SEATTLE- Sameer Gowda known varsity football player at O’Dea, has another sport he travels across the world for.
Sameer Gowda has only played two years of water polo, but he has made the most of those 720 days. Gowda has been swimming his whole life but never really loved it. Gowda was bored of looking at a black line at the bottom of the pool for a sport, so he and his parents decided to sign him up for water polo.
Gowda decided to sign up for Northwest Water Polo which is one of the best teams in the country, Gowda is fortunate to have such a prestigious program so close to his home in Bellevue.
As soon as the polo ball was placed in his hands, he was a natural, in his first year of playing he was selected to represent Northwest water polo at junior Olympics in Orange County California.
In an interview with Gowda, he talks about what caused him to start playing water polo. “I was just bored of normal swimming and wanted to stay in the pool, so I decided to start water polo”.
This choice has turned out to be a good one since Gowda has traveled all around the world to display his talent. Gowda traveled to Panama and Greece over the summer to train with professional teams with his club team as well as his US men's youth team.
Gowda trains seven days a week ranging from 1-3 hours each day. He is very dedicated to his craft, and it shows. Gowda has represented his country over the summer playing for the U16 Olympic development US men's national team while being at the bottom of his age group.
Before that he has also represented his PNW zone last year in the U14 age group. Gowda has played at the highest level of water polo ever since the ball has been placed in his hands.
Gowda has a bright future ahead of him in the sport and he is excited to play at the next level. “This summer at Junior olympics I played in the 14, 16, and 18U bracket. We won the 18u and I played a lot in that game, I had 37 goals in all of Junior Olympics. I also got to speak to UC Davis, Stanford, and UCLA.”
All these accomplishments are impressive especially for a kid that is young for his age group and has not even played the sport for three years.
If it is luck or just fate it is a blessing for Gowda, he has found the ball in the water instead of using his goggles.