The Kroc CDA Water Polo Club Offers Opportunities for Players of All Ages
The Kroc CDA Water Polo Club offers opportunities for players of all ages to both learn and improve water polo skills. Water polo classes were started soon after The Kroc Center opened in 2009. In 2012, Coach Mark Collingham worked with The Kroc to offer water polo to local high school students. The program has grown over the years and now offers programs for Junior players (ages 7–10), a Development team (ages 11–13) and the High School team. The program also offers opportunities for masters players. Due to the excellent pool area ventilation and many other safety measures taken by the club and facility, the club was able to provide opportunities for our students to safely practice over the last year. Our high school team has been very successful over the years, winning the Idaho State Water Polo Championship for seven years in a row.
Membership in the program continues to increase and the club now has approximately 75 students participating. In addition to playing other Idaho high schools, the high school group also plays against clubs in other states as well as local universities. Coach Mark Collingham noted that while the high school team can’t match up in size, they often have as much experience and speed and are competitive with many local college teams. The club has a number of excellent coaches with extensive water polo backgrounds, including Brady Hooper, Doug Keese, Katelyn Smith, and Mike Rieben, all of whom have 20 years or more of water polo playing and coaching experience.
Many of our high school players go on to play at the college level, with former players joining teams at UI, UW, TCU, BYU, ASU, Chapman and players recruited to play at Div. II schools Fresno Pacific and Sierra College.
The program has been beneficial for both its players and The Salvation Army Kroc Center. The Kroc offers many of its resources to help support and grow the team, from use of its transportation vehicles, pool time, and other training facilities and assistance with the club’s fundraising activities. The club works with The Kroc to keep costs low so that the program can offer opportunities for all local students to participate. In return, the club helps support The Kroc facility by participating in activities such as collecting donations for The Salvation Army’s Red Kettles drive and increasing interest in Kroc family memberships. The club is looking forward to even more success for its players in the years to come!
