When you are retired, you have time to reminiscence. The local games that were postponed reminded me of going to Lucyna and Tad's games at St. Viator High School. Tad was on the tennis team. (MVP his sophomore year.) Lucyna had a spot on the water polo team. On the day she came home and said that she was on the team, I asked her how they got the ponies in and out of the pool. I had never heard of water polo. There are no ponies involved I found out. There are six players and 1 goalie on one team played in a swimming pool. It is a cross between soccer and ice hockey. Yes, it is rough. There are four quarters of 7 minutes each. Doesn't sound like much except that the players are in water over their heads and tread water THE ENTIRE TIME while passing the ball to one another to get it in the net. Then when one team scores or the other team gets the ball, all 12 players swim as fast as they can to get to the other end of the pool and the other net. Since the referee is on the sidelines and not in the water, there are many fouls not called - like when 1 player wraps her legs around an opposing player and pulls her under.
On Tuesdays they both had games. So I would watch Tad play tennis - a polite sport - where everyone claps when anyone makes a good play and says in a normal voice "good shot." If a player makes a very poor shot, that player uses body language to the opposing player apologizing for the poor shot. Then I would jump in the car and drive to the pool. It is now time to re-read my description of water polo. Parents including myself would stand on the bleachers and yell for our team and against the other team. It was raucous.
Thank goodness I never mixed up where I was. Watching my children play on sports in high school is a very fond memory.
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