Water Polo: Dixon Duo in National Junior Olympics This Weekend

Given the choice between any sport in Dixon, two juniors would be hard pressed to leave the pool.

Rams’ water polo co-captains Alex LaBass and Bryan Poole made the choice to dive into the aquatic juggernaut their freshman year, when Dixon High water polo coach Kraig Katzenmeyer initially introduced the sport to the high school.

“I started football, and then I was just like, 'I’m going to try water polo,'” LaBass said. “And then I was like 'I’m done with football,'” Water polo is so much more fun.”

With the team having just been created in the last few years, Katzenmeyer said that both LaBass and Poole have been there since the start.

“Alex and Bryan are both athletes that have been with me from the beginning,” he wrote in an e-mail. “Due to the fact that this is a new team, they have played at the varsity level from day one as freshmen. They have always worked hard to perform at this level and have been a great example to the other players on the team.”

LaBass didn’t know about the sport until he was introduced to it at school.

“Its kind of like a mix of everything that I’ve done,” he said. “I used to play a bunch of different sports.”

Poole was introduced to competitive swimming in eighth grade, but like LaBass, didn’t play water polo until his freshman year. The duo has essentially played side-by-side the last two seasons.

Katzenmeyer believes both athletes can go far with their individual skills.

“I also believe that if they choose to play in college or at a higher level, that they both have the ability, and more importantly, the drive to do that,” he said.

The pair looks to use the familiarity of playing with one another into the 2011 National Junior Olympics in Orange County this weekend.

This will be Poole’s second trip to the Junior Olympics and LaBass’ first, as the pair will be playing with the Davis Water Polo Club’s under-16 squad. Poole was with the under-16 team last year.

“It was a big experience because we played the top 49 teams in the nation,” said Poole of last year’s trip. “And we got our butts whooped a lot of the time. But the competition was good because it helped us learned more.”

LaBass is looking to gain experience more than anything this weekend.

“It’s going to be intense,” he said. “It’s going to be a lot of good competition…This is really what’s going to get our high school team get better.”

Poole is looking not to be intimidated even if the competition appears tough.

“Even though people are a lot bigger than you and pretty much a lot stronger and everything, you can still kick butt in it,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter. Just keep on your game.”

In Saturday's action, the Davis U-16 team, playing in the 16 Male Challenge, defeated Modesto 13-0 and Pacific Polo 11-4.

For updates on Alex and Bryan, check out the Junior Olympics' results website.

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