University Star

San Marcos has a new addition to the sports repertoire: water polo. 

Craig Mason, physical education graduate, has expanded the Texas State’s water polo team into a city wide league.

It all began with the idea of making the sport more accessible to people who had never been exposed to it. 

“I played water polo in high school and really enjoyed it,” Mason said. “By my senior year in college, I started the Texas State water polo team.”

The expansion began thanks to the help of one of the member’s mothers who Mason said inspired him for the new team.

“When I would drop off my son, he would tell me about his interests and how Coach Craig would play water polo in school,” said Sylvia Robles.  “After that, Coach Craig and I started talking about the sport and I could see his enthusiasm in wanting to create a water polo team.”

The new team will practice at San Marcos Baptist Academy and will compete in the USA Water Polo League which is hosted in major cities such as Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Austin and other states.

Mason said he plans to have two different leagues: one from ages 10 to late teens and the other for people with a bigger body type. Mason said there is only one requirement.

“In order to join you must absolutely know how to swim, you can’t handle a sport before knowing how to manage yourself in the water,” he said.  “We want to get players who are able to go underneath the surface and resurface quickly.”

Mason says he is so passionate about opening the sport that he has taken out financial aid from banks.

“Since it’s just me right now; I am focused on starting and getting the club up and running,” Mason said. “I had to procure funding from a couple of sources.”

The water polo club comes to many as a breath of fresh air from the typical sports that dominate the area.

“I have been playing the typical sports since I was young and I really wanted to try out something new,” said Emmanuel Ramirez, communication design sophomore.

Classes are  being offered for a yearly deposit of $60 and a membership to the USA Water Polo Team. It all begins in the month of January and runs until May.