Filip
Juristovski
Big Fil
is on His Way!
It may
surprise his friends to learn that Filip Juristovski used to
play the drums, but this tidbit of information helps explain
why he's one of Canada's top young water polo prospects.
You need fast
hands to play drums, and it certainly doesn't hurt your
performance to have a long, accurate reach. The tall, rangy
Burnaby high schooler brings both those attributes - and many
others including an intense desire to achieve excellence -
that have made him the top 16-and-under male player in British
Columbia.
Big Fil, as
his teammates call him, got his start in the sport six years
ago when at the encouragement of his parents he joined the
Burnaby Barracudas.
"I've
always enjoyed water and swimming so I looked for an aquatic
sport and decided that water polo offers lots of challenges
and excitement I was looking for in a sport," the Burnaby
Mountain secondary honor role student recalls."
"The
first game I played was very hard and confusing… It was
shortly after I started playing water polo so I didn't quite
know what to do. After the game I felt relieved it was over.
"Since then, I've learnt the sport and become passionate
about it."
Just two
years after his first game, he took his newfound passion to
the next level as an elite player, first with Pacific Storm
and now with Fraser Valley. Along the way, he has accumulated
an impressive resume, first as the Barracudas P3 most valuable
player in 2005, and then as the Barracudas
P4 MVP in 2007, when he starred as the Burnaby club took gold
in the summer provincials in Prince George. In 2006 he earned
a most valuable offence player for Storm and went on to be
named outstanding B.C. male bantam player of the year in 2006.
Described by
teammates as "humble, sincere and intelligent," Fil
hasn't settled on a specific career path, other than
continuing to develop as a water polo player, but says when he
makes up his mind it will likely be in the realm of science.
For the present, his ambitions include winning a national
title, and winning a scholarship as a water polo player.
"I like the teamwork and the strategy behind the
game," Fil says, adding that he draws inspiration from
his teammates, and his "dream" to win a gold in the
nationals.
He describes
the sport as 'handball in water.' "It takes teamwork,
endurance and intelligence to help work the ball around the
pool and score a goal." He believes the best way to win
new converts to the sport is to get them in the water, and get
a game going.
"I would
let them experience the sport themselves by letting them play.
Then, they would understand what the sport is all about and
I'm sure many of them would become as passionate about the
sport as I am."
Contact:
Cheryl Wilson-Stewart
BC Water Polo-PR
Telephone: 604.737.3148
Email: pr@bcwaterpolo.com
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