Water Polo Makes a Splash at Niles West

Eric Himmler wasn’t sure about water polo. He swam for Niles West High School in the winter, but couldn’t commit to the school’s newest sport, one he had never played before. He tried out for baseball instead.

But after he didn’t make the cut, Himmler knew exactly where he was going.

“I walked right in with my baseball bat and glove and said, ‘Coach [John Przekota], I’m joining the team,' ” said Himmler, a sophomore. “Now it’s probably the most fun part of high school.”

Himmler’s story isn’t unique. In only its second year of existence – and first at the varsity level – Niles West’s water polo team is littered with athletes who had no previous experience in the sport. Many of the school's swimmers have made the transition to the “other” water sport, but it has been anything but easy.

“They are two totally different sports--swimming and water polo,” said Ryan Miller, a junior who is one of the varsity team captains. “Water polo you have to work as a team, unlike swimming where it’s so individual. It’s a new experience.”

A family game

Przekota lives water polo as the team coach. Just by talking to him, you get the sense that it’s his passion.

But his background reveals more. Przekota was an all-state player at St. Patrick’s High School and went on to play in college. He coached at his high school alma mater before he took the job at Niles West.

Water polo runs in the Przekota family. Four of his five brothers were all-state selections in high school. So when he needed another coach, Przekota didn’t have to look far, picking his brother Joe, who had just graduated from Iona College, to coach the freshman-sophomore team.

“It’s great to have somebody who understands where I’m coming from and also brings more to the table than I could bring,” said Przekota, who coached Joe while at St. Patrick’s.

The Przekota coaching tree even extends beyond Niles West. Peter, another brother, completed his first year as the head coach at Maine East.

Start of the sport

Before Niles West committed to a varsity water polo team, it did a one-year trial at the club level in 2010. The team practiced three or four times a week and played 10-12 games.

The goals John Przekota had for his athletes were gaining exposure to the sport and learning the basics. To start their first practice, he literally showed the team a water polo ball. The games would get the team–especially the swimmers--accustomed to water polo’s physicality.

“The first couple games of the year you’d literally have guys in the water looking at us like, 'Oh god, what should I do? This guy’s mauling me,’ ” the coach recalled. “They’re so not used to the contact.”

Przekota doesn’t care about regular-season results. He couldn’t even recall his team’s record when asked after a recent practice. All he wants is progress and improvement.

“I care about ‘Are we getting better?’ ” Przekota said. “And the answer’s yes.”

Early in the season, a lot of the varsity team members were still struggling. They weren’t grasping the flow of the game and the team aspect of water polo. So after a 9-7 loss to Foreman High School in late March–one that Przekota says his team probably should have won–the varsity organized a meeting and conducted team-building activities.

Since then, Przekota has noticed an improvement at practices. More people are talking, in the pool and from the bench. That wasn’t happening in the first third of the season.

It’s shown up in matches as well. In early March, Niles West lost to Maine South, 16-1. In their last two matchups, the Wolves played close contests against their Central Suburban League (CSL) South rival, losing by 3 and 4 goals, respectively.

in the first round of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Northbrook Sectional, but fell to No. 1 seed New Trier in the quarterfinals, ending their inaugural varsity season with a 6-19 record.

“We can see ourselves improving,” senior Elliott Kerbel said. “A lot of it is getting to know the game and knowing what’s going on. There’s a lot of general inexperience with everybody.”

Developing a swagger

After coaching at St. Patrick’s, a perennial state powerhouse, Przekota knows establishing water polo as part of the sports culture at Niles West won’t happen overnight.

He’s starting a grammar school camp this summer that will hopefully continue into the fall. The high school team will compete in a summer league and try to set up scrimmages with other teams in the area. And there’s a tentative plan to take the Wolves squad to see college water polo matches over Labor Day weekend.

The process still goes beyond what Przekota can do as a coach and an unofficial ambassador of the sport. Thankfully, he says, the program has the support of the administration and other coaches.

“[Niles West swim coach Dan Vander Jeugdt] has been pushing these kids just as hard as we have to get them out for water polo,” Przekota said. “To have 50 kids for your first year as a varsity team is unheard of. That’s a lot of what he’s doing in the building and what our kids are doing talking up the sport.”

Przekota exhibits little doubt that water polo will be successful at Niles West. But more importantly, he’s got his team believing the same thing.

"People are slowly discovering that we have a water polo team,” Kerbel said. “They’re interested even though they’ve never played before, asking us how we play. Our team is going to be huge in a couple of years.”