The Olympic dream for a group of water polo players from the United States and Ecuador seemed unattainable 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, and possibly earning a spot in the 2012 Olympic games. The response was "absolutely not!" The answer based solely on the dismal performance of the previous team during the 2010 South American Games. 

Being someone who loves a good challenge, and not one who accepts “no” for an answer, Dave decided to relentlessly pursue his dream.  After many hurdles and rejections, he was finally able to obtain approval to form the national team. But there were some conditions. The Minister sternly stated Dave will have to have multiple scrimmages in the U.S., and place respectfully in the top three of each game. All travel, uniforms, training, housing, food and incidentals would be his responsibility. And in Brazil, he would have to place in the top two to represent Ecuador in the 2012 Olympics.  

Under those requirements, Dave began the next phase of his dream, but the tough part was only just begining.  After being appointed Director of Water Polo, 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 United States to train with a group of kids Dave assembled prior to his trip. The U.S. group consisted of Dave’s seventeen-year-old son, a set of 16-year-old triplets, and pair of college coaches who are brothers from Southern California, all having dual U.S and Ecuadorian citizenship.

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 the 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.