“I think this is the strongest APU water polo program there has ever been,” sophomore goalkeeper Erica Marquez said. “We’re finally coming together and playing as a unit.”
Marquez is very confident about the abilities of her team, and is excited about the upcoming season and the recent victories her team has accomplished.
On Saturday, Feb. 6, at the annual Whittier mini-tournament, the team defeated the competition, bringing home two consecutive victories against Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
The women are all on the same page and playing as a unit, largely because they took a trip to Hungary over winter break.
The Cougars chose Hungary due to water polo’s status as a national pastime in the European country. Hungary has won more Olympic gold medals in water polo than any other nation.
APU’s women’s water polo team worked on the fundraiser to go to Hungary for over a year.
“I really didn’t think it was happening until I was sitting on the plane for the next 14 hours going, ‘Oh yeah, this is actually happening.’ But I was stoked for the wonderful opportunity to see a new county,” sophomore utility Ashley Taylor said.
While the women did get to visit Budapest and have a bit of relaxing time, the trip was meant to train and get better for the upcoming season.
Their schedule over the two week trip consisted of getting up every morning at 8 for an hour of weightlifting, then two hours of practice in the pool. Only after their training and hard work was finished were they allowed to explore the city and the Hungarian culture. Becoming a better water polo team was the biggest priority.
Out of everything that was new and exciting about being in a totally new country, “the one thing the girls could not get past was the Turkish baths,” Marquez said with laughter, recalling great memories on the trip.
After exploring and eating, the team would have another practice where they would scrimmage the Eder Hungarian team, which was more aggressive in its style of play than the Cougars expected.
“The trip was a good indicator of how the rest of the season shall look, and the intensity of the teams in Hungary should help us with our harder games in conference,” Taylor said.
Besides the athletic advantages of the trip, the team members also got to expand their world view. One of the most interesting aspects of the trip for Marquez was seeing that the influence of the Soviet Union was still prominent in Hungary. The country was under the Iron Curtain, and although they are now free, Marquez said that the “influence is still prominent.”
Marquez recalled riding on red trolley buses that were given to Hungary by Stalin and seeing that all the buses had the number seven written somewhere on the bus paying homage to Stalin’s reign.
“The biggest lesson I learned was to appreciate every day and explore new places. I mean, traveling 14 days overseas in another country with 20 girls that you call your teammates can be a little stressful, but the most important thing was once you got out of the training pool, just leave it there and go out and explore what this beautiful country has to offer, because who knows when or if you will be back,” Taylor said.
The women’s water polo team is currently 2-6 this season, and will play its next game on Friday, Feb. 19, at Grove City.