Bakersfield Christian's Trenton Wilson has the look of a swimmer. "He's got some long gangley arms," said 4th year Eagles' water polo coach Amanda Stepp.
Long arms that are perfect for long strokes through the water but two years ago when Wilson first tried out for the water polo team he had trouble swimming. "I think I had the slowest time on the team," he remembers.
Since then he's devoted himself to the game, even taking separate swim lessons to become more natural in the water, and this season it's paying off with his "endurance." "I'm not a big guy in strength," he said. "But I can go for a long time."
Coach Stepp knows that it can be hard to fill a roster for such a demanding sport that's like "swimming, wrestling, basketball and baseball/softball." Wilson gave another analogy saying, "It's almost like a chess game because you have to put people in the right positions."
And that brings us back to his long arms. For coach Stepp, putting him at defender was the easy choice. "He's able to have (his) arm up and just kind of in the defender's face. So if you have shorter arms it's kind of difficult but if you have long and controlled arms it's like passing through a wall," she said.
The Eagles have gotten off to a .500 start to the season but with Wilson's growth on the varsity team, already as a sophomore, the sky's the limit. "I've only got two years left," he said. "So I've got to make the most of it."
Want to have your student featured? Suggest an athlete here.
----
Like Stephen Hicks on Facebook-https://www.facebook.com/StephenHicks23ABC
Follow him on Twitter- https://twitter.com/stephenhicks23
