Local water polo club heads to Junior Olympics

Water polo club formed a year ago

SAN ANTONIO – A local water polo club that formed last year is doing so well that they are already heading to the Junior Olympics.

"I love this sport," said Garrett Dierkhising, a player with the Texas Sea Bears, a USA water polo club. "I love my teammates and it's a great opportunity for players from every school in the district to get together and play."

Johann Orozco, who just graduated from the Communication Arts School at Taft High School is also a Texas Sea Bears player. Orozco said he's been playing water polo since he was a freshman and wanted to take it to the next level.

"Our wonderful coach, Coach Matt, gave us the opportunity to create this team," Orozco said.

Coach Matt Ross said they just formed the USA Water Polo Club last year.

"What brought us together is the love of the sport," Ross said. "The kids have a great camaraderie, so they just love playing together. And we have a great time traveling and playing in tournaments."

After only playing together for a year, the team qualified to compete in the Junior Olympics in San Jose, California.

"The ability of the kids to come together and lead, to fundraise together, to organize and plan," Ross said. "It's about $1,000 a kid to go to California."

"I'm just super stoked that we have the greatest opportunity to bring water polo to San Antonio," Dierkhising said. "That's really what we want to do is to get the sport known in San Antonio."

"I'm hoping for a first place gold medal in the Junior Olympics," Orozco said.

The Texas Sea Bears will head to the Junior Olympics in San Jose California on July 22.


About the Author:

Stephanie Serna is a weekday anchor on Good Morning San Antonio and GMSA at 9 a.m. She joined the KSAT 12 News team in November 2009 as a general assignments reporter.