| Spenser
Jacobson
It took
Abbotsford's Spenser Jacobson just one practice to recognize
he'd found a sport that gave him everything he was looking
for. It was May 2003 and his younger brother had joined the
Abbotsford Whalers Swim Club's water polo team at the urging
of a friend."My mom got me to go out to a practice. I
tried it and asked her to sign me up," Spenser recalls.
His first
competitive game a few days later at the Burnaby Ice Breaker
Tournament at Central Park cemented his impressions - he
"tried it once and loved it." He recalls being sold
on the physical nature of the sport, and the premium it places
on quickness. "Come and watch a game - just once" he
suggests to anyone who wonder what it's about - describing the
sport as "a cross between soccer, rugby and basketball in
the water."
This Grade 11
student at Robert Bateman secondary is so passionate about the
sport that he even managed to convince the school
administration to start up a school water polo team. Soccer,
incidentally, is one of his other passions - he has served as
a volunteer coach for the Abby Mustangs U-12 team and well as
a volunteer coach with the Whalers. Friends describe him as
intense, loyal and fun - and he has a pair of nieces who call
him 'Uncle' Spenser.
His own
ambitions, and his coaches and teammates keep him focused.
Spenser spent a year and a half with Pacific Storm water polo
program, and spent this past winter with Fraser Valley Water
Polo - where the head coach, Ian Mitchell, was his original
mentor in Abbotsford. His best memory to date is the July 2006
Youth Cup in Vancouver, as part of the team that challenged
for gold in the championship final.
"Ontario
had beaten us badly the game before," Spenser recalls. We
came into the final focused and prepared. I ended up checking
and playing hole - something I was not used to playing.
"I scored two goals and prevented a lot of goals from
being scored. We lost in overtime to take the silver
medal."
Over the long
term, he has his sights on a career as a sports psychologist,
but in the interim, he's focusing on winning a spot on the
Canadian national junior team going to the 2007 Pan American
games. After that, it's the Canadian senior national team, and
representing his country at both the world championships and
the Olympics.
Contact:
Cheryl Wilson-Stewart
BC Water Polo-PR
Telephone: 604.737.3148
Email: pr@bcwaterpolo.com
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