The Olympic dream for a group of players from Ecuador and the US was an unattainable dream eight months ago when Dave Delgado contacted the ministry of sports in Ecuador.  He wanted to discuss forming a national water polo team to represent Ecuador in the 2012 South American games in Brazil with the opportunity of earning at spot at the 2012 Olympic games. The first response was “No” or I should say…"ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!"  The response was solely based on the dismal performance of the previous team during the 2010 South American Games.  Not being one who accepts “no” and loves a good challenge, Dave naturally decided to relentlessly pursue his dream.  After many hurdles and a multitude of closed doors and never ending No’s, he was finally able to obtain approval to form the national team, but with a few caveats. The Minister sternly stated “You will have multiple scrimmages in the US and place respectfully in the top three of each game. All travel, uniforms, training, housing, food and incidentals Is your responsibility. In Brazil you must place in the top two to represent Ecuador in the 2012 Olympics”.  With the blessing from the Minister of sports, Dave began the next phase of his dream.  After being appointed Director of Water Polo the tough part was just about to start.   Now he needed to scramble to raise money, find a coach, organize a team, train a team, secure sponsors and purchase plane tickets.  The next step was a scouting trip to Ecuador to find five or more players and then expedite visas to get them back to the US to train with a group of kids Dave assembled prior to his trip.  The US group consisted of Dave’s seventeen-year-old son, a set of sixteen-year-old triplets and pair of College Coach’s that are brothers, all from Southern California having duel citizenship in the United States and Ecuador.

 In November of 2011 the team was assembled and a coach from Croatia was selected. The players from Ecuador started to arrive and setup camp in Dave’s three-bedroom house. The house has taken on the appearances of a college fraternity with kids sleeping on floor, couches and any available space to help house the team over the next couple of months. All of these players have and will continue to sacrifice hours upon hours to train while trying to balance work, school, club practice to pursue this dream.  The culmination of this dream will come to fruition when they proudly represent Ecuador in Brazil March 19, 2012 and hopefully on to Olympic Dreams in London. 

5th Annual Pacific Winter Classic in Rancho Bernardo CA 2012