During this past Riverside Brookfield High School boys swimming season, senior Avi Ponnappan volunteered to swim breaststroke for the first time.
“I had never given it much thought in the past because the spots were filled, but this year no one was swimming it, so I thought I would give it a shot. It went pretty well and I exceeded my goals and expectations.”
Ponnappan plans to bring that same effort and enthusiasm to an experienced and growing RBHS boys water polo team, which has seven returnees. Under new head coach Mike Laurich, the Bulldogs have 19 players in the program, enough to also compete on the lower levels. The Bulldogs will play an independent schedule with no Upstate Eight Conference for boys water polo.
“The last several years, we’ve almost struggled having a [varsity] team,” Laurich said. “The guys who have played the last couple of years, they’ve been doing a great job mentoring the new kids, watching them in practice. There’s a lot of talk between the kids. It almost makes it like another coach in the water. They’re very vocal and they’re excited to be here.”
Ponnappan and seniors Martynas Bieliauskas, Jack Adams and Julio Aranda, juniors Jake Kocourek and Henry Manning and sophomore Victor DiForti return from last year’s varsity roster. Junior Zachary Kowalski and sophomores Marcello George, Cristian Gonzalez, Emerson Lacey, Jacob Photiades and Zachary Soucie are program returnees.
“The team chemistry will be unmatched and create the perfect environment for success. Many of our players have known and played with each other for a long time,” Ponnappan said. “Our main goal this season is to have fun, while also improving our skills and winning games. We are in a rebuilding stage, so our main focus is passing on our knowledge to the underclassmen so they can be even better when they get older.”
Last season, the Bulldogs were 3-19 and lost to St. Rita 18-9 in the Lyons Township Sectional quarterfinals. While they graduated two-time all-sectional honoree and leading scorer Alex Jacobs, Ponnappan (37 goals, 12 assists) and Bieliauskas (13 goals, 7 assists) were the Bulldogs’ other double-digit scorers. Bieliauskas also made 86 saves as the primary goalie along with Adams.
“Avi and Marty are like the cornerstones of the whole group,” Laurich said. “[Bieliauskas is] such a good middle if I can find someone else [to split goalie time] we can use him a little bit more on offense.”
Usually a driver, Ponnappan now will have to move to the more offensive point position, especially when Bieliauskas plays goalie.
“This is a little different because I will have to run and set up the offense more,” Ponnappan said. “Alex had a key role in both our offense and defense so a lot of that responsibility will fall onto me this year.”
This marks the first time longtime RBHS boys and girls head swimming coach Laurich is coaching water polo. Assistant coach Tatum Bruno, also an assistant coach in swimming, is a former RBHS girls water polo all-stater who played at Wittenberg University.
“It’s different [than swimming]. You’re definitely working on skills and teamwork but I’m also smart enough to bring in Tatum [as assistant],” Laurich said. “We’ll try to get a couple more wins, be competition in the games we’re playing. The guys that have been here four years, they’re doing a great job of trying to build the program up.”