Shore Sends Five Polo Teams to Junior Olympics

Five Shore Aquatics water polo teams--dozens of youth from Belmont Shore, Naples and Long Beach--have won berths in the nation's top water polo championship next month in Irvine.

The Junior Olympic Water Polo Tournament is the largest and most competitive tournament in the United States for youth water polo. Shore Aquatics is a private organization with swimming and water polo teams, the latter of which practices at Wilson High, the Belmont and Los Alamitos base pools. 

In the water polo Olympics, each zone throughout the country competes to qualify for a limited amount of berths. Southern California has more zones and produces more teams than do most other zones, Shore members say.

Teams from Hawaii, Florida and the rest of the U.S. descend on the Olympics, which are staged by different states but the past two have been hosted in Southern California. This year's competition is July 30 - August 2. 

Shore Aquatics, led by the adult children of the late local Wilson High aquatics coach Klaus Barth, is one of a few local private teams that are known to perform well in what is an extremely competitive local market. Even now, years after Barth's death from cancer, you will see tribute t-shirts and bumper stickers that say, simply, Live Like Klaus. Shore participates in the extremely competitive California Coastal Zone, which includes of teams from Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. 

Over the past couple weekends, said parent coordinator Autumn Harryman, whose son Garrett competes on the 12 and under team going to the Olympics, Shore Aquatics had the five teams qualifying for the big event: the co-ed 10 and under team coached by Nick Korsgaden, Dan Tyner and Rick Dilday; the 12 and under team coached by Scott Swanson and Joe Sherrin; the 14 and under team coached by John Foster; the 16 and under team coached by Scott Swanson, and the 18 and under team coached by Foster and Joe Bilish. Each team had to play against other clubs in their zone, and all five teams qualified.

"It's an extreme accomplishment for the premier water polo club in Long Beach," said Harryman, who's son Garrett is "excited" to be competing on the 12 and under team. "It's a huge tournament...put on by the U.S. Water Polo Assn. All the teams in America come. For youth water polo, its the biggest event in the country."

Shore Aquatics has a long tradition of developing and training Olympic hopefuls, and currently has alumni Chay Lapin, Tony Acevedo, Adam Wright, Ryan Bailey, Tim Hutton, Matt Sagehorn, Lauren Silver, and Lauren Wenger playing on the Men’s and Women’s National Teams.

Shore Aquatics water polo and swim teams compete year round, with the swim team gearing up for summer dual meets and competition against other local clubs.