girls\u2019 team on the East Coast at that time.<\/p>\n Kim Tierney-Wang<\/strong>, Director ***<\/p>\n Probably my biggest memory as a player\u2014my club team, Beach Water Polo, didn\u2019t participate in the JOs, so I played with Socal. Back at the time I want to say it was only 12 teams that made the JO tournament. The one that I remember most [it] was in Fort Lauderdale. It was so hard just to get there. It was especially difficult, in our zone, just to qualify. We happened to be really successful at the JOs and we won [that year]. What I remember was just making the tournament was a win in itself.<\/p>\n All these years later we see where this has evolved\u2014it\u2019s now the world\u2019s largest water polo tournament\u2014and that\u2019s really important because we\u2019re providing an experience for every kid no matter their level, when they started, where they\u2019re clubs from.<\/p>\n UCLA’s Adam Wright. Photo Courtesy: Don Liebig<\/p><\/div>\n It\u2019s very interesting on two different parts; it used to be such a small, niche tournament where you really had to be the best in your zone to [qualify]. Now it\u2019s grown to what it is today.<\/p>\n![\"Bruce-Wigo\"](\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Bruce-Wigo-700x500.png\")
\nInternational\u00a0Swimming Hall of Fame
\nFormer Executive Director, United States Water Polo<\/p>\n
\nCollegiate Water Polo Association<\/p>\n![\"schofield-navy-oct18\"](\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/schofield-navy-oct18-700x500.jpg\")
\nFormer Head Coach, The Naval Academy; all-time winningest coach in Navy history<\/p>\n
\nGulliver Preparatory School<\/p>\n
\nVegas Water Polo Club
\nHead Coach, Murray High School, Salt Lake City, Utah<\/p>\n![\"USA](\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/abdou_acevedo_jun17-700x500.jpg\")
\nUSA Water Polo<\/p>\n
\nUniversity of California at Berkeley
\nOlympian; five-time national champion\u2014two as a player 1987, 1988; two as a coach 2006, 2007, 2017.<\/p>\n
\nGreenwich Aquatics<\/p>\n![\"UCLA](\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/wright-vocal-apr18-700x500.jpg\")
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