Tyler Thames '18 Recruiting Profile

For as long as I can remember, I have spent hours upon hours in the water on a weekly basis.  I started swimming competitively in elementary school and after about 6 years of it I started to get tired of the sport, but that was when I learned about water polo.  I have never been much of a runner and the monotony of swimming laps back and forth for hours a day was just not exciting enough, so a high intensity contact sport that I could play in the water sounded like a perfect sport for me.  I began water polo in the end of my seventh grade year, and after just a few weeks of practice and games I fell in love with the sport.  Since then I have spent 2-4 hours training on a daily basis and have furthered myself immensely in my abilities.

I think the one thing that stands out the most for me in terms of my water polo achievements is the impact I had on my high school's water polo team after joining.  Going into my freshman year,  I was well aware that the team failed to even make it into the regional tournament the previous year and a lot of work needed to be done for us to make it far in the season.  I have started every game since the first game of my freshman year, and it was evident that the upperclassmen weren't going to let themselves be outdone by a freshman.  After pushing my teammates forward and remaining within the top 3 point scorers for my whole high school career, I was able to put in a large contribution in taking our team from failing to make the regional tournament to placing 9th in the state tournament.