Gainesville High School and Buchholz High School will be adding a new sport to their sports collection. FHSAA Water Polo will be coming to both schools for Spring 2016. The season will officially start late January 2016. Any student at either GHS or BHS will be welcomed to come try out for the new sport. Both schools will have girls and boys teams. Being a HS swimmer is defiantly not a requirement. No experience is necessary. We get a lot of cross sport athletes that are in their off season, Basketball, Swimming, Wrestling, etc. Water Polo is an amazing sport, and a lot of fun to both play and watch.
Tryouts are slated to take place at the 300 club in Gainesville on January 30th 12:00PM-2:00PM.
Water Polo has been sweeping Florida for a number of years. It has been working its way north for roughly the last 15 years. Gainesville High School will be the first school in North Florida to house a Water Polo team. Buchholz follows as a close second. If you look at the high school landscape, it is difficult to find a high school south of Orlando with out a team. Our new local teams will travel to Orlando and Tampa roughly three times during the season for meets, where each of the teams will play 3 games. Gainesville will also host 3 meets at the City of Gainesville NE Pool in mid to late February.
Gainesville already has a rich club water polo program, Gator Water Polo, is a program for athletes 5-18.www.gatorwaterpolo.com
There will be parents meetings at both school mid next week to discuss details about the upcoming season. We are very excited Water Polo is finally coming to Gainesville, and North Florida.
Both schools have a history of success in the aquatics space. Both GHS 3A girls and BHS 4A girls won state championships in November 2015. Adding the sport of water polo to an already rich aquatics landscape is a natural fit for both schools.
Swimming news courtesy of Gator Water Polo.
