Varsity water polo player Ethan Diep (9) has spent most of his life in the water.
Having started swimming when he was 6, the open waters of a pool always felt natural to him. He spent his younger years on a variety of swim teams and added water polo to his repertoire just three years before he made his varsity debut.
“I’ve been swimming for a long time and I just wanted to try [water polo] out,” Diep said. “I’ve just really enjoyed it.”
For Diep, such enjoyment was a pleasant surprise, having started his water polo journey on a whim. After years of swimming competitively, he began to feel that the endless laps grew monotonous.
“I’ve been swimming my whole life and I was getting bored because swimming is just going back and forth,” Diep said. “I wanted something to get my blood pumping, and water polo just happened to be it.”
Diep said that he strayed into the vastly different world of water polo due to its required physicality. At first, it was difficult for Diep. Learning to grip the ball and becoming alert of surrounding players felt rocky at first, but he worked consistently to adapt to the more demanding field.
“I went to multiple games to watch the players at a higher level to see if I could incorporate any of their skills in my game,” Diep said. “The first few weeks it was challenging just to have the energy to go to practice, but as I got more used to it, it was fine.”
Soon after his water polo debut at Pacific Polo, Diep moved to Del Mar Water Polo Club, where he was motivated by the experienced players around him to strive for Westview varsity. Diep said that his participation in his team’s third consecutive domination of Junior Olympics, a prestigious annual tournament that dubs one team in each age group the best in the nation, was one of the most pivotal challenges of his summer with the team.
“Last year was my first year playing at [Del Mar],” Diep said. “I’d just transferred over, so I felt pressure, being a newcomer on the team and also knowing that they won [the JOs] for a few years in a row.”
The high caliber of the team helped to develop Diep’s skills and presented him with new opportunities.
“Just having that reputation as a team, we got to travel more,” Diep said. “We went to Europe for two weeks and trained there for a little bit. I’m just surrounded by some really good players who helped me improve in multiple ways as well.”
With this experience, he said that he felt the transition to the varsity team last month was smooth, while his newly demanding schedule took time to adjust to. To balance his swim and water polo careers, Diep’s main focus is mental health and time management.
“There are some days where you just don’t feel good and those days you’re not gonna get that great training, [but] the mindset is that I always have to work my hardest,” Diep said. “I swim in the mornings on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and I try to prioritize water polo.”
Diep said he feels that his skills from both water polo and swim build on each other to better his performance.
“Swimming really, really helped me by making me fast and able to go up and down the pool with lots of stamina,” he said. “Over time, I got surrounded by better and better players [in water polo] to improve my shooting [and] my defense.”
Overall, Diep said he is optimistic in regard to the high-school season. He said that he felt warmly welcomed since his induction, and has enjoyed connecting with his teammates.
“[My favorite part of being on a team] is just being surrounded by so many friends,” Diep said. “You have a lot of chances to make a lot more friends and it’s just nice.”
