Is water polo an overlooked sport in Morton?
In a random survey of 101 students, 51 out of the 101 students had no idea that water polo was a sport at Morton High School.

According to “Chicago Tribune”, ‘Water polo is increasingly popular in Illinois, which fields more high school teams than any state other than California. As with many other sports, though, athletes, coaches, and parents are increasingly wary of head injuries caused both by the ball and contact with other players.’ At the time of today, most students are not aware of water polo or noticed it much like other sports. From that, students would be shocked or surprised by water polo as a sport. However, some have known about water polo for a while or recently.

“Water polo is not known well but an interesting fact about it is that players cannot touch the bottom of the pool,” said senior Denisse Arreola.
A couple of the water polo players do want water polo to be known more.

“It’s not known enough; they think that I’m talking about a brand polo,” said junior Yaritza Garcia.

According to a Michael Lee, a user for the website “Quora”, he said “It is a common sport in many European countries, but even though it is played in the U.S., no one seems to appreciate it. The thing to remember, though, is that swimming and water polo are capital-intensive sports. While the equipment isn’t hugely expensive, one still needs a competition-size pool! Building and maintaining those isn’t cheap. And complicating the issue is the need for indoor pools in much of the country due to the weather. No high school was willing to spring for an indoor pool where I grew up, and there wasn’t much of a case for it anyway: while it’d get mildly cold in the winter there, swimmers and water polo players would wear parkas on the deck.

Water polo coaches at Morton High School hope the sport attracts more attention around the country.

“I think that water polo is becoming a more well-known sport, as it is growing across the country in high schools and colleges,” said water polo coach Joe Starr Jr., “A lot of Morton students are still learning about it, and are very interested in the rules of the sport.
An interesting thing about water polo is according to the “Collegiate Water Polo Association”, The modern game originated as a form of rugby football played in rivers and lakes in England and Scotland with a ball constructed of Indian rubber. This “water rugby” came to be called “water polo” based on the English pronunciation of the Balti word for ball, pulu.”

Many people compare water polo to sports that people know for further explain how the sport is played.

“In my understanding, water polo is like playing soccer but just in water, using your hands and having to score the other side of the net,” said sophomore Andrea Rodriguez

However, another water polo player says its a mixture of different sport;

“Soccer, basketball, volleyball, swimming and wresting all in one,” said Yaritza Garcia