Water Polo

Water polo is a big deal hear in Bosnia as it is in all of the former Yugoslavia. The other day, I was at my friends house flipping channels and came across an afternoon of water polo games. This was like ESPN classic for water-polo. I was absolutely amazed. I wish we had something like this in the states.

After playing two years of competitive water-polo in my life (senior year of high school and senior year of college), I really wanted to play on a team while I was here. Since both of my previous teams were in their infant stages of their development, I've never played very structured polo. I was really eager for the opportunity here. I asked a few friends if they knew of any leagues for adults. They said that they did, but none in Tuzla. We may be the 2nd largest city in the country, but without a swimming pool in town a water polo team is not possible. There is a pool similar to the one in Howard Hall on the University of Portland campus, but the water polo aficionados of the region have deemed this pool un acceptable to play the sport in.

So I have resigned myself to playing catch with some of the kids in the small, salt water lake in town. It is also very shallow, but you can tread water in it. The problem here is the huge numbers of people here. I guess it isn't a problem that everyone is trying to stay cool, it just makes it difficult to play water polo. I'm affraid that I'll hit one of the old ladies who is cooling themselves near the shore.

I suppose I'm just lusting for the water polo goal that I saw in the Bay of Kotor in Montenegro a few weeks ago. When I saw this, I was blown away. I had to pull the car over immediately. What could be better than playing water polo?

Try playing water polo in the Adriatic Sea where 3,000 ft. high fjords drive into the bay in a 1,000 year old walled city. Why am I not volunteering in this town? When become rich and a donor to the University of Portland Water Polo Team, we will come here for pre-season training. Gibbs, you can be the coach for the training camp. Riley, Clay and Peter, we can play a little "Fatties vs. Skinnys" basketball too.