The Glebe Collegiate Gryphons battled the Sacred Heart Catholic High School Huskies at the Carleton University Pool earlier this month. Glebe won the game 10-1 to improve their record on the season to 9-0. They sit in first place in the league standings.
The Glebe Collegiate Institute girls water polo team has found that the best way to get their friends energized about the sport is by winning.
“I think the rest of the school is starting to pay attention because we’re undefeated,” says head coach Doug Watters.
The Glebe Gryphons are hoping to finish the season with a perfect record and win the Ottawa high school gold medal.
Annie Chinneck, a Grade 12 student and the team’s leading scorer, said the administration has recently started reading game results over the intercom during morning announcements. She said people at school have started to care how the team’s doing.
Her teammate, Grade 11 student Amelia Kane, credited the interest in the team to its flawless record.
“We’re only getting so much attention this year because we haven’t lost yet. Last year, nobody knew about water polo in the school.”
Many of the players’ friends don’t know exactly how the game works.
Long passes to streaking teammates, physical play deep in the oppositions' end and shooting top corner to beat the other team’s goalie. And it’s all happening in a pool.
There are seven players for each team in the pool, including the two goalies. The sport looks like an aquatic merger of hockey and basketball, with teams battling for position and passing the ball for a clean shot at the net. The game is split into seven-minute quarters.
Girls water polo is growing in Ottawa, with 12 area high school teams. Lisgar Collegiate Institute doesn’t have a team this year, and Immaculata High School is having an average season, with a record hovering around .500. They suffered a 14-3 setback to Glebe on Feb. 6.
Chinneck said that 2008 is Glebe’s year. The team’s nucleus has been together for three years. Coach Watters attributes this year’s success to the experience of the players, and their dedication to the game. The team lost in the quarterfinals last year, and he says knowing what it feels like to lose is helping to motivate them this season.
In the stands at most games sits Lucy Sleeth, the mother of Michelle Sleeth, a two-year veteran on the team. The elder Sleeth says it’s been fun being able to watch the team come together as a unit.
“They’re like the Pizza Line,” she said, likening the team’s chemistry to that of the first line of the Ottawa Senators.
The team has a mix of players, some who only play water polo with the school and others who also play for competitive club teams. Watters makes sure that all of his players stay in great shape though.
“As long as our girls are lasting longer than the girls covering them, stamina wise, we’re going to do well,” says Watters.
According to Watters, several of his players will have the chance to play water polo at the university level. Chinneck has committed to playing at Carleton University next year, and one of Glebe’s younger stars, Emma Jackson, is hoping to earn a scholarship to play in the U.S.
The team has an advantage when it comes to practice time. Glebe players can prepare in the school’s basement swimming pool, while other Ottawa high school teams need to take a bus to practice at city pools.
At the conclusion of this season, the Gryphons are hoping to travel to the U.S. for a tournament, as there is no provincial high school tournament for water polo. But Jackson says that the team’s main focus is being the best in the city.
That quest has united Jackson, Chinneck, Kane and the rest of the varsity team. They know that a city title will get the attention of their peers.