For 20 year-old Kinesiology junior Flor Beckmann, splashing her way past her adversaries is part of a regular day at the pool. The Bryan native is one of the 11 players that comprise the UT Women's Water Polo club.
"I started playing water polo in the freshman year of my high school. It's been seven years now," Beckmann said.
Beckmann has been a part of the UT Women's Water Polo club since her freshman year and is an important part of the team now.
"I was swimming since I was very little, and then I did running. But I wanted to do something that would keep me active at all times and not be monotonous. So water polo was the perfect sport to play for me," Beckmann said.
Beckmann and her teammates diligently practice four days a week for about two hours. They compete in the Texas division of the Collegiate Water Polo Association, which has six teams
in all.
"Right now the most competitive teams, and major rivals, would be Rice and Texas A&M. My best memory of playing water polo is when we went to Texas A&M to play regionals, and we beat them to reach nationals. We got to go to New York to play against the top dogs," Beckmann said.
For a rough sport, water polo involves a lot of strategy. The UT Women's Water Polo Club is coached by former Michigan State goalie, Karin Robertson.
"You have got to be smart while playing water polo, because there are a lot of tricks to it. Karin Robertson helps us a lot. She is an awesome coach and she rocks," Beckmann said.
Another critical aspect of the sport is the injuries to which players are susceptible. Athletes wear extremely tight swimsuits and padded headgear for safety reasons. But this does not completely counteract the brute physicality that typifies this sport.
"It is really rough because you don't know what's going on under water. The refs can't see it. So, people get grabbed, pulled, pinched, kicked and anything you can imagine," Beckmann said.
This is what attracts Beckmann to this sport, who hopes that the graduate school of her choosing also has a water polo team for her to continue playing.
"It's a different sport. It's nice If you like to be very competitive and you like to fight, it's good to take out your anger. If you can't play nice, play water polo," Beckmann said.
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