Water Polo is one of the only professional games that can be played in a pool. Water polo is one of the fastest growing sports across high schools. It ranks sixth for boys according to the National Federation of High Schools. Although it isn’t one of the most watched sports, it is arguably one of the most tiring sports. The average water polo player swims around 1,600 meters.

Xander McWhorter is a senior at Cypress Woods High School and has just been awarded a USA Water Polo All-American award for his performance this past season. McWhorter has been a part of the water polo team at woods for all four years of high school. He’s been a varsity captain ever since freshman year and leads practices. 

“I love playing water polo, I first started playing when I was in middle school and fell in love with it from there,” said Mcwhorter. “It became more official when I got to woods because we were actually representing our school.”

Mcwhorter has been playing water polo for over six years and has never taken a break,” said Mcwhorter. “I never get tired of it, every game is different and it is so much fun playing. The only thing about water polo is that it takes a lot of energy to play.” 

Water polo is mostly watched whenever countries are playing during the Olympics. The USA Men’s National Team has always had successful water polo teams when it came to the Olympics.

“The Olympics are the reason why I found out about Water Polo, one day I saw it on the T.V. and just watched for a while,” said McWhorter. “That’s where I got my inspiration from and the reason why I started playing.

This past summer Mcwhorter got a letter from the USA Water Polo Association giving him the reward for being outstanding. Mcwhorter was a dominant player while maintaining a 4.0 average weighted GPA score. A few other athletes in CFISD received this award as well but McWhorter was the only player from woods to receive it. 

“It felt pretty good honestly, I didn’t expect it but when I first opened it, I knew my practice had paid off,” said Mcwhorter. “ I want to play in college, somewhere like UCLA, I hope one day I might be ably to qualify for the USA team.

As the water polo season begins in the second semester, Mcwhorter is preparing now for his senior season. Keep your eyes peeled on Mcwhorter as he finishes his last season, you might just see him catch gold one day.