{"id":33396,"date":"2024-07-12T20:42:11","date_gmt":"2024-07-13T00:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/sport\/u-s-womens-water-polo-with-an-unlikely-hype-man-eyes-olympic-history-and-change-for-the-sport\/12\/07\/2024\/"},"modified":"2024-07-12T20:42:11","modified_gmt":"2024-07-13T00:42:11","slug":"u-s-womens-water-polo-with-an-unlikely-hype-man-eyes-olympic-history-and-change-for-the-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/sport\/u-s-womens-water-polo-with-an-unlikely-hype-man-eyes-olympic-history-and-change-for-the-sport\/12\/07\/2024\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. women\u2019s water polo, with an unlikely hype man, eyes Olympic history \u2014 and change for the sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Flavor Flav realizes it\u2019s an unexpected crossover.<\/p>\n

The rap icon once had only a vague awareness of water polo, as he\u2019d seen Olympic matches on television. But Flav has a new appreciation for the sport, marveling at the immense stamina required to play it, after recently signing a five-year sponsorship deal to serve as the official hype man for the U.S. women\u2019s and men\u2019s national water polo teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat type of relationship does rap have with water polo? None,\u201d said Flav.<\/p>\n

Until now.<\/p>\n

How the collaboration came together is well-documented: Maggie Steffens, the U.S. women\u2019s team\u2019s longtime captain, posted a photo of the players on her Instagram in May with a caption outlining challenges the athletes often face, including that players typically work multiple jobs while pursuing their Olympic dreams. She called on her followers to watch and support women\u2019s sports.<\/p>\n

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Flav, who said his manager initially flagged the post, responded to the call, pledging his support. Thus, an unprecedented partnership was born. He and Steffens appeared together last Monday on \u201cCBS Mornings,\u201d<\/a> where Flav announced he would give $1,000 to each team member and a Virgin Voyage cruise to the squad.<\/p>\n

The 65-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer told The Athletic<\/i> he plans to attend the Paris Games, cheering on the team as they aim for a fourth straight Olympic gold medal, a feat that has not yet been accomplished by any men\u2019s or women\u2019s water polo team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m there to hype them up. I\u2019m there to try to get them into that spirit of winning that fourth gold medal,\u201d Flav said with a confidence befitting his role. \u201c\u2026 And I know we can do it. We\u2019re gonna get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flav also said he plans to attend the women\u2019s team\u2019s final pre-Olympic home match against Hungary. He wrote in a post on X he\u2019ll be at Tuesday\u2019s match in Berkeley, Calif., and will take photos and sign autographs \u201cbefore and after the game but not during the game\u201d so he can stay locked in.<\/p>\n

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Imma be at the game on Tuesday,,, I will be taking photos and signing autographs before and after the game but not during the game,,, we all here to cheer on these women https:\/\/t.co\/8AHYAtzE0R<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 FLAVOR FLAV (@FlavorFlav) July 3, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to get as many people as I can involved,\u201d he said. \u201cHopefully what I\u2019m doing will open up the doors for other celebrities like myself to help sponsor these Olympic teams, because these (athletes) are out there busting their butts to make the United States look good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

The U.S. women\u2019s water polo team has welcomed the additional eyeballs as they go for an Olympic record. Coach Adam Krikorian, who has guided the United States to more Olympic golds than any coach on any team in women\u2019s water polo, called it \u201ca sport that\u2019s been starving for attention and looking for notoriety.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a team that feels like, at times, we go unnoticed,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so, when you have someone who\u2019s in the spotlight share their love and their passion for our team, it\u2019s touching. We love it. We embrace it. We hope it inspires others to hop on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Krikorian said he doesn\u2019t mind if Flav\u2019s interest encourages a bandwagon group to follow their journey this summer: \u201cWe\u2019ll take \u2019em all. You didn\u2019t need to be with us in the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

What any new fans will be rallying around is a squad synonymous with success. Since he was hired in 2009, Krikorian and the U.S. women have gone on a staggering run, claiming gold at the last three Olympics<\/a> and six of the last nine world championships.<\/p>\n

But Krikorian \u2014 a former UCLA water polo standout who calls the late basketball legend John Wooden his coaching idol \u2014 is less concerned with the results. The scores don\u2019t even come up when his staff reevaluates a practice or a game. He preaches presence over perfection, a philosophy he highlighted when discussing Emily Ausmus, an attacker who Krikorian said has taken on a larger role as a defender \u201cheadfirst.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 18 years old, Ausmus is the team\u2019s youngest player and represents a corps with no Olympic experience on a roster nearly split between first-time Olympians (seven) and returners (six). That experience level is a shift from the last Olympic cycle in Tokyo in 2021 when most players were part of the group that also won gold in Rio in 2016.<\/p>\n

On the opposite end of the experience spectrum is Steffens, who helped lead the U.S. to gold at the last three Games. At the Tokyo Olympics, she became the all-time leading scorer in women\u2019s Olympic water polo. And if the U.S. women get gold in Paris, Steffens will become the first water polo player to win four Olympic gold medals in a row.<\/p>\n

