The Carlsbad High School water polo team has mixed feelings about the changes to the Monroe Street pool becoming larger and looking more new this makes some players excited about the cleaner, updated space, but others say the new conditions have made practices harder and less comfortable.
Many players are choosing to look past the struggles and are focused on the team and their connections with each other. For them, the pool isn’t as important as the memories they make along the way, even as their season is undergoing construction.
“You only have so much time that the pool shouldn’t really matter,” sophomore Connor Marshall said. “It’s more about how you play with your teammates and what you do in and out of the water.”
The pool modifications have upset the upperclassmen specifically. Some are anxious that their final season may not be the same as it has been for the past years.
“It sucks because next year is my senior year, I want to be able to have my senior season at Monroe pool,” junior Jackson Luria said.
The renovations brought both excitement for a new pool and also frustration over the complications it has caused. This change has twisted the team’s routine and management skills.
“It’s all about our perception and how we choose to view this situation,” Coach Spencer Rodman said. “I choose to look at it as a positive instead of a negative as often as I can.”
Many athletes saw Monroe Pool as a safe and welcoming place to go during free time. Losing the home that was created by the pool has left a hole in the team.
“It was like a home,” senior Colton Gilley said. “It’s just like a place to be, and now we don’t have that anymore.”
Despite the setbacks, the team has worked together to stay strong. Some players have had a harder time adapting than others, but as a team they have handled it well.
“I think we are a little less conditioned because it’s a smaller pool and we don’t have as much pool time,” Marshall said. “But other than that, I think we’ve done a pretty good job adapting.”
One of the big challenges for the team was the lack of home games. Having every ‘home’ game away from CHS has caused more stress than in the past years.
“I think the main thing is that we don’t have home games, every game is away,” senior Riley Marquand said.
Lacking a home pool, the audience has decreased. Players have noticed less support in the crowds, which has affected the team’s atmosphere.
“Nobody comes to our games anymore,” Gilley said. “We used to have people from school show up.”
Without their own pool, the team needs to change how they warm up. With these challenges, the players have learned to adapt and make the most of their opportunities.
“We’ve gotten really good at utilizing the film, dry land workouts, and dry land walk-throughs, when not having much pool time and space,” Coach Rodman said.
Despite emotional loss with their pool, players remain passionate about the game. Some players had a harder time adapting than others, but they have handled it well.
“It’s definitely difficult just because there are a lot of memories there, but I know it will be better in the long run,” Marshall said.
Even with changes, the players know that success will eventually come with their efforts being put in. No matter where they play, the team has kept its season going through determination.
“Hard work beats talent when talent fails, just work hard,” Luria said.
