Of Water Polo and Women

Mick Jagger would smile on the Harvard women's water polo team. Over the last four years the aquawomen have struggled and finally proved the crooner's adage that you get what you need if you try.

And try, and try.

In the case of the women's water polo squad, however, perhaps "try and try and try and try again" would be more appropriate.

For years the squad has been striving for varsity status, and for years its bids have been rejected. Only as recently as 1980 did the men's squad move up from club status, but the battle for the creation of the Ivy League's first female varsity contact sports team was still only in the minds of several Harvard women.

After countless meetings with Harvard Athletic Director Jack Reardon'60 and the Standing Committee on Athletics, in December the team finally earned level-two varsity status. With the department's blessing but not funding, the squad a first varsity season starts this spring.

First some background for those of you whose reaction to the words "water polo" is usually something along the not-so-witty lines of "But don't the ponies drown?"

The success of water polo at Harvard would make even Muffy and Skip turn their heads. The men's team was ranked in the national top 20 this year and includes two members of the U.S. Junior National Team. Radcliffe has been playing the sport for so long that extensive archival starches by present team members have failed to reveal a birth date.

But even in Year One of varsity status, the team still has a few problems.

No Money

"It doesn't mean any money," says senior Sarah Spence, one of the new team's three captains. "It's recognition and prestige, It's a drawing card to get people to our games and it means pool time."

Pool time has always been the main bone of contention between the men's team and the Athletic Department. The men want pome time so they don't have to practice after dinner, but so for they haven't been able to get it.

The new water polo team gets along well with women's swimming Coach Vicki Hays. "We're not only an alternative [to women's swimming], we're a complement." Spence says. "We have Vicki's blessings in the spring." She goes on to describe the team as composed of ex-college swimmers and high school swimmers who are trying a team sport for the first time.

First Time

The first season for the first-timers looks like it should be a successful one. The squad travelled to Providence to scrimmage Brown in the fall and came away with a win against New England's traditional water polo powerhouse.

The men have not been able to top the Bruins in more than ten years, giving us reason to believe that success will come quickly to Harvard's newest varsity team.