Donations Needed to Support illpolo.com in
2013
by Aaron Brown
Donations can be made to No Limit Water
Polo. If you are interested in
helping out or have questions, you can contact me by e-mail at
illpolo2012@gmail.com, by phone at (847) 331-6520, or by sending mail to:
Aaron Brown
c/o
Illpolo.com
4244 E 2551st Rd
Sheridan, IL 60551
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What has started as a small web site for
Illinois High School water polo has turned into an unbelievable resource.
During the high school water polo season in 2012, the site achieved over
one million page views as visitors were eager to check scores, read
stories, check rankings, and find out anything else they could about what
is going on with high school water polo in Illinois.
With that being said, I need your help! My mission is to ensure that
the sport gets the proper coverage that these boys and girls deserve,
starting with this web site and hopefully moving towards the newspapers. I
will do everything I can to make this happen, but if I could get some
assistance I would be greatly appreciative.
As I sat watching the championship game at the
Fenwick Tournament between Fenwick and Brother Rice five years ago, I
couldn't help but feel that it was just as exciting as any high school
basketball game that was being played that weekend. Yet when I checked the
newspapers the next day, I saw a half dozen articles covering basketball
and not even a mention of what happened on Saturday night at Fenwick. The
scores were listed in the daily scoreboard and that was it.
If we are to continue to see this sport
sustain the positive momentum it has gained in the past few years and
continue to grow, then we need to get the maximum exposure for our players
and teams. That is the main purpose of this site...to reward the players
and coaches for all of their dedication and effort. Why should I sit
around and hope that the newspapers pick up a story when I can take a more
proactive approach and simply convince them to print information about
water polo?
The problem is, maintaining this web site has
become a full-time job. Start editing, writing, and making changes around
8:00am, plan what games to attend and travel to one or two games at
different facilities and report on games and take notes. Rush home to check messages,
emails, and instant messages for scores and updates. Start updating the
scores, records, and rankings while writing a few stories into the night,
usually until 2:00am. Contacting athletic departments for scores from
previous days the following morning. Sending and receiving nearly
one-hundred
e-mails per day on average. Driving across the area from Stevenson to Fenwick on Friday
night, then spending 12 hours at a tournament taking notes the next day.
And I love every minute of it! But I don't know how long I can keep this
pace up...the cost of web hosting, wireless Internet, domains, travel
expenses, gas, and the time spent
volunteering can be very difficult when all is said and done.
