St Thomas Aquinas- RJ Moore

RJ Moore

One of St Thomas Aquinas key for success this year will be Sophmore RJ Moore, towering at 6"3 with a wingspan of 7"0 the gentle giant dominates in defense. Even though his offensive contribution isn't that great his defensive qualifications are incredible. Last year he was starting as a freshmen, contributing countless steals to St thomas. Even though he is only a sophmore he has a big future in water polo ahead of him. Moore is part of the Florida Zone team and is being recognized by Scouts all around the U.S. He is also part of the ODP program for water polo and he even made it in the top 36 which is an incredibl accomplishment for only a sophmore water polo player, he hopes to take St Thomas all the way to the top again this year and is looking forward to a successful season.

Cypress Bay Water Polo

Tim Hornuf

Cypress Bay begins their season with a rough start, losing 4 key starters in their line-up, Tim Hornuf, Kevin Enberg, Guilherme Villar and Nicolas Aleman. Fortunately they have some experienced starters to pull them through, Santiago Rengifo(Utility, Jr.), Armando Amador(Sr.), Franz Muller(Keeper, Jr.), Aitor Sahonero(Hole,Jr.), Felipe Lozano(Jr.), Matias Faret(Sr.) and Jesse Mutschler(Sr.) This gives Cypress a whole starting line-up of experienced players. Last season they made it to States and lost by 1 against Bishop Moore Highschool, but this was mostly because of the guidance from german exchange student Tim Hornuf he scored a total of 125 goals last year. He was even awarded as Broward Boys Water Polo Player of the year with 125 goals, 72 assists, 59 steals and 19 blocks.Even though they don't have their star player this year, they have a combination of talent that they can utilize in the pool and power through the Broward Competition. What will give Cypress a challenge this year will be the Private schools, like St. Thomas Aquinas and St Andrews.

Sean Grady- Taking Boca High to the Top

Earlier this year Sean Grady was selected to be one of the Top 24 ELITE water polo squad at the recent Olympic Development Program camp in Los Alamitos, California. This is a huge honor for the attending Senior of Boca High, this becomes a ladder towards earning a place on the Junior National team and it grants him the opportunity to try-out for the Junior Pan-Am Team. Which would bea an incredible accomplishment, more for such a young talent like Grady. During his past year in Boca Raton High, Grady led the county goals with a total of 138. Grady is Boca High's top hope towards a state championship, his talent will hopefully carry them all the way to the top. Clearly this young star has a very bright future ahead of him.

Boca High Water Polo

Boca High vs St Andrews

First things first, watch the video above. In it you will see Boca High demoralizing the 2010 Water Polo State Champs, they dominated them throughout the whole game. With MVP Sean Grady they could feel safer in the water, he has a remarkable skill for being able to score from wherever he decides to take the shot. His years of experience allow him to exploit the perfect opportunities in which to score, making him an extreme threat. Even though Boca High dominated St. Andrews during this game, St Andrews rose up to become the state champs. During the state competition Boca High did not make such an impressive appearance, but they are still considered a top team in the state. They have a very balanced team, a great goalie, good supporting players and their all-star Sean Grady, he is a part of the Junior Olympic Water Polo team and has a very good future ahead of him when it comes to Water Polo.

Swipe Shot

Another famous shot in water polo that is successful at getting past goalkeepers is the swipe shot. The swipe shot is an important shot because it incorporates a lot of skill to be able to be performed. The shooter usually has to power through his defender, meaning he/she has to use their strength to tread up hard into their defender, pushing them away from them. Then when they are passed the ball, the shooter pushes their defender even farther away, grips the ball, twists their arm in a windmill motion and hammers it into the back of the net. The shot takes a lot of skill to perform and its success is mainly because of how unexpected the shot is. The goalkeeper is not expecting that the attacker will have sufficient strength to push past the defender, so when the ball comes flying in, the reaction time necessary is almost impossible to reach, making the shot very difficult to block.

ODP

The ODP try-outs are over and the players are finally being notified. The try-outs were difficult to say the least, being in the water for over 6 hours at a time simply treading isn't very easy. It included the best players from around the county which allowed a glimpse at the high school competition. It was beneficial to players in general because it motivated them to improve, simply from seeing someone be slightly better than you, you feel pushed towards trying harder and competing against such challenge. The ODP squad consists of around 50 of the qualified players, it varies with players from all different schools. Saint Andrews, St. Thomas, Gulliver, Belen, Boca High and Cypress had players trying out for the squad and it gave everyone a reason to strive for excellence, knowing these were all their competitors for the high school year.

The Lob Shot

Scoring is an art, a reward for true skill, recognition for your attempt. Once again, once you become more advanced you need new skills and techniques to be able to score. One of these shots that is able to get past even the greatest goalkeepers is the lob shot. This shot is a very soft, slow shot, that simply glides over the goalkeeper. It is very difficult to stop mainly because the goalie has to cover the longest distance to be able to reach it, so players can get up close to the goal and simply throw it over the goalie, it will be very difficult to stop, making it a successful shot to attempt, earning your team goals and putting you ahead. Some of th greatest goalkeepers have trouble stopping this shot, proving the success this shot grants the shooter.
AMAZING LOB by Tony Azevedo