{"id":457559,"date":"2020-12-18T13:00:21","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T20:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=457559"},"modified":"2020-12-19T07:03:10","modified_gmt":"2020-12-19T14:03:10","slug":"usa-water-polo-racial-equality-reform-task-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/usa-water-polo-racial-equality-reform-task-force\/","title":{"rendered":"USA Water Polo Racial Equality & Reform Task Force Hosts Town Hall Discussions on Zoom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday night USA Water Polo\u2019s Racial Equity & Reform Task Force<\/a> held the second of two virtual town hall discussions about the recently-formed group\u2019s mission to create more inclusion and equity in a sport that\u2014by almost all appearances\u2014is predominantly populated by white, and often affluent, participants.<\/p>\n

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Logo Courtesy: ADEWP<\/p><\/div>\n

Co-chaired by John Abdou<\/strong>, USAWP Chief High Performance Officer, the task force\u2019s roster is distinguished by both their success in the sport and their collective experience with institutional racism in America. Brenda Villa<\/strong>, who co-chairs the task force with Abdou, also participated in Thursday night\u2019s Zoom call. One of the most accomplished polo athletes in American history,<\/a> Villa is a product of Commerce Aquatics<\/a>, a singularly unique swim and water polo program in Southern California. They were joined by Felix Mercado<\/strong>, a native of Miami who has made his way to become the head men\u2019s and women\u2019s coaching at Brown. Mercado made reference to the Alliance for Equity in Water Polo<\/a>, an affiliated organization.<\/p>\n

Ted Minnis<\/strong>, a graduate of Menlo Atherton High School in Northern California who was plucked from a coaching position with the Stanford Water Polo Club<\/a> to transform men\u2019s and women\u2019s water polo at Harvard, also participated, as did Clarke Weatherspoon<\/strong>, a former player at UC Santa Barbara and one-time Stanford Water Polo Club<\/a> coach.<\/p>\n

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One of the slides presented at Thursday night’s town hall by the USA Water Polo Racial Equality & Reform Task Force<\/p><\/div>\n

Mariko Rooks<\/strong>, a club water polo player at Yale who is in her senior year at the Ivy League institution, provided pointed observations from the task force\u2019s research as did Angela Uno<\/strong>, a referee in Texas who also played college ball for the Gauchos. There were also two non-polo players on the call who are task force members: Scott Newberger<\/strong>, a parent whose children play polo in Arizona and who is responsibility for diversity and inclusion within the Arizona Air National Guard, and George Abele<\/strong>, an employment law expert whose daughter is on the Pomona-Pitzer women\u2019s squad.<\/p>\n

Missing from Thursday night\u2019s town hall were task force members Ivan Munoz<\/strong>, a club administrator with the Northern Illinois Water Polo Club; Chelsea Johnson<\/strong>, a former polo athlete at Princeton who was recently elected to the Southeastern Zone Board; and Tumala Tavana<\/strong>, a former U.S. national team player who was a gold medalist with the American women at the 2012 London Olympics. All three were present on the first town hall Zoom meeting, held on Monday night.<\/p>\n

Select discussion points from Thursday included:<\/p>\n