The Allegheny College water polo club was approved by Allegheny Student Government and is now officially a club sports team as of the March 1, 2016 meeting.

“I hope that this club will provide a space for people to come out of their shells, try new things and build strong relationships during their college experience,” said ASG president, Tess Bracken, ’17.

This will be the first time Allegheny will have a water polo club in its 201 year history. The club will offer students a chance to try a new activity.

Margo Birol, ’18, feels that the water polo club will be a great addition to Allegheny’s campus although she is not interested in joining.

“It’s definitely a great opportunity for students who share a common interest to hang together,” said Birol. “I don’t have enough time to join, but it’s really cool that a club is forming at Allegheny.”

President of the water polo club, Catrina Steckler, ’19, pushed to get this predominately West Coast sport to Allegheny College.

“I decided to start this club because I played water polo in high school. Also, since California is the second most represented state at Allegheny I knew there is a large amount of students who have also played water polo in high school,” Steckler said.

News of the approval was sent to students via the MyAllegheny newsletter, however this method may not be enough to recruit the desired amount of participants.

Leah Franzluebbers, ’18, regularly reads the newsletter, but feels that there should be another way to spread information.

“I would be interested in finding out more information about the club and their expected season, not as a participant, but as a student who enjoys knowing about things on campus,” said Franzluebbers. “I do think that there should be alternate forms for spreading information, such as a Facebook page, so more students are informed about what’s going on. That would probably help recruit participants.”

The schedule is yet to be determined, but the club has been looking for teams to compete with next year.

“We know of about three to four schools in Ohio that also have water polo clubs and will most likely be who we are playing against. The season is going to be in the spring, mainly due to swimming being a fall sport and some of the swimmers have shown interest in playing water polo in their off season,” Steckler said.

The club is looking for funding from ASG and is doing everything it can to utilize the available equipment.

“The pool here only has one ball and a goal which is no longer in use, so we are low on equipment,” said Steckler.

As for skills necessary to play this sport, the club is looking for anyone interested; no experience is needed.

“The only skills that are required to join water polo is to just want to learn a new sport. It is hard to learn something new, especially if you’re not willing to. We require our new players to just simply try it out because there is a large support group who are there to teach you the actual water polo skills,” said Steckler.

The club meets twice a week on Friday nights from 7 to 9 p.m. and Saturdays from 1 to 3 p.m. at the pool in the Wise Center.

There are also biweekly executive board meetings held on Fridays that are open to participants interested in joining the club. Those interested in attending the meeting or are interested in playing water polo should contact Catrina Steckler at [email protected].