BY CAROL GULLSTAD

Special to the Reporter

This year’s Mercer Island boys water polo squad will be led by a new head coach — Calvin White.

However, White is not new to the Islanders.

White served as the girls head coach last spring and the boys junior varsity coach in 2016. He has been involved in the local water polo community for over 30 years, calling himself “a Pacific- Northwest kid.” He grew up on Bainbridge Island playing on the Spartans very first water polo team in 1985. After his college playing days at Northern Arizona, White returned to Bainbridge to coach, leading the team to the 1994 state championship. White subsequently coached both boys and girls teams at Newport High School and served as a league referee.

As a Mercer Island coach, he would like to “improve on last year’s third-place finish at state and get the next round of varsity players ready.”

He sees this year’s team as “hard workers with brains.” He said the best surprise of the season so far was “all players who entered the water for the Lake Swim finished. That was amazing.”

Team captains Carson Coe, Daniel Kavesh, Sam Nair and Sammy Vacca will lead the core group of senior and junior returners.

“We lost some strong players to graduation, especially at goalie, but the team will be in good shape with strong defense,” Coe said.

Kavesh stated he is “looking forward to getting to know the people on the team. There will be a lot more focus on fundamentals.”

Vacca said that this year’s team has “great teamwork, competitiveness and the drive to succeed. Calvin will really push us.”

All captains concurred that the Lake Swim was not only a highlight, but really helped solidify team camaraderie. For more information about the Islanders boys water polo team, visit https://mercerislandwaterpolo.com.