The boys’ and girls’ junior varsity (JV) and varsity water polo teams are renting Stanford’s pool for $30,000 to practice in due to the reconstruction of Gunn’s pool.

According to team members, the Stanford pool is perfect for the water polo team requirements, especially in terms of size. “It’s perfect for our standards,” sophomore JV captain Kevin Zhang said. “I think it is worth [the cost] because it will build confidence in our system.” Before, it was hard for varsity and JV to practice at the same time, but the bigger pool makes it possible.

A new measure that was recently passed to fund the new swimming pool at Gunn made paying $30,000 for the Stanford pool possible.

“Stanford was our only option, [there was] no other facility that was suited for our needs,” Assistant Principal Tom Jacoubowsky said.

“A lot of research was done to look at cheaper options, but they were either unavailable, insufficient or inconvenient,” water polo coach Anne-Marie Napolitano added.

However, despite Stanford’s well-maintained facilities and the convenience of having the teams practice together, there are some disadvantages as well.

Team members complained about the nuisance of distance. Instead of walking to the pool right after school, the players have to find rides or carpooling groups to drive to Stanford for practice.

“[Stanford’s pool] is great, but it’s really far away [and] it is not very convenient for most players,” Zhang said.

Additionally, because of the pool construction, there will be no home games. This means that fewer people may be showing up to support the team.

“I think it’s important to have a pool on campus because every high school in our area has these facilities,” Napolitano said. “And as a water polo team, we cannot be competetive without our own pool.”

According to Zhang, the water polo team can’t wait for the new pool to be completed.

The pool should be completed by late spring, but some uncertain factors might delay the construction.

While awaiting the completion of the pool, the team will concentrate on improving their game. With Stanford’s facilities, the water polo team can continue, even with the home-field handicap.