The girls of Michigan close out the 2011-2012 interscholastic high school water polo season with state championships June 1 and 2 where top ranked Rockford hopes to upend 2011 champions Okemos. With only one loss to a Michigan squad (Zeeland) this season, and a challenging non-Michigan schedule, the Rams are poised to become champions for the first time since 2008. Coach Scott Voltz gives his assessment of this season's performance.


* In 2011 you were runners up to Michigan State Champions, Okemos. Now you’re atop the rankings and currently favored to win the state championship. Is this the kind of performance you expected from your girls this season?
It’s tough to put expectations on the season (record and ranking-wise) because there are a number of good teams throughout the state and some great coaches who always produce results. I was very excited coming into the season with the talent that I knew was there, as well as the potential for improvement from last year.
We lost some key pieces including three All-State players who were keys to our success last year, so I knew there would be some holes to fill, but we’ve really had a number of girls step up and fill those positions nicely. Hopefully we’ll continue to see those improvements and have a positive finish to the year.

* Which teams are Rockford’s most prominent or natural rivals? Are there particular games you look forward to each season?
Okemos has become a rival in recent seasons as we have lost to them in the state championship tournament each of the last two seasons, and they have gone on to win each time. We really look forward to playing them each year because, frankly – they’ve been the best, and we always strive to compete with anyone, anytime.
We definitely have some conference rivalries with Hudsonville, Jenison, East Grand Rapids, East Kentwood, and Zeeland, but we see those teams a number of times throughout the year, so the rivalries are often lessened by familiarity. We’ve really enjoyed playing Fenwick (Il.) the past few seasons. We know that they are a great team, so we have had to "get up" to compete with them which is always fun. Our players really do love playing the game, and always want to beat the best.

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This past week and weekend was to be huge for the site with the women's NCAA championship going down (congrats Stanford) and the FINA World League prelims going on the men's side where men's United States team went 4-0.

However, in my personal life there was some sick family members who were in the hospital for a week plus so I could not muster up to finishing writing or cover either events this weekend, and then I was out of town for my sisters wedding this past weekend and those can always be hectic. So, my time was limited and for those who read the site (I know it's small and slowly growing, but thanks) I am sorry there was basically no coverage of either events.

Now, to the bright side is that the Olympics coming up soon so look for coverage on that which will include previews of opposing teams which might include me using google translator to be able to decipher content from foreign countries. High school championships are wrapping up so look for some stuff from a few states, and also Team USA has the Fisher Cup this weekend and a week long exhibition series between the United States, Croatia and Hungary.

So there are some stuff to fill the site with. Also, a big thanks to LA Bruin who has been providing some Fan Shots to the site, and a side note anyone who is a member of the site can writer their own entries via a Fan Post or interesting links or video through a Fan Shot.

Now, full steam ahead.

Well, do some events this past week the coverage here has been very sparse about the NCAA Championships and the Men's FINA World League Prelims. Here is the 2012 bracket along with the schedule:

The first game of the 2012 NCAA Tournament features the No. 7 seeded Iona Gaels going up against No. 2 UCLA Bruins, and in all honesty Iona has basically zero chances of winning this game, but you never know well we do.

Here is Iona warming up:

Gaels warming up. Game time just over ten minutes away #NCAAWaterPoloChampionship twitter.com/IonaWaterPolo/…

— Iona Water Polo (@IonaWaterPolo) May 11, 2012

Also, all games can be seen online.