As the school year begins and students settle into their classes, Dinuba High School’s water polo program has already started making waves and gearing up for a great season ahead. July 21st marked the beginning of their highly anticipated season, as the 2024 girls team left big shoes to fill, having had an outstanding 21-8 season that ended in the quarterfinals of the playoffs. The boys have much improved as they kept many key players and gained new, ready-to-learn athletes.
Their first game was against Madera on August 21, which ended in a 10-13 defeat for the girls and a 9-16 defeat for the boys. These losses were not setbacks but motivation as their games against Kerman on August 28 ended in victory with a 20-15 win on the girls’ side and a terrific 20-6 win on the boys ‘ side!
Coach Harold Wood of the girls’ water polo team expresses his satisfaction as well as his critiques on the Kerman game. “This game was pretty good. We … let some of the situation go to our head.” Here, he is referring to the score, as the team was up 19-9 in the 3rd quarter.
“We didn’t play as well as I was hoping,” Coach Noah Kiehn of the boys’ team explained. “The game against Kerman definitely went really well—better than I anticipated,” Kiehn added.
As for the Madera game, Wood explained, “I thought we played pretty good against Madera. Right at the end, there was a couple of big mistakes… but that was not anyone’s fault… just something some of the newer kids haven’t learned yet. It showed us what we needed to learn.” Kiehn expressed his dissatisfaction with the referee. “I think… had we had a better ref at Madera, the game would’ve been a lot closer… we could’ve potentially fought for a win…”
Regarding the rest of the season, Wood is hopeful for high standings in our league and wants to make an appearance in the playoffs. “I’m hoping we can challenge for the league title. We’ll see,” Coach Wood said. ‘That would be my goal. Obviously, I want to go to the playoffs again.”
As for Coach Kiehn, his goal for the team is improvement from last year. “Win at least two games this season instead of one,” he exclaimed jokingly. Both coaches are looking forward to teaching their teams and helping them improve step-by-step.
The captains of the boys’ team, Evan Meza and Luca Lichtenwaldt, say they are excited to see the team’s improvement this season. “The first two games, in my opinion, against Madera, that was a really good game to start our season, even though we did lose. Way better improvement from last year,” states Meza, who is one of the top scorers from the last two games. They both explain that the team has much to work on but is improving every day.
