FAST Water Polo splits six games in New Mexico, third in tournament

The Fallbrook Associated Swim Team (FAST) Water Polo Club’s 14-and-under team traveled to New Mexico for six games March 31-April 3, including four games in the Albuquerque Water Polo Swim Club Third Annual Invitational tournament at which they finished third.

The FAST squad split the four tournament games while splitting the six overall games in New Mexico. “They accomplished everything I would have wanted them to accomplish,” said coach Jeremy Piasecki.

The Albuquerque Water Polo and Swim Club, which hosted the tournament at the University of New Mexico, did not play the FAST club in the tournament but played the Fallbrook team in a non-tournament game the day before the tournament began. The FAST squad arrived in Albuquerque about 6:30 p.m. the evening of March 31 and began practice about 7:30 p.m. before the game against the Albuquerque club. The FAST squad earned a 13-7 victory in that non-tournament game.

FAST’s first tournament game took place April 1 against the Bayou Barracudas, who are based in Houma, LA. FAST began the tournament with an 11-9 win.

The FAST squad is a co-ed squad; three of the nine players who made the trip are girls including the two youngest players on the team, who are 11 and 12 years old. The co-ed team played some of its matches against all-boys teams, and the other non-tournament match was played April 2 against the 18-and-under Los Alamos boys team at the pool in Los Alamos, which at approximately 7,500 feet above sea level is the highest swimming pool in the world.

The only game outside of Albuquerque resulted in a 12-8 loss for FAST, although the visiting squad was only down by one goal entering the fourth quarter. “Between the altitude and the long drive it was a difficult game for us, but the kids played very well,” Piasecki said. “At the time we thought it was going to be the highlight of our tournament.”

The FAST team, whose members have been together for less than ten months, knew that it would be the underdog in the tournament. The Fallbrook squad lost both tournament games April 2. The first of those games was a 16-9 loss to an all-boys team from Kearns, UT.

“The other team played a hard game,” Piasecki said of the loss to the Utah club. “They just outplayed us.”

The team’s third loss of April 2 and second tournament loss came against the Buccaneers of Dirty Bay, a squad based in Baytown, TX. The Texans prevailed by a 16-11 score. “They were a very good team,” Piasecki said of his club’s Texas opponent.

The game was also the FAST club’s third of the day. “We were pretty tired that day,” Piasecki said.

The Fallbrook team’s final game of the tournament and the trip was the third-place game against the Northern San Diego Stars from Vista. “We went all the way to New Mexico to play them,” Piasecki said.

The Stars were at a personnel advantage. Water polo teams consist of seven players, and with one of the FAST families not being able to obtain a later flight back to California the Fallbrook club played with eight players April 3, giving them only a single substitute at any time. The Vista team had 17 players.

“Every time a goal was scored they would send in a whole new fresh team,” Piasecki noted of the Vista club.

The lack of depth didn’t hamper the FAST club, as they defeated the Stars in a 19-6 match. “Our kids were so determined that day,” Piasecki said. “They were determined to play the best game they could.”

The game against the Stars replaced the game against Los Alamos as the best game of the trip. “They applied everything that we worked on in practice; they communicated with each other,” Piasecki said. “I didn’t have to do a lot of directing while they were playing.”

The win against the Vista team gave FAST a 2-2 record for the tournament and a 3-3 record for the trip. “It was just a very exciting trip for all the kids and myself,” Piasecki said. “They just came together as a team.”