by Evyn Firestone
On Sunday, the 2nd of October, North Springs water polo’s B team won the Division III state championship at the Cherokee Aquatic Center. The B team, who was seeded number three, played three games total that Sunday against the Forsyth B, APS B, and Wildcats B teams, winning all three. In the final game, they beat the Wildcats 12-5. The head coach Julie Ferris, and two B team members, Adam Greenstein, and Zachary Eisenstat, had plenty to say about their victory.
“The B team was the number three seed in the tournament,” said Coach Ferris, so we were not expected to win in the semi-finals or in the finals,” she said. “We have an A team and a B team, and both improved a lot throughout the season.”
Ms. Ferris, who coaches the teams with former St. Pius X water polo player Josh Beck, explained that The A team was made up of all players who were on the team before, and all were upperclassmen. The B team was comprised of mostly new players, and eight of the 12 had never played before. The other four players were in their second season. All of them were freshmen or sophomores.
I started the program in 2009, but until last year, we were only able to fill one team. And thankfully with the past two years, we’ve gotten more interest and more players.” “The B team went from not knowing anything to winning their division state championship,” Ms. Ferris stated.
Eisenstat expressed that winning the championship was his favorite part of the season. Greenstein said, “My favorite part of the season was when I realized that we were most likely to win while we were up by four in the final game.”
The championship game proved very surreal to all players. Eisenstat added, “The play of the game was I had a clear drive to the goal then a defender shoved me under the water to stop me from scoring. A foul was called and then Adam sprinted towards the goal for an easy pass where he scored.”
In addition to the Spartan B team win, the eight-player Spartans A team won the Division II regular-season championship and finished the tourney in third place.
Water polo is different than a typical varsity sport. It is co-ed and draws players from all over Sandy Spring instead of just being restricted to North Springs. In addition, it has players from Sandy Springs Middle School, which feeds into North Springs. There has been much growth for both teams throughout this season with both returning and new players. In addition, the growth and improvement of the team is extraordinary because water polo take many skills to master and is a very difficult sport to partake in, whether the player grew up swimming, which eventually led to water polo like Greenstein, or a family member introduced you to the sport.
When talking about skills needed for water polo, Coach Ferris explained, “First, you must be a good swimmer as you are constantly swimming and treading; the pool is too deep to touch the bottom. Leg strength is important as well. In addition to keeping yourself up throughout the game, it is an aggressive sport, so you are almost wrestling with the other team as you are treading and throwing the ball around. Having a strong arm is important for shooting as well.”
Adam Greenstein, a member of the water polo B team and 10th grade, reiterated, “All you need is the ability to swim, but as you practice you gain endurance and strength which benefits your ability to play.”
