The Collegian
Friday, March 29, 2024

Women's water polo player practicing with the men

Junior Meg Schroeder is the only woman in a pool of shirtless men every Tuesday and Thursday night ... at University of Richmond club water polo practices.

The women's club water polo team has been practicing with the men's team all year, but Schroeder, the team's co-captain, said she had been the only woman attending these joint practices since the first week in February, when her team had been forced to drop out of the league because it had only four players.

The other three players, senior co-captain Caitlin Manak, sophomore Catherine Romberger and freshman Amy Reader, have their reasons for not showing up, Schroeder said.

Manak, who has been playing polo since she was a freshman in high school, said she had wanted to compete her senior year but numbers have been a problem for the team all four years Manak has been at Richmond, she said.

"It's always frustrating trying to recruit at a school of 3,000 that has a very heavy focus on academics," she said. "Water polo seems like a very intense sport and, at times, it can be, but it's fun, and we invite everyone to play."

Recruitment for the men's team has been tough in the past, too. After the team dropped out of league play in the middle of the season two years ago, the team was put on probation from being a club sport, said senior Peter Minassian, men's water polo treasurer. The men's team just started up again this year.

Schroeder said her team had almost faced a similar fate.

"We thought that we were going to get kicked out and have to pay fines to have our practice times given up," she said. "If we had dropped out even a week or two later, we would've had to pay fines and gotten kicked out of the league, which would've really killed the program."

Senior Matt Burns, president of the Sports Club Executive Council, said it was tougher for the water polo teams because, unlike with the field sports -- where there were three fields -- there was just one swimming pool.

"It's really structured around when the swim team practices, so it's probably weird practice times," he said. The joint practices are from 9-11 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Burns is also president of the club ice hockey team. He said numbers had been a problem for his team recently, too.

"It's really about getting your name out there early because once kids get here, they kind of get sucked into different social circles," he said. "They join a sorority or fraternity, so you kind of have to get to people before other groups do."

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Schroeder said she would delay the first practice to two weeks into the first semester next fall as a way to help recruitment.

"[Last fall], one or two new people would show up to practice and they'd be like, 'there's only two people here, this isn't much of a team,' so they would leave and never come back," she said. "Then next practice, two new people would show up and [the same thing would happen], so we're really going to emphasize that you have to show up to the first practice."

Schroeder is hoping to get enough women to field a team next year, she said, but doesn't think it will be the worst thing ever if it doesn't work out.

"I can still play with the guy's team," she said. "It's not against league rules; you can have girls on the guy's team."

Minassian said his team would welcome Schroeder, but had also hoped the women's team got back in the league.

"Meg is a beast," he said. "We'd love to have her on the team, but you always want to encourage the other side."

Contact staff writer David Weissman at david.weissman@richmond.edu

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