Sept. 26, 2014
The S & R Sport Coach of the Month for September 2014 is Monica Szalma of the APS Knights (GA) and ODP. For winning Monica receives a $50 gift certificate to S & R Sport. Here is her nomination from fellow coach Stuart Sheldon.
Monica, her husband and their young daughter walked on deck to their first Dynamo Water Polo Club practice from Holland in July, 2013. Within a couple of weeks, Monica had agreed to help fellow DWPC team-mates Robin Smith and Stu Sheldon volunteer coach the Atlanta Public School (APS) Knights team. The APS Knights practice twice a week mid-July through early October and field three teams in the Georgia High School Water Polo Association fall season. “Almost half of our team are girls, among the highest rates in the league,” explained Sheldon. “It was so great to have a female coach walk on deck last summer, especially one with Monica’s pedigree. Our head coach, Robin Smith, and I kinda got the team pumped up for her arrival.” As it turns out, Monica was the first of two female coaches to join the APS Knights in a matter of weeks. Former NorCal high school goalie Brianni Lyons, now a student at Spelman College in Atlanta, also volunteered.
Shortly after she joined the APS Knights coaching staff, Monica agreed to serve as USAWP ODP coach for the first-ever state-specific satellite program in program history. Coach Szalma managed a five month series of selection events, training camp weekends and other events that linked up with the primary SE Zone ODP effort in Florida. 75 of the 450+ high school players started the ODP process with Monica. Five months later, 10 Georgia athletes traveled to Florida and then west for their respective championship tournaments. Monica returns in 2014 as an ODP Age Group Coach for the Southeast Zone in 2014-2015. She has been a great addition to the Atlanta water polo community and is deserving of this honor.
