St. Albert water polo players choose gold medal game over graduation

Two St. Albert teens skipped their high school graduation to help their water polo team win gold at nationals. 

Nandor Voros and Emil Loberg, both Grade 12 students at Paul Kane High School, play on the 18U men's team with the Edmonton Tsunamis Water Polo Club. From June 5-7, they played five hard-fought games at the National Finals in Calgary, ultimately helping their team earn its first national championship.

The Tsunamis played five close games throughout the tournament, including the gold medal game against Team Saskatchewan on June 7. The score was tied 3-3 at halftime, but with only a few minutes left in the game, the Tsunamis pulled ahead. They held on to win 9-8, securing the title. 

"I'll never forget that feeling at the end, when this final buzzer sounded, and we just looked at each other, and we're like, this actually just happened, and then all the coaches hopped in," Voros said. "It was a grind of a game, like it was a very hard one, lots of swimming. You know, it's the gold medal game. It's what you expect, very tiring, but that feeling at the end is something that I don't think anything will compare to that."

While they brought home gold, they missed a significant milestone that marked the end of their high school years. However, for Voros, choosing the gold medal game over graduation was a simple decision.

"For me, it was a pretty easy choice," Voros said. "This group, this team — I've known some of those boys since I was like 10. But the team itself, we've been training together for four years now, and we've become so close and such good friends that it was a choice that I knew was so easy, because I just love them all so much. That's my team, and winning nationals with them means way more to me than graduation."

However, the decision wasn't quite as easy for Loberg. He said he initially planned to try to make it back for graduation and had even considered skipping the tournament at one point, but as the tournament progressed, the decision became clear. 

"Just how the weekend unfolded and how everything was so close," said Loberg. "And how everyone really ... it was a fight for everyone, and the emotions I saw in other guys, it just made it clear that the only option was to stay."

Both teens will continue to play water polo next year. 

Voros is headed to Salem University in West Virginia, where he'll play water polo and study sports science, while Loberg has been invited to return to Sweden to play with the national team. 

Voros and Loberg attributed their success to dedication to the sport and extensive practice. 

"I'd say it's like every sport; it all depends on you," Loberg said. "If you put in the work and you want it in any sport, you could go far. I just think with water polo and all these smaller sports, odds are in your favour a lot more, and then there's the community, because it's a small sport, everyone's really tight knit."

Marina Radu-Johnson, the team's coach, said she has been with the group for four years now and has trained them to be ready for high-performance water polo. 

"Once they get to the 17U, 18U age, they're starting to look to be listed to national teams," she said. "And if they don't have that instilled in them already, then coaches are doing a disservice to them. So, I've always really tried to push that, you know, that Olympic dream, so to speak, but to have that work ethic behind them as well."

Radu-Johnson said when Varos and Loberg were playing for nationals, she would watch the games and cheer them on. 

"Each time Nandor played a game internationally with Team Canada, I watched, I cried, I cheered them on, and same thing for Emil," she said. "He went home and played for Sweden this past year in a junior competition. Same thing. I watched all his games, super proud that he was able to showcase how strong we are here in Edmonton."

The win was bittersweet for Radu-Johnson; she said the team's success also marks the end of an era, as seven players, including Voros and Loberg, will graduate. 

"We made it to the top, but now we're losing also because we're losing these players and their mentorship for the next generation coming up," said Radu-Johnson. "So, it's bittersweet. I'm so happy. I'm so proud of them, because I see day-to-day what they put into their training and their goals and their dreams, and that they finally were able to have that come to fruition is a really proud moment for me."