On Deck with Kevin Van Such, Maverick Water Polo Boys’ and Girls’ Coach

WCAC Maverick Water Polo, based out of Wissahickon High School on Philadelphia’s Main Line, is among a handful of a Pennsylvania-based squads that enjoys regional success in both American Water Polo (AWP) and USA Water Polo Northeast Zone tournament play.

The club is overseen by Kevin Van Such, who also happens to be head polo coach and assistant swim coach at The Haverford School, a prestigious, all boys private school just outside of Philadelphia. Over his now seven-year tenure with the club, Van Such can point to players like Matej Sekulic, who played for him at both Maverick and Haverford and is now a sophomore at Princeton on Dustin Litvak’s roster.

At last weekend’s National State Challenge, organized by AWP, Maverick took gold in the 14U mixed bracket, capturing a thrilling 23-21 win over Brooklyn. Prior to that match, Van Such spoke about his 18U boys, who will travel to Dallas in two weeks for the 2021 USAWP Junior Olympics, the challenges of growing polo in the Northeast, and how there’s a need for competition so that young Pennsylvania polo athletes can develop their skills.

[At National State Challenge In Pennsylvania, Host North Penn Comes Out on Top]

- Your 18U teams is going to JOs in Dallas. How exciting is that after a year of relative inactivity?

We’re excited. The boys are really pumped! Things are beginning to open up, and USA Water Polo is able to host these events and put this [tournament] on. Our kids are excited about it and ready to go and compete.

- Do your parents have any trepidation about getting out of PA for tournament play?

You kidding me? They want to go! They want their kids to play and compete. They’ve missed out on a year of competition, so it’s an extra push to do these tournaments and make everything happen, but at the end of the day the kids want to play.

Everyone’s been locked down and get a little stir crazy—I think everyone’s ready to get back to doing what we love.

- I imagine in California there’s a host of tournaments just like this year’s NSC; tune-up events a few weeks before the JOs that helps everyone maintain their fitness before the year’s biggest polo event.

I’m not too familiar with what they do there but they play every weekend. When you’re getting ready for a big tournament you want to play more tournaments leading up to it. That’s how you get your conditioning, fitness and work out the kinks with your team.

Any opportunity we have to play we’re looking to compete and prepare for JOs in Dallas.

- There’s all these teams in the NEZ that could be here at North Penn—preparing for JOs—and they’re not.

I know there’s some other tournaments going on [this] weekend; people are choosing different opportunities. Whatever works for them and their schedule.

What’s nice for us is we’re close to home. It makes it easier, we can sleep in your own beds.

- Which is my point; Y Pro [based in Brooklyn] has a strong 14U entry that would have been a great addition to this tournament. Instead, they sent their 12U team to play up; their 14U team stayed home.

Every club does what they think is best for their team. I’m only focused on what we’re doing with our club. Like I said, we have competition in our backyard; other clubs will do what’s best for them.

- Does it make sense that growth in club play in the Northeast will come from Pennsylvania if USAWP makes the investment?

There’s a lot of great facilities right in this area where we are. There are lot of schools that have teams and [water polo] is definitely growing in this area.

Those decision are above my pay grade. Anything we can do to offer opportunities for other clubs to come and play, we’re interested in competing.

We can communicate between the clubs and see what we can figure out. Kids need to play and it’s our job to give them opportunities for that. However we can make that happen, awesome—and let’s keep doing it.

- In Pennsylvania there’s many age group clubs and high school teams—the perfect environment for polo to grow in the region. Yet it sometimes appears that the teams from outside of PA are not always so eager to come here and play.

Constant, continued communication between the different clubs, seeing what we can do and how we can work things out. This whole past year has been difficult anyway, and things have only started to open up the past couple of months.

We make the most of our situation and look to see what we can control and how we want to approach weekends and tournaments with our club.

- You’re on the Olympic Development Program coaching staff for clinics in the NEZ. Who else from Pennsylvania is on the ODP staff?

Jim [Staresinic] is out in Pittsburgh and Steve Barone is on the girls’ side. He’s out in Cumberland Valley. There’s a couple of coaches just outside of PA; it’s not centralized. We’re kind of spread out.

Again, it’s getting kids opportunities to play, and anything I can do to help—that’s how we grow the sport.

- Greenwich has announced that they’ll support a 12U / 14U age group tournament in the fall, but there’s currently no 16U / 18U play available for the zone. Is it feasible for a North Penn or an Upper Dublin or a Haverford to play high school matches on Saturday and host club play on Sundays?

The high school season is the main focus in the fall. Me personally, it’s good for the kids to have a day of rest. If we’re going to an all-day tournament on Saturday and one on Sunday and we do it every weekend… sure the kids are playing but they also have schools and academics they have to focus on. When are they going to do their homework?

Obviously we want our younger kids playing and getting any opportunity to get in the water, compete and have fun.