By Alec Caso
Robert Lynn, the assistant water polo coach for the US team at the 2008 Olympics and new head water polo coach at Harvard Westlake, has begun to train the water polo team for their upcoming game against Wilson on Homecoming night.
The team ended their last season with an overall record of 17-11 and a league record of 6-2. Coach Larry Felix resigned after coaching the team for four years.
The team was given the beginning of summer to rest before training began with Lynn. Lynn has spent the last three weeks training and getting to know the players on the team.
“They are a really good bunch of kids,” Lynn said. “They try really hard and show desire and commitment to the team.”
Due to the recent fires Lynn has been forced to tone down practice and was even forced to cancel practice on Monday, Aug. 31.
During the first two weeks of training, players had optional practice from 6:30-10 a.m. In the third week players began having practice twice a day from 6:30-10 a.m. and from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Lynn wants to give the team another practice venue to relieve the stress of playing in the smoky air.
“It would be great if we had two pools to practice in,” Lynn said. That way we could practice at Harvard-Westlake in the morning and at the other pool in the afternoon.”
Lynn was the Assistant Director of Shore Aquatics and worked with many of Wilsonâs players from a young age. Lynn has also just come from being the head coach at Wilson High.
Lynn hopes to use this first game against Wilson as a learning experience to find out the strengths and weaknesses of the team. He also hopes to use this game as a way to look for ways to improve the team.
“The team and I are really excited about the game,” Lynn said. “There is a lot of pressure on the team to perform in the first game but I want to try and reduce some of the pressure.”
