waterpoloWhat started five years ago as a few friends who liked swimming has turned into a legitimate water polo program at the University of Buffalo, according to the independent student publication UBspectrum.com.

When most people hear Buffalo they think snow, not water. However, in 2010 a group of friends decided they wanted to try something different and started trying to gain support for a school water polo club team. Jake Habermehl is now one of the team’s assistant coaches and a former member of the fledgling team.

“It started off with probably about six or eight friends who liked swimming,” Habermehl said. “They didn’t even know anything about water polo. They messed around and built some PVC nets.”

The team, now known officially as the UB Water Polo Club, didn’t have enough money for two goal posts when they first started, but eventually the team earned its way into the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA). The club made history last weekend when they hosted their first sanctioned water polo tournament. Teams from Colgate, Syracuse, Cornell, and Hamilton were the other participants at Alumni Arena’s Olympic-sized pool.

The team has grown slowly but steadily from its humble beginnings of six members to now counting 21 the last two seasons. It’s perhaps not surprising the club got its start from a general interest in swimming, the third most popular activity or sport in the United States (behind walking and using exercise equipment).

Gaining status as a school-sponsored club gave the team access to about $2,500 in annual funding from UB’s Student Association, which has enabled the team to buy new nets, balls, and, arguably their most important expense, membership into the CWPA.

Establishing the team as a legitimate club was not an easy task. It was hard to find teams to compete against in the local area, and it was even harder trying to attract new members to a team that didn’t play real games. That’s when their relationship with the University of Rochester came into play.

Similar to UB, the U of R team was relatively new and just looking to get into the pool arena themselves. Organized scrimmages between the two squads were the first form of competition.

According to Habermehl, who was on the team at the time, it was great practice for them because the team from Rochester was “really bad.” Yet without those early games, the team wouldn’t be here today and, further, wouldn’t have the chance to compete in CWPA tournaments.

In fact, the UB team will compete again in tournaments scheduled by the CWPA this year. While their ultimate goal is to win a national championship, they’re focused on developing all their players still new to the sport; in fact, more than half the team is new to the sport this year.

The club’s next game will be October 3 at West Point Military Academy, where they will face Columbia University’s club team, according to the CWPA website.