Steven Kan's Sport's Page

Blood, Sweat & Chlorine: Water Polo

I'd rather play water polo than do just about anything else. To learn more about this fascinating sport, or to find other water polo links, click on one of the balls.

How did I get involved in water polo? No pun intended, but I sort of fell into it.

I'm the son of a very energetic, athletic dude, and when it came time for me to go to high school, he strongly encouraged me to play a sport. For me, that was a tall order. Although I was six feet tall by the time I turned 14, my brain stem and everything attached to it insisted that I was only 5' 6. Gerald Ford had it good. His only limitation was walking and chewing gum. I couldn't walk and do anything without tripping over myself. My brief encounter with AYSO was a complete disaster, and I was always among the last picked for teams on the playground.

With this sort of background, I sure as hell wasn't going to pick a sport where I could fall down a lot. Hence, water polo. As I signed up, I thought to myself, I used to be on the swim team. Water polo should be easy. As we all know, right and wrong is not a binary distinction. There's wrong, and then there's WRONG.

For those who have never played, water polo is without a doubt the most exhausting physical activity man ever created. Training activities include treading water with a Sparklett's bottle on one's head (that's 40 pounds), climbing the football stadium bleachers with a teammate on one's back (that's 175 pounds), and performing lung-busters, where one attempts to swim 50 or more meters underwater without passing out. Thanks to Bob Zero Zirovich for proving that the conscious mind can indeed over-ride the breathing reflex. Thanks to God someone on the team knew CPR.

How to Build a Water Polo Goal.

Shameless Self Promotion

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Volleyball!

Unfortunately for me, water polo requires a swimming pool, a ball, water polo goals, and at least 10 people before it's any fun at all.

Fortunately, volleyball requires a net, a ball, and no more than 4 people. I discovered volleyball when I got to Stanford, and I must say that it's rapidly becoming one of my favorite activities. Click on one of the volleyballs above to get to Volleyball Worldwide, a gateway to anything and everything about pro and amateur, men's and women's volleyball.

Coming soon to this page: a link to the Stanford GSB Volleyball Club's home page. I've been volunteered to be the webmaster for this site (and yes, the deponent verb is intentional), so y'all come back, ya hear?

Feedback? Additions? Want to hire me? Mail me @ steven@kan.org

Last updated: 5/19/96

Revision 2.0

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