{"id":590885,"date":"2024-07-17T05:27:13","date_gmt":"2024-07-17T12:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=590885"},"modified":"2024-07-20T10:24:27","modified_gmt":"2024-07-20T17:24:27","slug":"growth-mindset-has-led-max-irving-to-water-polo-stardom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/growth-mindset-has-led-max-irving-to-water-polo-stardom\/","title":{"rendered":"Growth Mindset Has Led Max Irving to Water Polo Stardom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Growth Mindset Has Led Max Irving to Water Polo Stardom<\/strong><\/p>\n

One wakeup call occasioned another for Max Irving<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It was 2017, and Irving\u2019s star was rising fast. He\u2019d gone from a redshirt season at UCLA in 2013 to an All-American. That June brought his first U.S. national team call\u2014in the FINA Intercontinental Tournament in Australia. In the fall, his outstanding season powered the Bruins to their third NCAA water polo championship in four years.<\/p>\n

Amid that whirlwind, Irving had a sit-down with UCLA coach Adam Wright.<\/strong> The two had known each other for a long time, both hailing from Long Beach Wilson High\u2019s storied program. Irving trusted Wright\u2019s guidance for his own introspection of where Irving wanted to take his burgeoning career.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam spoke to me about, \u2018Do you know what you want to do? Are you interested in playing abroad?,\u2019\u201d Irving said recently. \u201cAnd up until that point, I had never really considered it because I had been playing with the national team a little bit. He was like, \u2018Hey, you\u2019re getting opportunities to play with the national team now, and if this is something that\u2019s a goal for you\u2014to play in the Olympics\u2014it kind of has to be something that you\u2019re going to go all-in on.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been nearly a decade since that heart-to-heart, and Irving has realized that promise and more.<\/p>\n

His first European experience, playing with Italian club, Posillipo, at Wright\u2019s connection, was an eye-opener as to what being a professional meant. But Irving, now 29, has made a career of courting discomfort and transmuting his vulnerability into excellence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just knew I was going to sink or I was going to swim,\u201d Irving said. \u201cI just really wanted to put myself in a position where I was going to challenge myself personally and athletically on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

The path to polo<\/h4>\n

Irving was 7 or 8 when he laid eyes on water polo. An active child, he\u2019d played basketball and soccer and swam. But he was mesmerized by his first exposure to polo, at a cousin\u2019s game for the San Jose State women\u2019s team. For a kid who could spend hours on roller skates firing shots at a net in a friend\u2019s driveway, the mix of swimming and scoring was instantly attractive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first found out that there was a game that had a ball and a goal in the water, and you could do something in aquatics outside of swimming or diving, I was immediately intrigued,\u201d he said. \u201cIt just kind of drew me in.\u201d<\/p>\n