City College’s women’s water polo team has a very diverse group this year, starting off their season strong with a 7-2 winning record so far. 

The team has players from Israel and Canada, as well as from across the country. 

“I know we have tons of potential, we are the most raw team I’ve ever coached,” Coach Chuckie Roth said. “This group is really fun and they want to get better and want to do little things right, I really look forward to practice every day.”

Roth is not the only one who has confidence in the team. 

“We have a great group of girls and we mesh together really well,” freshman Charlie Winter said. 

Having team members who are from different countries allows the players to learn about different cultures and even learn different languages. One of their plays is named “se’ara,” pronounced “se-ah-RAH,” which means “storm” in Hebrew. 

“It’s really cool to watch them learn about different cultures, different ways of life and to embrace each other, I’m really proud of them for that,” Assistant Coach Paige Treloar-Ballard said. Treloar-Ballard has been working alongside Roth for the past two years.

Roth, who has been a City College coach for eight years, says for him it is not just about putting numbers on a scoreboard or winning a title. He said he looks forward to helping each one of the players improve not only in the pool but outside the pool as well. 

“Everybody wants numbers and wins out of me, they’re not gonna get it,” Roth said. “Water polo is just a vehicle for what we’re trying to teach these kids, [we’re] just trying to teach them about life basically.” 

The team has come from such different environments, which has really brought them together and they have learned to work as a unit in a short amount of time.

“I’ve never played with a team that gets along so perfectly and I feel like I can try trusting people in such a short amount of time and that’s not something I’m good at,” Winter said. 

Roth said they have great dedication to the sport, work very hard and have been great about tolerating all the COVID-19 protocols. He also said there is a girl who drives from Righetti, California every day, which proves the dedication of the team members. 

“It was really hard because all of us came together and we all came from different teams where we had to play different positions and it was really hard for all of us to mold together,” said Winter. “Finally we nailed it and I’m super proud and super glad to be playing with a diverse group of girls.”

Winter said Roth is a great coach and gives them all opportunities to shine. He tells the team it is sufficient to “fail your way to success” and that if you keep trying you will eventually get it. 

The team ends every practice with an uplifting cheer. 

“Stay positive, test negative.”

Updated: Sept. 21, 2021

This story has been updated to include information that was unintentionally omitted at the time of the original publishing.