California dreaming

After winning a national championship last season, the United States’ top university men’s water polo squad is taking on the world’s premier competition at the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games.

As is the case for its basketball and volleyball entries, the USA sent one unified side to Germany in the pool sport, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), rather than a selection of all-stars from multiple schools.

“It’s cool coming to a tournament where the team chemistries are already really high,” said field player Trey Doten, a 22-year-old social sciences student. “We’re missing a couple guys that are with the senior team, but having this opportunity for people to be in roles where they might have to shoot the ball more or they’re getting more minutes is really just a great experience, and that’s why we came all the way out here.”

While they’re the top dogs in their national university circuit, the NCAA, the international game provides a completely different set of challenges.

“We see a lot of things that we won’t see in the U.S.,” offered Boden Brinkema, 19, also a field player pursuing social sciences. “Just different styles of play and it’s great for all of us to get this great experience.”

California love

Water polo in the United States is dominated by the west coast state, where sunny days, warm weather, and beaches reign supreme. Universities from California have captured every national title since the sport’s NCAA introduction in 1969, and every USA male player at Rhine-Ruhr 2025 hails from the Golden State.

“Most of the teams you’ll see are in California,” Doten said of university matches played within the country. “Getting a chance to travel with your team where most of the time we kind of stay in our own state is a really cool experience.”

Because of this, as well as the popularity of other sports, water polo has a smaller following in the USA. Despite that, Doten calls it “the hardest sport in the world.”

“I think it’s just as physical as any other sport,” he explained. “You’re swimming up and down the pool, you can’t touch the bottom. There’s an aspect of having to hold your breath sometimes, all that good stuff. No disrespect to other sports. Obviously, I’m biased,” he added with a smile.

“It’s an absolute team sport”

This isn’t UCLA’s first international competition as a team, as the Bruins were UniUSA’s selection for the 2023 FISU Games in Chengdu, China. There, the side finished in fourth place after qualifying for the medal round.

Doten, a team captain, spoke of how much of an invaluable experience participating in international meets as a team provides.

“Getting to play internationally, it’s a bit of a different style,” he explained. “It’s more physical, it’s more intense. Games are a lot closer. It just helps us kind of build that camaraderie amongst each other. It makes us a little tougher, a little smarter.
You got to think ahead a lot of time during the game.”

Ultimately, at home or abroad, Doten says that the sport is reliant upon chemistry and cohesion.

“It’s an absolute team sport,” he explained. “You can’t do it by yourself. You need six guys and a goalie, and, you know, it doesn’t work without the whole group.”

The USA men secured their first win of the competition on Monday, a 19-8 victory over New Zealand, after narrowly losing to Germany and Hungary.

The men’s quarterfinal round starts on Wednesday, 23 July at ASC Duisburg.

The Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU World University Games take place from 16-27 July. Watch all the competitions live on fisu.tv. Click on the link to find the full schedule.

Written by Fisher Madsen, FISU Young Reporter, USA

The Young Reporters Programme exemplifies FISU’s commitment to more than sports competitions. At every FISU World University Games, a group of talented aspiring sports journalists are chosen to cover the competition.