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Player Spotlight
ALEX NEGRONIDA
Illpolo.com's Offensive Player of the Year
With one of the most lethal outside shots in the game, Alex Negronida
helped lead Evanston to a third place finish in the state of Illinois in
his senior season. He was chosen as the Offensive Player of the Year in
2005 by Illpolo.com. He was named to the
All-Illpolo first team at the end of the season and was also selected to
the All-State first team for his performance as well. We asked Alex the following
questions in an exclusive Illpolo.com interview:
College choices, major, current GPA?
University of Arizona (club water polo). Majoring in journalism, current
GPA of 3.0
Experience, Club Team, Zone Teams, Off-season work?
WSO and NIPC Club Teams, playing WSO for 2
years and NIPC for one. Junior Olympian.
When did you start? How? Where?
Started my freshman year after I joined the
swim team halfway through the season when I was
pulled from gym class. Used to play basketball.
Awards and achievements?
2nd team all state, JV MVP my freshman year, team captain my senior year. Named to the All-Illpolo first team, the All-State first team, and was selected as the Illpolo.com Offensive Player of the Year in 2005.
Personal interests? Music? TV shows?
TV, Video games is mostly what I do in my
spare time when I'm not in school or playing polo. I listen to mostly
rock, alternative, punk, emo, metal, my favorite artist is Buckethead.
Favorite movie: "Memento."
Goals for the future with polo? School? Life?
My only goal for the future in terms of water polo is just to be playing and have fun. Water polo gives me more enjoyment than anything else so just to be playing it somewhere is enough for me, anything else is just extra. And goals for life are to find something I enjoy doing as much as water polo, get paid for it, and have as much success as I can.
Motivation, inspiration?
My motivation is seeing all the kids who have
been playing the sport for a long time (like the catholic league) or
California kids, and knowing that I will put in twice the work as them and
be just as successful.
The conception in the sport is if you're not from the west coast, you're
"trash" because you donąt have enough experience, so my motivation is to
use my natural talent and things I have learned through playing other team
sports like basketball to gain enough experience so one day people will
look at players from the Midwest in the same breath as those from the west
coast.
First Season role?
My first season I was our JV teams leading scorer and MVP, but I also made brief appearances at the Varsity level and ended up scoring two goals in the conference championship game and playing in sectionals. Scored over 125 goals.
Soph, Junior Year role?
Was the only underclassmen starter my sophomore year and scored about 75 goals. My junior year I was the teams leading scorer scoring 95 goals.
Stats?
I currently have 86 goals through 21 games, averaging 4 goals per game. Finished the season with over 100 goals after his sectionals and state tournament performance.
Bill Raftery says:
"Look at the elevation!"
