On Tuesday, Nov. 18, boys’ varsity water polo beat Merced 15-11, allowing them to continue in the Northern California (NorCal) championships.
Rudy Kardos, who played in the National League in former Czechoslovakia and Slovakia before coaching varsity at Redwood, was proud of the team’s resiliency in their win.
“It was a team effort.There are a few things that, after any game, you can clean up. But all in all, it was a team effort [and] they did what they had to do to make it to the next round,” Kardos said.
Junior Hunter Robertson is in his first year on varsity. He and his teammates practice five times a week.
“I would say this was a game we prepared for very well, so we were locked in,” Robertson said.
The Giants bounced back after Merced scored the first point, and by half-time were up 8-5. But, Merced put up a good fight. Senior Jasper Roblee, who has been on varsity for three years, recognized the switch in energy from the opposing team to trigger a Redwood response.
“At first we went up four [to] one pretty quickly, so we felt really good about ourselves. And then Merced started coming back and playing really well, and so we just had to make on-the-fly adjustments. I feel like those adjustments led to our success today,” Roblee said.
The team makes an effort to spend time together outside of practice, which contributes to a very positive team dynamic. The players try to meet up every weekend, often playing poker.
“We are super lucky. This is a very close, tight-knit team. The boys fight for each other, [and] work super hard,” Kardos said.
This dynamic allows the team to collaborate and think on the spot while playing.
“We pride ourselves on just being a really bonded team, so we can know, like, ‘hey, we need to make this adjustment,’” Roblee said.
Even though water polo is a fall sport, most players play all year.
“[I want to thank] all the parents, because without them, these kids wouldn’t be able to play.These results are not results of one coach over one season in high school over two months. But this is a result of, [for] some of these kids, five, six or seven years of their work in their life,” Kardos said.
The team’s next game is on Thursday, Nov. 20 for NorCal semi-finals. If they win, the team will continue on to finals on Saturday.
“Hopefully we can go on to win NorCals, which is the end of our road. That’d be a great success for the team,” Roblee said.
