Water polo gets national help
Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune Enloe Academy Water Polo Clinics leader Greg Enloe shows Madera and Madera South water polo players some techniques during a clinic Wednesday at Madera High School.
Two world class athletes jumped into McAlister Pool to help out Madera and Madera South’s water polo programs with a clinic led by the Enloe Academy.
Greg Enloe, a former Team USA water polo player from Hanford, led the clinic and helped 36 players through different drills and techniques in the three-hour session.
Along with Enloe was Rita Keszthelyi, the Hungarian national team captain in water polo and a 2016 Olympian.
“He saw us at a tournament and told me he ran these clinics,” Madera girls water polo head coach Erik Baymiller said. “I realized he brought her with him. She leaves back to Hungary tomorrow and I said let’s do it. I did it because these girls won’t ever be exposed to players like this in their lives.”
After watching his players go through the clinic, Baymiller was surprised with some of the techniques they taught and hopes his players learned from the two national players.
“It was well worth the fee,” Baymiller said. “They went over some of the most basic things in water polo, but they went over with steps that will set them up for success.”
“I think it was really interesting,” said Ceaira Chavira, Madera’s girls water polo captain. “We learned a lot of new different things. It was eye-opening to know we can use some of the stuff here.” Baymiller was also excited because of the amount of people that attended the clinic.
“We had 36 kids and had to cap it,” he said. “We had about 50 kids that wanted to be at it. This is one of the only camp that filled up. They said that our kids were the easiest ones to coach.”
“I thought we had a good number of people that came out,” Chavira said. “It was a good turnout.” In addition to Madera girls water polo players, Madera boys water polo and Madera South boys and girls water polo players were also in attendance.
“I invited Madera South because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get 36 girls out there,” Baymiller said. “I wanted it to be a Madera thing. We had some Madera and Madera South guys out there. I wanted to get as many Madera athletes out there as possible.”
After the clinic, Enloe, who was one cut away from becoming an Olympian, held a college prep session for the players and their parents. He talked about some of the struggles in his life and how he was able to overcome them and reach his goal of becoming a Team USA member.
“Have an opportunity to make a positive effect on those who are younger,” he said. “Dream big and achieve great things. If I can go from a chubby kid in the eighth grade to the U.S. water polo team, you can too.
“I made sure I did my very best to know I could control everything in my life to be successful. If you want to make a team, make it to where it would be silly not to take you. Stay focused on their goals.” He told the crowd that he talks to the student-athletes to give them a reminder of what they need to do to be successful.
“I want to make sure everybody believes in themselves and achieve their goals,” he said.
