The Bodysurfing and Water Polo Alliance

You may be able to tell by now, but I’ve spent quite some time working towards understanding my identity. As a water polo player and bodysurfer, that is. These two activities have greatly shaped my life, often more so than I’d like to admit. Perhaps I have free will. Or perhaps I hit Sandys every time I’m back in Hawai`i because it reminds me of my first time getting barreled and I’ve been chasing that high ever since. Maybe I would have gotten into a ~prestigious~ university on my own academic merit, thus shaping my social and professional life as I know it. Or maybe water polo opened the door and I sprinted right through it. 

Either way, when I think about my life, I more often than not think about it suspended in a body of water. 

At a glance, these sports may seem very different. For starters, one takes place in the *checks notes* ocean, while the other is played with a ball and a team in a pool. But at its core – think Shrek and an onion – these are sports where the top athletes wear speedos. Okay, that was a joke. 

But if there were ever two sports that warranted a “why?” upon the announcement of the participation in said sports, it would be water polo and bodysurfing. Why would one play water polo when there are countless other ball sports to try? Why would one bodysurf when there is boogieboarding, let alone normal surfing? These activities are niche, kind of awkward, physically grueling, and often unrewarding. What is the appeal? Well, the appeal is that they are niche, kind of awkward, physically grueling, and often unrewarding. Let’s dive in. 

Water polo players often bodysurf and bodysurfers have often played water polo. This is not always true. But it is true often, strangely. We can start off with the G.O.A.T., Mark Cunningham. For many of us, Mark is THE symbol of bodysurfing. His white hair and bushy eyebrows, his leathered skin, his back hand that forms a sharp right angle with his forearm when he gets barrelled. One cannot think about bodysurfing without thinking of Mark Cunningham. But what if I told you that Cunningham’s bodysurfing career was actually his second career? What if I told you his first career was actually high school water polo? 

Cunningham, or “Frosty” as he was referred to on the pool deck at Punahou High School in the 70s, was a varsity water polo player under the iconic Ken Smith. Some argue that this is where he first donned his iconic black speedo. And while it is possible that it is simply a coincidence that the greatest bodysurfer ever grew up with water polo as well, many others followed suit. 

From Craig Watson and Doug Cole, regulars alongside Cunningham at Point Panic, to Teddy Bandaruk, Duncan Mactavish, Bennet Williams, Pete Castillo, and Luke Makshanoff at the Wedge, the Venn diagram of elite water polo players (we are talking All Americans and National Team Members here) and elite bodysurfers overlaps blatantly. It is to the point where you’d be hard-pressed to swim out to bombing Panics or solid Wedge without seeing a water polo player in the lineup.

Now back to the why. Like all things, the why is a combination of a skillset and a mindset. First, the skillset. It is obvious that bodysurfing and water polo both require a strong background in swimming. But it goes deeper than that. It is about being explosive in the water – to go from stagnant and vertical to horizontal and hydroplaning in a moment’s time. 

The transition from offense, vertical and facing the goal, to counter attack defense, sprinting in the opposite direction, mimics the process of watching and reading an approaching wave, before turning and catching it perfectly in the pocket. Bodysurfing begins with positioning, and positioning comes from the ability to cover meters of water in just a few seconds. 

Bodysurfing also requires balance. This is counterintuitive in a way, as there is no board to balance on. What we are talking about here is aquatic balance. It is the understanding of the body and manipulation of the body on the wave. Balance is bending to fit the curvature of a wave to gain speed or to slow down. Balance is applying pressure to different edges of your body to maintain traction. On the other end of the horseshoe, balance is the ability to control one’s body in the turbulence of a wipeout. It’s the understanding of when to brace for impact with your legs or with your arms over your head. Balance and bodysurfing are one and the same. 

And there is no greater sport to teach aquatic balance than water polo. (Synchronized swimming I hear you and see you, but I’d argue that the predictability that comes with choreography requires less adaptability and therefore, less balance. While I’ve done synchronized swimming at summer camp, I’ve never done it at a high level, so I am ignorant to its challenges. If you are a synchronized swimmer and disagree with this stupid water polo player, come at me in the comments, respectfully). This is because water polo players are not simply swimming and eggbeating, passing and shooting, they are doing this while being shoved, grabbed, yanked, and kicked. The best water polo players are the ones unaffected by the chaos and all the pressure that is applied by the defense. They understand the balance of their body in the water, and like a ship with its keel, always pop back up. 

The mindset part is a bit more goofy. I say that because both of these sports are just flat out dumb. And I truly mean that in the best possible way. Let me explain. 

Water polo and bodysurfing are inherently silly. Like we are wrestling in the water and trying to throw a ball in a floating goal in front of tens of fans. We are using our body as a board in which to surf a wave, I hate to break it to you, but that’s what boards are for. These sports are niche and they are weird and, like I said earlier, they are pretty darn awkward, too. Yet we keep coming back. Why? 

Well, because they are fun. 

Water polo players and bodysurfers do not care about all the reasons to do something cooler. They are too busy having fun. 

They are too busy grabbing each other’s speedos and too busy pretending to be dolphins breaching behind the backs of waves. Both water polo and bodysurfing are about shedding the preconceptions of the “should” and instead focusing on the desire itself. Despite all the other sports, I want to play water polo. Despite all the other ways to ride waves, I want to bodysurf. It does not matter how dumb it might look or how challenging it might be, I’m going to do it because I love it. 

Let’s bring it home. It is no coincidence that great bodysurfers are great water polo players and vice versa. These sports, while physically demanding, also rely on a similar skillset that allows one to excel in the most critical components (i.e. catching bombs and scoring goals). But this is all meaningless in the eyes of the jock-bro. It is meaningless because these sports are undeniably lame. But water polo players and bodysurfers do not care about what is cool and what is not. We pull up our speedos, apply zinc to our noses, and frolic in the water with our friends. 

Now, check out Luke Makshanoff, a graduate of UCLA and their Men’s Water Polo Team, absolutely charging.