High School Boys’ Water Polo Team Qualifies for Regionals for the First Time

The combined water polo team of East Lansing and Holt High Schools (HOTEL) has qualified for Michigan Water Polo Association’s Regional tournament for the first time ever. Regionals will be held October 30 and October 31 at Saline High School. HOTEL faces Ann Arbor Pioneer, the number-four ranked team in the state, at 7:45 p.m. on Friday. If HOTEL wins the game on Friday, they will qualify for a spot at the MWPA state tournament for the first time in the co-op’s history.

“This year’s boys’ polo team has been a joy to coach,” said Head Coach Ronald Marsh. Marsh has coached water polo and swimming for 38 years in Florida, California, Indiana and Michigan. This is his sixth year coaching aquatics in East Lansing. “The team has been prepared every day to meet our practice goals. They’ve pushed each other to be better and that has led us to our best record overall in team history.” HOTEL’s record stands at 24 wins and ten losses headed into the regional tournament.

“We are definitely the underdogs in this game,” Marsh said. “I can tell that no one thinks we have a chance to win this.”

Water polo is a grueling contact sport, where players swim and tread water constantly, never touching the bottom of the pool, while trying to score goals and defend their own goal. The sport in Michigan is unique as it is one of the few high school sports not recognized by the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) and is instead administered by the Michigan Water Polo Association, even though according to collegiatewaterpolo.com, it was the first team sport to be added to the modern-day Olympics. Some coaches feel this lack of recognition by the state high school athletic association hurts participation. This has made the long-standing co-op between Holt and East Lansing necessary.

“We are stronger together right now,” Marsh said. “Our goal is for both schools to have our own teams someday but right now with boys from East Lansing and boys from Holt, we are able to have a full JV and a full varsity team, which neither of us would be able to do on our own.” HOTEL’s roster includes 13 boys from East Lansing, five boys from Holt and one player from Dewitt, since Dewitt also has no polo team of its own.

HOTEL is currently ranked number 14 in Michigan, which makes playing the number-four team in the state a daunting prospect. “But this team has great chemistry and they trust each other. I know they will go out and play the best game they can, and at the end of the day, that’s what counts,” Marsh said.

Disclosure: Telaina Eriksen’s sophomore son is the Varsity goalkeeper for the HOTEL team.