What involves fourteen speedos chasing a ball, rugby, football and soccer? If you guessed water polo, I am a little afraid of you. If you did not guess water polo, you have probably never lived in California. For most people, Speedos, pools and balls sum up the extent of their water polo knowledge. But of course, every “most” has an outlier. In this story, our outlier is Eaglecrest Senior Eito Naraoka, a hopeful water polo olympian. Geography has had a lot to do with Naraoka’s success. 

“When I first moved into my neighborhood in Vegas, one of the neighborhood kids asked me if I wanted to try this sport called water polo, and I had no idea what it was. But I was like ‘Sure,’ and it just went from there,” Naraoka said. “Playing water polo in Colorado is pretty rough. Outside of California, [water polo] doesn’t really exist. It almost feels like sometimes coaches will hear that you’re not from California and they’ll be like ‘Oh, I don’t want them,’” he continued. “Moving from a serious team in Vegas where I had eight practices a week and the former Olympic coach to Colorado was a very rough transition.”

In Vegas, Naraoka built up an impressive water polo resume. He competed at the Junior Olympics, and his dream was to get to the real deal: the Summer Olympics. 

“The Junior Olympics for water polo is just a big tournament — it’s not officially through the Olympics. The name is a little misleading, in my opinion.”

Still, Naraoka’s success does not stop there. He was on track for Team USA, and was in the Olympic Development Program from 2018 to 2020. 

“I went to trial camp in Colorado and in Utah for the Mountain Zone, [which] includes Utah, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, and technically Wyoming, even though it doesn’t even have a team, so it doesn’t really have any players,” he joked. “Basically, all the best players from those states will go to tryouts, and then if they make it to the next level, they’ll go to Zone Team Selection Camp where they whittle down to the players that are going to be on the regional camp. The [Mountain Zone] team competes against other regional teams at ODP (Olympic Development Program) Nationals. It’s a good experience, and you get to meet a lot of people from other states.”

Naraoka and his family moved to Colorado in 2018 because of his dad’s work. Water polo is not taken as seriously in Colorado as it is in other states, so the move was difficult for him. “I’ve since readjusted my goal to be more realistic and I now have a healthier mindset with [water polo]. Part of the reason moving here was so rough for me is that in Vegas my crazy, unrealistic goal was playing at the Olympics. I moved to Colorado and my crazy, unrealistic goal was just going D1. So it was kind of a hard transition for me but I’ve readjusted.”

In Colorado, Naraoka plays on a combined water polo team. Athletes from Creek, CT and Eaglecrest make up a collective Cherry Creek High School water polo team.

“Water polo is very much a team sport. It’s so technical, and you have to work together just like any team sport. When you have so many players from other schools, attendance at practices isn’t always as good, and you may not know your teammates as well which hinders our performance a little bit. That’s the biggest hurdle. I would say if we had a team with just Eaglecrest players, it’d be easier.”

Actually, Naraoka has been trying to get a water polo club started at EHS, but still needs to gather more interest.

“We do have a couple other players and I know people that would be interested. It would be cool if I could get something started before I leave, since I am a senior. It is unfortunate that I won’t really get to see it grow here as much, but if I could just get it on its feet, most of the other players here are under-classmen, so they could carry it on. I’d love to help get something started and see where it goes in the future, because, believe it or not, water polo is one of the fastest growing sports.”

Despite graduating, and having a different relationship with the sport since his move, Naraoka still plans to have water polo in his future. 

“I plan on playing in college, so that’s what I’m most excited for,” he says. “If I don’t get into any of the colleges like that I would actually really want to go to, I’m probably going to go the junior college route. For me, that path would work better because I don’t feel like I’m where I could and should be academically or athletically. I feel like junior college would be good because I can really grind out water polo, swimming, and boost my GPA.”