U.S. ladies’s water polo, with an unlikely hype man, eyes Olympic historical past — and alter for the game

Taste Flav realizes it’s an sudden crossover.

The rap icon as soon as had solely a obscure consciousness of water polo, as he’d seen Olympic matches on tv. However Flav has a brand new appreciation for the game, marveling on the immense stamina required to play it, after lately signing a five-year sponsorship deal to function the official hype man for the U.S. ladies’s and males’s nationwide water polo groups.

“What type of relationship does rap have with water polo? None,” stated Flav.

Till now.

How the collaboration got here collectively is well-documented: Maggie Steffens, the U.S. ladies’s group’s longtime captain, posted a photograph of the gamers on her Instagram in Could with a caption outlining challenges the athletes typically face, together with that gamers sometimes work a number of jobs whereas pursuing their Olympic goals. She referred to as on her followers to observe and assist ladies’s sports activities.

Flav, who stated his supervisor initially flagged the publish, responded to the decision, pledging his assist. Thus, an unprecedented partnership was born. He and Steffens appeared collectively final Monday on “CBS Mornings,” the place Flav introduced he would give $1,000 to every group member and a Virgin Voyage cruise to the squad.

The 65-year-old Rock and Roll Corridor of Famer instructed The Athletic he plans to attend the Paris Video games, cheering on the group as they purpose for a fourth straight Olympic gold medal, a feat that has not but been completed by any males’s or ladies’s water polo group.

“I’m there to hype them up. I’m there to try to get them into that spirit of winning that fourth gold medal,” Flav stated with a confidence befitting his function. “… And I know we can do it. We’re gonna get it.”

Flav additionally stated he plans to attend the ladies’s group’s remaining pre-Olympic residence match towards Hungary. He wrote in a publish on X he’ll be at Tuesday’s match in Berkeley, Calif., and can take photographs and signal autographs “before and after the game but not during the game” so he can keep locked in.

Imma be on the sport on Tuesday,,, I will likely be taking photographs and signing autographs earlier than and after the sport however not through the sport,,, all of us right here to cheer on these ladies https://t.co/8AHYAtzE0R

— FLAVOR FLAV (@FlavorFlav) July 3, 2024

“I’m trying to get as many people as I can involved,” he stated. “Hopefully what I’m doing will open up the doors for other celebrities like myself to help sponsor these Olympic teams, because these (athletes) are out there busting their butts to make the United States look good.”

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The U.S. ladies’s water polo group has welcomed the extra eyeballs as they go for an Olympic report. Coach Adam Krikorian, who has guided the US to extra Olympic golds than any coach on any group in ladies’s water polo, referred to as it “a sport that’s been starving for attention and looking for notoriety.”

“We are a team that feels like, at times, we go unnoticed,” he stated. “And so, when you have someone who’s in the spotlight share their love and their passion for our team, it’s touching. We love it. We embrace it. We hope it inspires others to hop on.”

Krikorian stated he doesn’t thoughts if Flav’s curiosity encourages a bandwagon group to comply with their journey this summer season: “We’ll take ’em all. You didn’t need to be with us in the beginning.”

What any new followers will likely be rallying round is a squad synonymous with success. Since he was employed in 2009, Krikorian and the U.S. ladies have gone on a staggering run, claiming gold on the final three Olympics and 6 of the final 9 world championships.

However Krikorian — a former UCLA water polo standout who calls the late basketball legend John Picket his teaching idol — is much less involved with the outcomes. The scores don’t even come up when his workers reevaluates a observe or a sport. He preaches presence over perfection, a philosophy he highlighted when discussing Emily Ausmus, an attacker who Krikorian stated has taken on a bigger function as a defender “headfirst.”

At 18 years previous, Ausmus is the group’s youngest participant and represents a corps with no Olympic expertise on a roster practically cut up between first-time Olympians (seven) and returners (six). That have degree is a shift from the final Olympic cycle in Tokyo in 2021 when most gamers have been a part of the group that additionally gained gold in Rio in 2016.

On the alternative finish of the expertise spectrum is Steffens, who helped lead the U.S. to gold on the final three Video games. On the Tokyo Olympics, she turned the all-time main scorer in ladies’s Olympic water polo. And if the U.S. ladies get gold in Paris, Steffens will change into the primary water polo participant to win 4 Olympic gold medals in a row.

