GREENWICH, Conn. More members from the YMCA of Greenwich Aquatics Team were named to the USA National Water Polo Selection Training Teams than any other club at an event in Florida.
These players have been working very hard over the last few years to make it this far and it is quite an honor, Ulmis Lordache, the Greenwich Aquatics head coach, said in a statement.
A total of 40 team members traveled to Florida last weekend to compete for several Northeast zone teams. The championship included the top 600 players from every state except California. Each athlete was vying for spots on various USA Water Polo National Teams; 10 percent were selected. Ten members of the YMCA of Greenwich team were among those chosen.
We were hopeful of a good result since our club, with 40 athletes attending, had more athletes qualifying for various Northeast zone teams than anyone else. But to have 10 of our athletes be further selected for National Team Training is unbelievable, said Lordache.
The 10 selected players are: James Baker of the 12 under boys team; Thomas Dunstan of the 10th grade boys team; Hollis Jomo of the 10th grade girls team; Paige Neary of the 10th grade girls team; Charlie Owens of the 8th grade boys team; Charlie Pang of the 8th grade boys team; Quinn Scannell of the 8th grade girls team; Daniela Screnci of the 12th grade girls team; Emma Soderquist of the 10th grade girls team; and Borden Wahl of the 8th grade girls team.
Baker, Dunstan, Neary, Owens, Pang, Scannell and Soderquist also made All-Tournament Teams for their various age groups. Additionally, Owens was named Most Valuable Defense Player, and Pang was selected as Most Valuable Goalie.
The athletes will be heading to Southern California from May 25 to 28 to make it one step closer to the official Youth, Cadet and Developmental USA National Teams.
My ultimate goal is to make the USA Cadet National Team and represent our country at the Cadet World Championships in Serbia this August. And then there are the Olympics in 2016 and 2020, said Dunstan, who was named the Most Valuable Player at the event.
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