Steffens, 31, can rattle off a list of younger players on this year\u2019s roster with whom she connected in earlier phases of life, highlighting the full-circle experience for her this Games:<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ryann Neushul, 24, is the third Neushul sister<\/a> Steffens will play with at the Olympics. \u201cI remember when she was just a kid,\u201d Steffens said;<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jenna Flynn and Steffens posed together for a photo<\/a> at the Rio Games when Flynn was a young fan. \u201cNow she\u2019s at Stanford and here on Team USA and one of my closest friends on the team, and we\u2019re 11 years apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jewel Roemer is a Northern California native like Steffens, and Steffens grew up attending men\u2019s scrimmages at Diablo Valley College coached by Roemer\u2019s father. \u201cI remember getting cute videos from (Jewel) saying, \u2018Good luck.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ausmus attended camps and clinics organized by Steffens\u2019 company, 6-8 Sports. \u201c(She was) somebody we talked about five, six, eight years ago, like, \u2018Oh my gosh, this girl\u2019s so good and we\u2019re really excited to see her potential.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve really created this special bond,\u201d Steffens said of the younger group. \u201cAnd I think as much as they look up to me as a leader and have looked up to me since they were kids and followed that path, I think what\u2019s really amazing is I look up to them just as much.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n The U.S. women\u2019s water polo team huddles during the Tokyo gold-medal match. The Americans are vying for a historic fourth straight Olympic gold. (Marcel ter Bals \/ BSR Agency \/ Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Steffens is sincere in her praise, as she is in her belief in her teammates. Ashleigh Johnson, who is making her third Olympic appearance with Team USA, called Steffens \u201ca dreamer in all senses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re around Maggie, anything is legitimately possible,\u201d said Johnson, 29, the team\u2019s goalkeeper who is widely considered the best in the world at her position. \u201cShe\u2019s our captain, but as her friend, she will build a way for any dream to come true. And if you believe something, she believes it and you guys are going to accomplish it together.\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, Johnson said, Steffens typically encourages others while grinding through the hardest parts of training or pushing through a final swim set. Outside of the pool, Steffens is the one to land in a new city after 24 hours of traveling and either have a full itinerary ready or explore without a plan. She has an \u201cEnergizer Bunny attitude,\u201d according to Johnson.<\/p>\n

That boundless energy has carried over into other facets as Steffens and Johnson have become de facto ambassadors of their sport, a role that wasn\u2019t always natural to them. In 2016, Johnson became the first Black woman to make the U.S. Olympic water polo team. She said, over time, she\u2019s felt more empowered to speak about her experiences, share her story and champion diversity to inspire others.<\/p>\n

Steffens, who joined the team when she was 15 years old, said it\u2019s taken her 15 or 16 years to find her voice in terms of advocating for women\u2019s athletes and more openly discussing the financial challenges of pursuing the sport.<\/p>\n

Olympic water polo training takes place in Southern California, an area of the country with a notoriously high cost of living. In an Olympic year, training is six days a week and is essentially a full-time job for the athletes, Steffens said.<\/p>\n

Payouts at the Games depend on the sport, country and finish, but the International Olympic Committee and each sport\u2019s governing body have not traditionally paid winners. In a first for an international federation<\/a>, World Athletics, which oversees track and field, announced in April it would award $50,000 in prize money to gold medalists at the Paris Games.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee gave athletes $37,500 for winning gold, $22,500 for silver and $15,000 for bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.<\/p>\n

Steffens said she would play water polo \u2014 which doesn\u2019t have a professional women\u2019s league in the U.S. \u2014 if she made no money and had to couch surf, but her hope is for future water polo athletes to not have to work other jobs to support themselves while performing at the highest level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to see in the future people retire much later in their career because they can afford to keep playing water polo and don\u2019t feel like they have to retire at 22 to get a \u2018real job,’\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Any support helps, Steffens said, and Flav\u2019s sponsorship is an example of the payoff she\u2019s seen after posting about the topic.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing that I love about water polo and about our team is it\u2019s a very head-down, humble, hard-work mentality,\u201d Steffens said. \u201cAnd one of my dreams is to leave the sport and the women in this sport better than when I came in, and hopefully provide more opportunity, provide more exposure, let their stories be told, let their names be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steffens knows there\u2019s more work to do and more fans to rally. But each one counts, and so far, she\u2019s hitting her goals.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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\"go-deeper\"\/<\/div>\n
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GO DEEPER<\/p>\n

From Stanford to Team USA, a water polo dynasty eyes an Olympic four-peat<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

(Top illustration of Maggie Steffens and Flavor Flav: Dan Goldfarb \/ <\/em>The Athletic; photos: Ronald Martinez \/ Getty Images, Jerod Harris \/ Getty Images for The Recording Academy)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n