He was just standing on the diving board, trying to explain a drill when someone threw him a ball.

As a result, Head Coach Mark Rebora lost his balance and fell into the pool.

“There are always things happening,” said Rebora about the diving board incident. “The team I’ve had this year is actually a funny group of guys.”

From the “not-guilty” expressions players give the officials when they get called for a foul, to captain Nick Goodspeed’s “bubblegum music” on the bus, Rebora said the players are always making each other laugh.

“Not only do I have to give [Goodspeed] a look, but the other kids on the bus have to be like, ‘What are you playing?’” said Rebora.

According to captain Mike Kessler, the team was not always this close and friendly.

“At the beginning of the year, a lot of us just kind of fought over the ball,” said Kessler. “Now we’re starting to come together as a team.”

The team’s season began with three consecutive wins and a first place finish at the Highland Park Invite. While Kessler called the invite a “morale booster,” he acknowledged some down sides to starting the season on such a high note.
“I guess it got some people on the team to be too cocky, which is why we then lost a few games,” Kessler said.

The next week, the team played in  the Evanston Invite, where the boys suffered what Kessler called a “devastating loss” in the final match.

“We were beating Evanston pretty bad,” said Kessler. “They caught up at the end and scored two goals in the last seconds to win and we lost by one.”

According to junior Chris Kuester, Kessler and captain Gleb Medvedev “rallied” the team after the loss.

“They said to use the hurt from that game to make us better in the next game,” said Kuester. “We won the two games after that.”

Rebora does not believe the team’s 13-17 record is representative of the boys’ play.

“It’s strength of schedule,” said Rebora. “People on water polo see that, but a lot of other people don’t.”

While Kuester said the team has been “on and off,” he pinpoints communication as the aspect that needs the most improvement for next year.

“We’ve had a little lack of communication in the pool so far this year,” said Kuester. “We’ve had a lot of shots that weren’t necessarily the best where we could’ve passed instead.”

As the “up and down” season nears its end, Rebora has stayed consistent in not naming official team captains.

“I don’t ever pick captains,” said Rebora. “We have leaders. And if you were to ask me who the true leaders are on the team, I could tell you. And if you were to ask players on the team who the true leaders are, they could tell you. And that’s where our captains come from.”

Despite finishing ______ at conference, Rebora believes the team can win many more games next year.

“With winning comes getting used to doing it,” said Rebora. “So you go crazy when you win, but hopefully we’ll have been in that situation enough times where we can … get out of there and do it again.”