Ten players, six locally, from Capital Water Polo recently were selected by the USA Water Polo Olympic Development Program (ODP) to play for the Northeast Zone (NEZ) team at the national-championship tournament in Chicago in mid-March.
This is the highest number of players Capital Water Polo has ever sent to nationals.
The tournament is the highest level competition in the Team USA development pipeline for youth players, and brings together all the zones throughout the United States.
There are three divisions for ODP, divided by birth year: Youth – 2006-2007; Cadet – 2008-2009; and Development – 2010, 2011, 2012.
Each zone team roster is limited to 13 players, so the local players are among the top youth water players from the whole NEZ, stretching from Virginia to Maine. The players were chosen from among Northeast club teams after a tournament in Dallas in January.
Chosen from McLean are Jack Singleton (development) and Thomas Singleton (cadet). From Arlington are Peter Madigan (development), Sam Reynolds (development), Kasper Parfomak (cadet) and Joseph Madigan (youth). Others from the metro area are Julian Turkeltaub (D.C., development) and Joan Prats (Chevy Chase, cadet), and chosen from areas farther away are Henry McDade (Philadelphia, cadet) and Benjamin McDade (Philadelphia, youth).
Miras Jelic in the team’s head coach. The team is based at the St. James facility in Springfield.
