Throughout campus, the boys water polo team exists as one of the smallest school sports. There are six Inglemoor students on the team—three of whom are enrolled in full Running Start and spend all of their time away from the school. Senior captain Billy Surdyk said the small team size presents many challenges.
Since none of the Northshore high schools—Bothell, Woodinville, North Creek or Inglemoor—have enough players to have their own water polo team, a district-wide team was created to serve all four schools.
“There’s 13 guys from four schools on the team; none of the four high schools can even field the seven players that are needed for a starting lineup, let alone have any guys on the bench,” Surdyk said.
Surdyk suggests a couple of reasons for so few players.
“One, it’s a relatively new sport at Inglemoor. We’re currently in our eighth season; I’ve been there for half of that. Also, the sport of water polo is not very popular in the state of Washington as a whole,” Surdyk said.
Another challenge the team faces is funding.
“We’re an ASB sport, but in terms of funding, we find ourselves completely on our own,” Surdyk said.
“[Water polo] first came to being as a club and then was later recognized as an ASB sport, separate from clubs; it’s just without that much funding.”
This lack of funding presents an especially large issue due to the costs of the sport.
“Paying for refs, equipment and pool time is all expensive, so we have fundraisers every six months: one during the girls season and one during the boys season. It’s very difficult though, and we often can’t raise enough money, so it ends up costing a lot of money for each [player’s] family; I believe it’s over $500,” Surdyk said.
Despite the team’s low number of players and small budget, the boys currently have a record of five wins and four losses, an improvement over their three-and-seven record last year. According to Surdyk, this improvement is a result of the addition of new players and the removal of past foes.
“A couple of the teams we lost to last year no longer exist, but also the guys we gained really helped to bolster us. Six of our 13 players are new this year, and two of them are really good,” Surdyk said.
