S. Florida High School Water Polo Players To Compete In Hungary

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Tyler Lopez would like to see South Broward High School win a boys' state water polo title before he graduates in two years.

Lopez will be a junior and his younger brother, Andrew, will start his freshman year at South Broward in the fall.

While the 2017 high school season doesn't start until February, the brothers along with several other top South Florida high school players are honing their skills as members of the South Florida Water Polo Club, coached by St. Thomas Aquinas coach Michael Goldenberg since 2005.

Goldenberg will take 14 high school water polo players, ages 14-17, to Hungary, a longtime international water polo powerhouse. The players will train and compete for eleven days at the Ferencvaros Torna Club (FTC) in Budapest, June 28-July 10, two days after competing in the Sunshine State Games.

A week after they return from Hungary, they will head to northern California on July 17th for the Junior Olympics to compete in the 16-and-under and 18-and-under age group divisions.

Joining the Lopez brothers are six St. Thomas Aquinas players: Parker Strickman, Robert Schulte, Andrew Yurchak, Dane Coniglio, Jacob Harkins and Victor Faynberg; Adam Warters of Westminster Academy, Cody Jones of Piper, Laurens Vangent of Cypress Bay and Levente Varga of Boca Raton.

"It's extremely important for every player to play year-round," Goldenberg said. "How good could you be doing something for three months out of the year?"

"Hopefully, they will carry this into high school. After that, hopefully some of them will play in college," Goldenberg added.

Hungary is considered the world's top power in the history of the sport, having won 15 Olympic, 10 World Championships, five FINA World League, eight FINA World Cup and 21 European Championship medals. The Hungary Water Polo Association starts its players at an early age and has clubs like FTC throughout the country.

"Not only will we play their players but practice with them," Goldenberg said. "It is a worldwide famous school. They create incredible players."

The South Florida players will train five to six hours a day with two pool practices and have dryland training in addition to squeezing in sightseeing tours to learn about the culture which water polo is a big part of. At the airport and on city buses, Hungarian national team players are pictured as a lead-up to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

"It will be a lifetime experience for our players," Goldenberg said. "It's a life lesson as well, something they will remember for the rest of their lives. They will learn to live on their own. They will have to do their own laundry. They need to experience all of it. They will be very tired, very sore and very hungry. They will not have a refrigerator like they have at home where they can open and grab whatever they want."

The Lopez brothers are looking forward to the experience. Tyler Lopez, an outstanding pitcher and catcher whose father Tony coaches Davie Recreation baseball, gave up baseball two years ago to devote full time to water polo. He can play every position except goalie. Lopez has already competed in two Junior Olympics.

"I'm pretty excited," Lopez said. "Those players are very tough and aggressive. They don't give up playing until the last second of the game. I think it's going to help me improve a lot for high school playing against kids my own age. It will show me what I am up against in college and hopefully, the Olympics one day."

Lopez, 16, is coming off an outstanding high school season where the Bulldogs finished 14-5, losing to eventual state runner-up St. Thomas Aquinas, 15-9, in the district tournament. The 5-foot-11 utility was among Bullldog players that broke a Guinness Book of World Records for longest scrimmage. He doesn't regret leaving a mainstream sport for water polo.

"A friend asked me to come out and try it. I thought it was volleyball in the water. It was great. You can be aggressive without getting into trouble. I knew I was going to play it full-time."

Andrew Lopez, 14, also a pitcher, has followed in his brother's footsteps. After finishing up the recent baseball playoffs, he has also decided to devote full-time to water polo and give up baseball.

"My brother played both sports and it was difficult so he stuck with water polo," Andrew said. "I was torn but I decided I want to play only water polo, too. I met some of the Hungarian players when they came over here to play in the International Tournament. They train and work so hard. Just the experience of going over there and practicing against great players is going to help me get better. I'm already getting excited about high school. I think it's going to be great playing with my brother. It would be nice to win a state title before I graduate."