Official Name of Club: Pacific
Northwest United
Director of Club: Tim Reed
Website: www.unitedwaterpolo.org
Age Groups and Genders of Club:
The club serves all interested levels of athletes ranging in
age 8 to 18. The club has three main coaches and they are
Matt Jones - Development Coach
Dan Ashley - Assistant Coach
Tim Reed - Head Coach
Oregon Coaches: John Riess and Chris Ackerman
Number of members: Ranging from 30 to 65 depending on
session
How they got it going:
What is now USA Pacific Northwest United Water polo was
originally formed in 1999 as Mercer Island Aquatics (MIA) and became a
non-profit organization in 2002 as Washington Water Polo Club to promote the
sport of competitive water polo. In 2007 the club evolved in a combining effort with Tulatin
Hills in Oregon
to provide water polo training and prepare athletes for high school, college
and national level water polo competition.
Home, Sweet, Home:
In Washington the club has an agreement with Edgebrook
Club in Bellevue
where they take over there pool from September to May and cover all running
costs of running facility. With the generous cooperation of Edgebrook, United is able to offer prime time
training from 3:30 to 5:30, 5:30 to 7:30 and 7:30 to 9:30 as well as
tournaments, leagues and clinics. In summer they have agreements with King County
Aquatic Center
and Newport Hills Swim and Tennis Club.
Who are they playing?
PNW United makes an effort to get to all zone allocated events as well as the
Speedo Cup, Junior Olympics, 20 under’s. In addition to that there is a
tournament Florida International, National Club Championships, Winter Fest and
San Diego County Cup they also attend events in Canada
and a trip to Hungary
in the even years. There goal is to provide athletes with twenty five games per
quarter. That is a good deal of games.
There may not be any free lunches, but there is some free
water polo:
The newest development in Fall 2008 is
to offer water polo training for free to youth in the greater Seattle area. The club’s
new program of offering FREE training has started off really well with over
forty athletes participating in the Fall Session. Word of mouth, fliers and
newspaper ads seem to be creating quite a buzz in the area of how it’s FREE.
With the Seattle Super Sonics people need something else to do anyway.
Ok, how do I get into the club?
The club really prides themselves on taking anyone who wants
to play. Athletes just need to show up register online on the website and pay
for a USAWP membership and they are in.
What about the future?
The club would like to keep involving more people in the sport and more athletes
having success in college and some day on the national team level.
College Anyone:
The club has had a solid crop of athletes go on to play in the college game
recently. With some twenty-five men and women in the collegiate ranks right now
here is a sampling of some, including some of the pioneers.
Graduated
Wilson Walters - Redlands
Ben Easton - LMU
Mike Wensman - Whittier
Caitlin Fahey - Brown
Christina Wensman - Long Beach,
In School
Tim Hummel - LMU
John Wensman - Occidental
Mike Smith Bronsteinn - MIT
Kyle Sterling - USC
Kristin Orkney - Clairmont
The club on a recent trip to Hungary