Ellendale Country Club hosting water polo program

Does your child find swimming dull? If so, here is a twist he or she might enjoy.

Ellendale Country Club is hosting a new summer league water polo program this season. Registration fee is $60 per player and will be accepted until May 20.

Water polo training started yesterday. The games will be played June 3 thru July 15.

“The best way to describe is it’s like soccer, except you play with your hands and in the water, said Frank Shepard, Ellendale aquatic director, U.S.A. Water Polo coach, and coach of the Bayou Barracudas Swim Team.

Players will be grouped by age: 8 & under, 10 & under, 12 & under, 14 & under and Open group for older teens and experienced players.

“Our goal is to get about 100 kids to start with,” said Shepard, 67. “Once they get into it, I’m sure it’ll grow from there.”

Participants do not have be advanced swimmers to join the program, but they must be able to handle deep-water swimming because the game is played entirely in the deep end.

The older age groups will play on a 33-and-a-third by 20 feet wide course. The younger kids will likely play 20 feet by 20 feet.

The coaches will be the older kids who have been playing for years. Coaches draft teams in each age group.

‘Once everybody gets signed up, we’ll be teaching them the skills, and we’ll grade on what their skills are,” said Shepard.” We’ll place their name on a board and the coaches will have some idea of what players they’re drafting.

For those unfamiliar with the sport, here are some of the basic rules:

* Teams have seven players: six field players and a goalie.

* Field players can only touch the ball with one hand.

* Players can’t touch the bottom or sides of the pool.

* Once a player dribbles the ball (swimming while pushing the ball in front), he can be tackled as long as the defender is playing the ball and not the head of the swimmer.

* To score the ball must completely pass between the goal posts and underneath the crossbar.

* The game is played in four seven-minute quarters.

Shepard has had the Barracudas playing water polo for five years. They use to train at the pool on Imperial Drive until the property sold last August. Ellendale has welcomed them with open arms.

Since he began, Shepard, a swimmer-coach since high school and college, has developed six players that have competed in national tournaments and competition.

The Barracudas are the only team in Louisiana that play water polo, so they far and wide to hone their skills.

“Every year we take our kids to water polo camp in Annapolis, Maryland, said Shepard. “They’ll go through a week of learning the basics, and they draft teams and have a tournament. The kids have a really fun time and learn a lot.”

The Barracudas play in U.S.A Water Polo National Junior Olympic Southwest Zone with teams from Texas.

“That’s why we’re starting the summer league program, to develop it locally and put together an all-star teams in the different age groups to travel and play,” said Shepard.

He also hopes to starts a winter program when the next school year starts.

For now, getting kids into the summer program is key to sustaining a budding growth in the game.

For more information on the water polo program, call 985-876-4397.

Participants in the upcoming water polo summer league practice at the Ellendale Country Club pool. * Photo by KEYON JEFF