Treading water in the fall and spiking in the winter.  This is Evan Bryant’s (11) seasonal athletic schedule for the third consecutive year at West High.  As a freshman with no athletic experience whatsoever, Bryant decided to join both water polo and volleyball in order to “try something new and get in shape.”  He quickly found that the two sports were much more fun than simply methods of toning muscle.  In volleyball, his favorite position is called libero, which is “basically a defensive position on the court.  [He doesn’t] usually hit the ball over the net; [he] just passes it to [his] other teammates.”

Similarly, in water polo, Bryant almost always plays a defensive position in the pool.  However, there are times when he is chosen to do sprinting: a preliminary face-off between one member from each opposing team in which both players race in the water to obtain the ball first.  Bryant shares a personal success tip when it comes to sprinting.  He proclaims that he simply “imagine[s] someone else, anyone, calling [him] weak, in order to provide [him] with the boost of energy [he] need[s]” in order to gain possession of the ball before the other team.

In his free time—though he often does not have very much—Bryant can be found playing Call of Duty on the weekends, or sleeping in copious amounts.  Because he is at practice for a good portion of each day, by the end of the day, Bryant is “so exhausted that [he] [doesn’t] want to do anything else but sleep by the end of the night.

As for the future?  When asked about the possibility of pursuing a career in either of his two sports, Bryant state, “if I were offered a scholarship [for water polo or volleyball], I would take it, but otherwise, I would not consider it.” Instead, Bryant plans to join the Air Force after college; a career path which would be ideal for Bryant, whose countless water polo matches and volleyball games have already rigorously whipped him into shape.