Water polo was introduced to the Olympics in 1900; the second Olympiad in modern history. Women’s water polo was introduced to the Olympics in 1986. It has slowly, but steadily gained popularity in the past century and has risen in popularity, rather exponentially, every year since 2008, having nearly doubled its national membership since then. As one of America’s fastest growing sports, it’s no wonder that its popularity has reached the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Even though Wisconsin has been given the reputation of being a “frozen tundra,” and isn’t exactly known for summer sports, water polo has taken hold in places like UW-W, even if only just.
The team originally got its start in the 2019-20 school year, however, it died down after a semester or two. Then in January of 2023, club President Maddie Collura revived the club and began to build it into what it is today, a co-ed group of individuals that each seek to be a part of the club for different reasons. One might wonder why Whitewater has a co-ed water polo team when pretty much every sport in the NCAA is monogendered.
“We had maybe five other players, including myself,” Collura said, “Right now on our roster, we have about 15.”
However, as the sport grows, so does its presence at this university.
“We’re starting to get numbers where we can break off and we can have a girls team and a boys team play in a couple of tournaments,” she added. “We’re starting to get the numbers where we could enter the boys separately.”
“There are a couple of co-ed teams,” she said. “There’s DePaul and Chicago as well that we’re looking to play this semester and next semester as well.”
So even though the UW-Whitewater club water polo team has come a long way, and it truly has, there is still a long way to go. And the way you can help out your fellow Warhawks is by joining them. Male and female are both needed. That way we no longer need to go along the difficult path of looking for teams that are willing to play co-ed.
What’s more is that you don’t even need to be experienced to play. They’ll teach you.
“We don’t require any experience,” Collura pointed out, “We only have had a couple of players with experience. Everyone else is new to the game,” she continued. “I’m a very hands-on learner, so in the water, I’m showing them everything.”
Practices are Mondays from 9 p.m.-11 p.m. at the pool in the Williams Center and games won’t start until closer to the end of the semester.
“Games are usually going to be towards the end of the semester.” The reason for that is simple, “We want to prepare as best we can. Especially with UW-Milwaukee because they’re a newer club as well.”
“I love being a part of the water polo club here at UWW because not only is it a great way to stay active, but it’s also a great way to meet new people. I’ve made some great friends because of water polo,” said member Halle Boldt. “I love everyone on the team so much and I’m so glad I get to play with them every week. We have fun, but we work hard!”
If you’re looking to get into shape, or you just love being in water. The UW-Whitewater water polo club is your ticket. You can find them on Instagram at: uww_waterpolo. From there, they have a club interest form you can fill out, or you can just DM them to find out more information.