SINGAPORE – Mahigit kalahati ng 13-man water polo national team ay standouts ng collegiate swimming, at inaasahan nina coaches Rey Galang at Dale Evangelista makatutulong ang mga bagito sa pagpapalakas ng team para sa international tournaments.

Sina Adan Gonzales, Mico Anota, Romark Belo at Mark Valdez ay dating members ng Emilio Aguinaldo College swimming team sa NCAA, habang si Macgyver Reyes ay lumangoy para sa San Beda.

Sina Reyes at Mcgyver ang record holders sa butterfly at breaststroke events sa NCAA.

Si Paolo Serrano ay mula sa College of St. Benilde, habang si Aljon Salonga at Matt Yu ay dating nasa swimming team A at B ng University of Santo Tomas Tigers sa UAAP.

'Keep it up!' Manny Pacquiao, proud na proud kay Alex Eala

“We started that program in 2009, and that is where we discovered them, and developed their skills in water polo,” saad Evangelista, ang namumuno sa water polo grassroots program.

“Yes they’re all swimmers, but at first, we really had to start from scratch, teaching them the basic of water polo from shooting to catching the ball, play defense. Now they are all competitive players,” aniya.

Si Serrano ngayon isa sa top wingman ng national team. Umiskor siya ng 6 goals sa 18-2 win ng national team laban sa Zimbabwe sa FINA Water Polo Challengers’ Cup Miyerkules sa OCBC Aquatic Centre dito.

Ang Philippines ay may 1-1 win-loss record sa 10-nation tournament.

“Over the years, we’ve really developed our skills, of course, with the guidance of our coaches, plus our veteran players in Tani (Gomez) and Rey (Cañete). Hopefully we’ll be able to translate it to winning games and championships if there is a chance,” ani Serrano.

Ang FINA-backed tournament ay nagsisilbing training para sa team na target ang unang gold medal ng Pilipinas sa water polo sa SEA Games Nob. 30 hanggang Dis. 11.

Ayon kay Evangelista, ang water polo program ay nagsimula noong nakarang taon.

“What we’re doing is we started in High School. Before these players we have were already in college. Now we want to start with younger players, like 12 to 15 years old. That way we’ll have more time to teach them,” ani Evangelista, ang swimming team coach ng EAC.

Dagdag niya: “That way, we’ll have a training pool, then we’ll be able to select players for the Philippine Team for future international tournaments.”

-Waylon Galvez

Laro Ngayon

(OCBC Aquatic Centre, Singapore)

3 p.m. – Hong Kong vs India

4:30 p.m. – Malaysia vs Ireland

6 p.m. – Indonesia vs Austria