In most major sports like Football and Basketball, North Atlanta engages in fierce competition with rival schools such as Midtown or Maynard Jackson. However, on the APS Water Polo team, the Warriors and other schools in the district must go from enemies to rivals. The APS Knights represent schools from all over the metro Atlanta area, bringing together student’s love for the sport of water polo. North Atlanta students Thomas Maiellaro, Trey Vuicich, Teddy Meredith, and Jake Curcio are among the APS Knights, representing the Warriors in the pool. Recently, the Knights fought for a third-place finish in the Georgia High School Water Polo State Championships. With the Warriors at the helm of the team, there’s no challenge the Knights can’t overcome.
With many different students from many different schools across APS, it can be hard to come together and bond as a team. Especially when those students come from rival schools. However, when fighting for the common goal of bringing home championships for APS, the Knights transform into a formidable team, glued together by their love for the sport. “We may not be the closest team out of game days, but when we’re out there in the pool, it feels like we have known each other for years the way the game flows,” said Senior Trey Vuicich.
Over fall break, the most successful and formidable water polo teams across the state came together for the annual Georgia High School State Water Polo Championships, a time to show off the talent teams have displayed all season on the biggest stage. The APS Knights were able to do just that, achieving a third-place finish, the third over five years. The APS B team was also able to shine, finishing in fourth place out of all the teams in their region. These impressive finishes wouldn’t have been possible without the help of warriors like Maiellaro, Vuicich, Curcio, and Meredith on the A team as well as Evan Dickson and Max Cook on the B team. “It may not have been a first-place finish,” said Curcio, “but it still felt amazing to go toe to toe with some of the best teams in Georgia, repping North Atlanta throughout the whole process.”
Teaming up with rival schools may be an unconventional game plan, but for the APS water polo team, it’s the only way to success. In fact, without a unifying bond between North Atlanta and other APS schools, there may not even be a team, let alone a winning one. Thanks to the immense talent of the Warriors, the Knights have many years of success in the pool to come.
