It was like getting a lesson from Michael Jordan for Basketball, or Yo-Yo Ma for the cello, some of the world's best coming and tutoring us.

Wolf Wigo- USA Olympic Water Polo Team Captain
Wolf is a really nice guy. He was the one who was in the pool with us most of the time looking at our form and correcting us (nicely) when we do wrong. I must say it is definitely an honor to meet one of the top water polo players in the world. And he really is that good.

Genai Kerr- USA Olympic Water Polo Starting Goalkeeper
This guy is like a kid! He's funny, and damn is he good at goal keeping. He towered over us short asian dudes at 6 feet 8 inches tall. His arms are so long that they could probably block 80-90% of the shots we threw at him, but he was playful, and sometimes covered his eyes with one arm and only tried to block us with one hand. Did I mention that he was tall?

Bradley Schumacher- USA Olympic Water Polo Starting 2 meter set
He patroled us outside of the pool and gave us directions if the guys in the pool couldn't. Quite a witty guy. 4 year All-American in water Polo and has won 2 Olympic Gold Medals!

At the end, they showed us some of their medal collection. First they passed out their Pan-America gold medal. Then the Olympic Ring. Boy that ring was beautiful. It was made of white gold and has a circle of small diamonds and it says water polo along the side. Really is a nice piece. Then the big daddy of them all, their 1996 Olympic Gold Medal. Wow. It was amazing that I actually got to touch and even see an Olympic medal, that I was touching the pinnacle of athletic achievements. How many times in your lifetime do you get to meet someone with a gold medal in the sport you play? Not many.

Even though I was out of shape, slow, and tired by the end, today was an extremely rewarding day. Not only did I get some refreshments on the basics of the game, I got some technical tutoring on my position, and got to meet 3 Olympians in the process. You don't get this chance very often if not ever in a small town like mine. I thoroughly enjoyed this experience.

 

:thmbup: George

BTW, what's white gold? Do you mean platinum?

 

White gold is gold but a whiter color. It's still yellowish, but the real white ones are rodium plated. I BELIEVE, correct me if I am wrong, that white gold has more whiter colored metal composition as opposed to regular gold which I believe has more yellowish metal such as copper.

Again, correct me if I am wrong if anyone knows more.

 

pretty sweet being able to meet them. There are like 6 guys on the National Team that graduated from UCI . Where did this little event take place? Just for your team only?

Jason

PS - Should've gotten a Mikasa ball signed not a Baiden

 

dunno, they said white gold so i believed them.

 

it was for our club team (mid-valley) . it was pretty sweet.

hahaha yes we were joking about how many people graduated from UCI that were on the team today.

it was supposed to be at the Temple City HS pool, but then our pool broke down so we had to move to Arcadia HS's pool.

yeah, I should have. wolf and brad told me the same thing. so i asked my mom for 20 bucks and got a Mikasa Far'go dry land ball (they didn't tell us that they were going to have a full merchandise corner, i should have known because they ran out of W6000 balls right before I got the money to buy it). but i forgot to get it signed. oh well. it's a cool ball to play with on land.

 

Sounds very cool. Now are you going to get your own medal seriously, you've met people who've done it, so you know its possible. I doubt those guys started out that good. (well, 6'8" is kind of an advantage )


White gold- formerly made of an alloy consisting of gold, silver, and/or palladium (from the platinum family)-is now also alloyed with nickel, copper, and zinc to produce more ideal melting characteristics. White Gold is primarily 75% gold. Sometimes, white gold is plated with rhodium to give it a platinum look, and titanium-like durability. The rhodium layer is very thin, and wears off, so on a piece of jewelry like a ring or a watch, it is recommended to replate the rhodium every year or so.


Thanks, google