The girls varsity water polo team has finished its league season with a record of 3-3 in the Capital Valley Conference. The Tigers still have four tournaments to go before their full season is over.
Varsity coach Paul Stewart believes that he has a great group of girls on the team who work very hard together and have fun with each other when they play. He said that this sense of unity has had a positive effect on the team’s performance this season.
“I think we have a good mix of girls that are learning the sport and having fun,” Stewart said.
The team has had the help of key players senior Lacie Reichman and junior Lauren Schmittner this season. According to Stewart, Reichman and Schmittner are both valuable assets to the team and have both contributed greatly to the Tigers’ performance.
As of last Friday, Schmittner is the team’s leading scorer with a total of 64 goals and an average of 3.4 goals per game. She has played water polo during all three years of high school at RHS and hopes to play again next year.
She believes that Stewart, being the team’s new coach this year, has had a positive impact on the team’s performance this year and its ability to win games.
“It’s great that we are winning games this year because last year we didn’t win any of our games,” Schmittner said.
Stewart hopes to take advantage of the team’s remaining tournaments to improve the skills of his players and his own skills as a coach. He said that he has very high hopes for the team next year and has told the team that his goal is to bring home a league banner.
To achieve his goal, Stewart is pushing his players to participate on the swim team in the spring.