Steffens, 31, can rattle off a listing of youthful gamers on this yr’s roster with whom she related in earlier phases of life, highlighting the full-circle expertise for her this Video games:

— Ryann Neushul, 24, is the third Neushul sister Steffens will play with on the Olympics. “I remember when she was just a kid,” Steffens stated;

— Jenna Flynn and Steffens posed collectively for a photograph on the Rio Video games when Flynn was a younger fan. “Now she’s at Stanford and here on Team USA and one of my closest friends on the team, and we’re 11 years apart.”

— Jewel Roemer is a Northern California native like Steffens, and Steffens grew up attending males’s scrimmages at Diablo Valley School coached by Roemer’s father. “I remember getting cute videos from (Jewel) saying, ‘Good luck.’”

— Ausmus attended camps and clinics organized by Steffens’ firm, 6-8 Sports activities. “(She was) somebody we talked about five, six, eight years ago, like, ‘Oh my gosh, this girl’s so good and we’re really excited to see her potential.’”

“We’ve really created this special bond,” Steffens stated of the youthful group. “And I think as much as they look up to me as a leader and have looked up to me since they were kids and followed that path, I think what’s really amazing is I look up to them just as much.”

Steffens is honest in her reward, as she is in her perception in her teammates. Ashleigh Johnson, who’s making her third Olympic look with Group USA, referred to as Steffens “a dreamer in all senses.”

“When you’re around Maggie, anything is legitimately possible,” stated Johnson, 29, the group’s goalkeeper who’s broadly thought of one of the best on the planet at her place. “She’s our captain, but as her friend, she will build a way for any dream to come true. And if you believe something, she believes it and you guys are going to accomplish it together.”

For instance, Johnson stated, Steffens sometimes encourages others whereas grinding via the toughest elements of coaching or pushing via a remaining swim set. Outdoors of the pool, Steffens is the one to land in a brand new metropolis after 24 hours of touring and both have a full itinerary prepared or discover with no plan. She has an “Energizer Bunny attitude,” in response to Johnson.

That boundless vitality has carried over into different sides as Steffens and Johnson have change into de facto ambassadors of their sport, a task that wasn’t at all times pure to them. In 2016, Johnson turned the primary Black girl to make the U.S. Olympic water polo group. She stated, over time, she’s felt extra empowered to talk about her experiences, share her story and champion range to encourage others.

Steffens, who joined the group when she was 15 years previous, stated it’s taken her 15 or 16 years to seek out her voice by way of advocating for ladies’s athletes and extra brazenly discussing the monetary challenges of pursuing the game.

Olympic water polo coaching takes place in Southern California, an space of the nation with a notoriously excessive value of residing. In an Olympic yr, coaching is six days every week and is actually a full-time job for the athletes, Steffens stated.

Payouts on the Video games rely on the game, nation and end, however the Worldwide Olympic Committee and every sport’s governing physique haven’t historically paid winners. In a first for a world federation, World Athletics, which oversees monitor and discipline, introduced in April it might award $50,000 in prize cash to gold medalists on the Paris Video games.

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee gave athletes $37,500 for profitable gold, $22,500 for silver and $15,000 for bronze on the Tokyo Olympics.

Steffens stated she would play water polo — which doesn’t have knowledgeable ladies’s league within the U.S. — if she made no cash and needed to sofa surf, however her hope is for future water polo athletes to not should work different jobs to assist themselves whereas performing on the highest degree.

“I would love to see in the future people retire much later in their career because they can afford to keep playing water polo and don’t feel like they have to retire at 22 to get a ‘real job,’” she stated.

Any assist helps, Steffens stated, and Flav’s sponsorship is an instance of the payoff she’s seen after posting concerning the matter.

“One thing that I love about water polo and about our team is it’s a very head-down, humble, hard-work mentality,” Steffens stated. “And one of my dreams is to leave the sport and the women in this sport better than when I came in, and hopefully provide more opportunity, provide more exposure, let their stories be told, let their names be heard.”

Steffens is aware of there’s extra work to do and extra followers to rally. However every one counts, and up to now, she’s hitting her targets.

(Prime illustration of Maggie Steffens and Taste Flav: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; photographs: Ronald Martinez / Getty Pictures, Jerod Harris / Getty Pictures for The Recording Academy)