Winter Party

Sunday afternoon was the annual Christmas celebration for all of Bergamo Nuoto (Bergamo Aquatics). It was a full day party that gathered all the teams that train at the facility; Swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, and of course water polo. While the festivities were mainly geared as a showcase for the younger programs to show their parents a sincro routine or a new dive, they also wanted some of guys from the mens polo squad to show their face and help out. I arrived to the pool and clearly was not ready for what I was getting into. There must have been 200 kids running all around the pool deck completely crazy like they just downed 15 pixie stix.
I am quickly becoming some sort of a celebrity to the little polo kids. They always rush up in groups of 4 or five like they have something very important to tell me. About halfway through their intense story they finally realize that I can’t understand them. They look to one another to see if anyone else could translate but they r all around 10 or 11 years old and only know the basic English introductions. Because I’m about at the same spot in my quest to conquer the Italian language the conversation dies and it quickly turns into a wrestling match where they all try to bum rush me and I end up throwing them all in the pool. They love it, coming back for more and more wanting to be thrown higher and farther.
After all the sincro teams (ages 8 to 26) gave their performances they gathered a few people from every one of the programs and split them up on two teams. There must have been 20 people on a team with 2 guys from our mens squad on each. They then put the goals in the pool and threw in 6 water polo balls and had a fun scrimmage. The best part was when the really little kids got too tired and they came up and used me as a buoy. I would then swim them down near the cage with them on my back, steal a ball from one of the teenage polo punks and let the little sea monkey that was warped around my neck take a shot. They were so stoked!
After the polo match they split up everyone into teams of 10 and had a relay race. The senior sincro squad made a personalized speedo for me that said “I ♥ Sincro” on the back in green sequence pieces. They thought it was hilarious and I didn’t care so rocked it while they sported their “I ♥ Water Polo” suits. I think our team cheated and only had 8 swimmers because we finished way ahead of everyone else. Our kids didn’t seem to notice as they celebrated by holding up their finger to show their friends on the other teams that they were #1.
It was a great day where I was able to meet a lot of kids, parents, and other supporters of the aquatics programs. I really feel so fortunate to have come to such a great town with amazing people.

-Bus #10