Water Polo Whiz

The leading character, Sandy Scott, a strong swimmer, leaves his home in the mountains of Western North Carolina and enters college in California to learn the sport of water polo. Six years later, he returns home and revives a defunct water polo program at his local YMCA, working with young eleven- and twelve-year-olds. The book follows his trials and tribulations as he takes his team of boys and girls to tournaments in Pennsylvania and Colorado. There is a family element in the story as well as a secondary love interest. Although fictional, the novel is based on some of the author's actual experiences.

CHUCK HINES enjoyed a 40-year career with the YMCA, during which he was a strong advocate of the Olympic sport of water polo. He was a three-time All-America player, and he coached teams at three YMCAs that won national championships. His teams all started out at the beginning level, in small pools and with insufficient equipment, and fought their way to the top. This book is the story of those teams and their rags to riches achievements. The author has written two instructional texts on water polo and has served as chairman of national committees for the Amateur Athletic Union, American Swimming Coaches Association, and YMCA of the USA. He was an officer of the U.S. Olympic Water Polo Committee for the Games of 1972, which found the American men bringing home the bronze medal. His YMCA girls team won the gold medal at the Junior Olympics and competed at the World Womens Water Polo Club Championships in 1977. In recent years, he has been a historian for the sport, writing numerous articles for the YMCAs national magazine and the Water Polo Planet web-site. Now retired and a member of the Western North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, Mr. Hines and his wife Lee and family members reside in Asheville, North Carolina.

A complete book about understanding the sport of water polo for players, parents and fans of the game.

A workbook for water polo teams and individual players.