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Neuqua Valley water polo player selected to participate in USA Water Polo ODP National Championships
Rebecca Gray, a freshman at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, Illinois selected to represent the Midwest Zone at 2017 USA Water Polo
Bolingbrook’s Rebecca Gray, a freshman at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, Illinois, has been selected to represent the Midwest/Great Lakes Zone at the 2017 USA Water Polo Olympic Development Program (ODP) National Championships.
Rebecca, a member of the Neuqua Valley Girl’s Water Polo team, will be playing on the Midwest Cadet team, for players born in 2002, at the championship event on March 10-12 in Pleasanton/Livermore, California. This will be Rebecca’s second year representing the Midwest zone at the National Championships as she was a member of the development team at last year’s tournament as an eighth-grader.
In the off-season, Rebecca trains with Naperville’s West Suburban Water Polo Club. She was selected to the Naperville Summer Subdivision Water Polo League All-City team last summer as a member of the Ashbury Alligators, who finished second in the U14 co-ed league.
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ODP serves to identify and develop athletes to represent USA Water Polo throughout national and international competition. ODP serves as the pipeline for the Men's and Women's Junior and Senior National Teams.
The national program is divided into zones, each of which can send one team to the national championships with larger zones allowed to send additional players for combined teams.
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In late 2016, the selection process for ODP began across the country. The combined Midwest/Great Lakes Zone, for players in Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Michigan and Western Pennsylvania was allowed to select up to 14 athletes for each age group team to attend Nationals. Teams were selected after four 3-hour tryouts held over two weekends in December and January, which included water instruction and scrimmages.
The 14 teams will compete in the national championship the weekend of March 10-12 in Pleasanton, CA, just outside San Francisco.
After the national championships, officials will select athletes for National Training and Selection Camp for each age group. Players will participate in national team training and competition that will run from April through August.
