Zimmerman Surprises First, Then Excels

Sophomore Michael Zimmerman has always known he is a good water polo player, but everyone else seemed skeptical.

Zimmerman has found success at every level of the game to this point, but it took him until now to get any national recognition.

The American Water Polo Coaches Association released the Division-I All-American selections for the 1996 season, and Zimmerman's name is on it as honorable mention. It was the first time in the history of Harvard's water polo program that one of its players has received this high a level of acclaim.

"It was quite thrilling," Zimmerman remembers of learning about the award. "It is really a great feeling when the coaches around the country recognize you."

Zimmerman has always found success in the pool. At St. Louis University Higher School he led his team to a 65-game winning streak and three consecutive state championships, earning all-state nominations in each year. When the question of college arose, Zimmerman shied away from the big-name water polo schools, deciding instead to attend Harvard, following his brother, Jeff, who graduated in 1994. While the polo program "played a role" in the choice, it was the university as a whole that eventually tipped the scales. "When I visited the campus, it was hard not to love it."

Even though his personal success continued during his freshman year, the team did not win as much as Zimmerman's high school team. The jump to college proved to be perhaps more than he expected.

"It was definitely hard to get used to at first. It is an adjustment in the sense of playing a competitive game every time you step into the water."

Zimmerman, though, was not completely foreign to the level of play in college. Throughout high school, he played on a club team-- Daisy--in a summer program which completed against the top summer teams around the country.

As he played against the best players on both coasts, Zimmerman found it difficult to gain the respect his play merited. Traditionally, the best water polo players are found in California and on the West coast. In fact, all of this year's first and second Team all-Americans are from Californian universities. Consequently, upon hearing that Zimmerman was from the Midwest, many water polo experts refused to believe he could play with the best.

"When people find out where you're from, they think you're going to be a bad player. When they see me play, it's hard for them to believe I'm from St.Louis."

Now playing at the collegiate level, Zimmerman has discovered the competition is raised a notch. Like it was during the summer, when he played against the best polo programs, Zimmerman must play exceptionally night in and night out for Harvard to win.

However, his teammates are not the only ones who know this. The opposing teams are well aware of Zimmerman's importance and constantly throw double teams at him, making him the focus of their defensive effort. Zimmerman has responded well, even with this increased intensity on him.

"Every big game we play in, [the other team] drops on--in effect double teaming--me. That puts the game into the hands of the other members of my team. It's up to them to step it up. When they raise their game, it opens up things for me. The team did a pretty good job this year of doing that."

Judging from his stats this past season, Zimmerman might have understated just how good a job his team did at opening things up for him. Zimmerman scored a Harvard record 101 goals and had team highs for assists (21) and steals (26). By reaching triple digits in scoring, Zimmerman broke his brother's old record (99) for most goals in a season. Besides being recognized as Harvard's MVP, Zimmerman also was named to the First Team all-EWPA and received the Ivy League Player of the Year award (sharing it with Kevin O'Sullivan from Brown).

Despite Zimmerman's stellar year, the team's overall season was a not a success. They finished with a 15-8 record and were knocked out of the Eastern Championships by rival Brown.

"It was a huge disappointment, tremendous. We were matched against Brown, and lost. Also we were hosting Easterns this year. Basically we ended up having to work the games without playing in them. It was awful."

In the upcoming season, Zimmerman believes the outcome will be quite different than last year's campaign.

"I am very, very optimistic. It somewhat depends on our recruiting. We're only losing two seniors, so we have, right now, many guys who can do good jobs. My main goals for next year are to beat our rival Brown, to win the Ivy League, and to play well at Easterns."

If Zimmerman has another all-American year, who knows what goals Harvard water polo can achieve.