Senior John Roberts came out of the pool against Wheeling last season with blood dripping down his back.

“It looked like a tiger clawed my back,” Roberts said.

Later in the game, he got out of the pool and an opponent punched him in the face, resulting in a red card and a free shot for the Spartans.

“I love the physicality,” said Roberts. “Just being able to use that physicality to your advantage is always a fun thing for me.”

Roberts said he was inspired to start playing water polo in eighth grade when he saw a flyer about a club team in the hallway after swim practice.

“As a sophomore, I started on varsity and there were a lot of guys that were bigger than me, so I was afraid [of the physicality],” said Roberts. “But I think at this point I’m able to control the pace of the game.”

Mark Rebora, boys water polo head coach, said Roberts gets beaten up every game because he plays the most heavily guarded position, hole set, where he shoots in front of the net.

“John’s been under water 10 seconds at a time,” said Rebora. “People are putting their foot in his bathing suit to push him under the water while showing the official their hands.”

Roberts said he started devoting a lot of time to water polo when he joined a club team which consisted mostly of New Trier players.

“We played New Trier [in our first game] and it’s always kind of awkward because it’s basically like you’re up against your friends,” said Roberts. “They’re one of the top 15 teams in the state, but we were tied with them at half.”

Roberts and senior Hayden Wilson, co-captains of the team, said they are proud of how their team battled, but they still have work to do in practice.

“[Wilson and I] have a really good connection in the water, but as a team, we need to work on making sure we know how each teammate plays and where we are in the water,” Roberts said.

The water polo team won its first conference championship last year. Roberts was named to the all-conference and all-sectional teams and scored 125 goals during the season.

“I always have trouble guarding him in scrimmages,” said Wilson. “He takes over the games since he knows how to score when we need to.”

Rebora said he agrees that Roberts has what it takes to change the outcome of the game.

“There are games when we’ve scored 15 points as a team and [Roberts] scored 11 of them,” said Rebora. “He always reminds people we’re out here and it’s fun.”

Rebora said Roberts has a passion for the game that makes him a great player.

“He’s a normal student that likes to have fun,” said Rebora. “[Roberts would say] ‘I like school, I like life, I love water polo and I’m not embarrassed about it.’ That brings attention to our sport and to him.”