BROOKLYN, N.Y. — St. Francis College Brooklyn men’s water polo player Nikita Prokhin (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada) is competing for Team Canada at the World University Games (WUG) in Chinese Taipei/Taiwan. The rising junior took some time out of his busy schedule to give the St. Francis College website, SFCathletics.com, an update on his experiences.
We began training on July 30th and practiced for two weeks straight, having two practices a day most days. The first week we placed an emphasis on getting in our best shape and worked on our team tactics. We would usually swim and do conditioning in the morning and work on shooting and plays at night. The second week we worked mostly on perfecting our strategies and held scrimmages with some guys from club teams across Canada. The training took place at the University of Toronto. Although the practices were really hard at first, we got used to them by the end of the first week. We also placed a lot of effort into developing team chemistry as most of us haven’t played with each other before.
I believe our team has pretty good chemistry for being together for such a short period of time. We all get along well and do not have any problems in the pool. Most of our team has at least some international playing experience, with two guys playing in the Senior World Championships this summer in Budapest, and two others playing at Junior Worlds in Belgrade. Four of my teammates play on the senior national team and one plays for Pacific University. Our coaches have a lot of experience and get along with the players well.
I find the athlete village in Taipei to be an amazing place. The village is hosting over 10,000 athletes from all over the world, and I get to see some pretty famous water polo players and other athletes regularly. It has been a surreal experience so far and I am very happy with how the games have been organized. There are lots of things to do in the village such as game rooms, physical therapy, gift shops and lots of places to try different foods from around the world, all free for the athletes. I am living in a room with my club teammate Filip, who I have known for a long time. I am really happy he is part of the team because he is the only guy I knew before our training camp started. We also have five other guys in our apartment who live in different rooms.
So far we have attended three social events as a team which have included: the flag raising ceremony, the opening ceremony, and the Canada team reception. My favorite part was the opening ceremonies because we got to walk out in a stadium that was filled with fans and people cheering as we walked. It was a surreal experience that I will never forget, and will cherish for the rest of my life. The atmosphere was amazing and the crowd of over 30,000 people were really welcoming to all the athletes. It was very similar to the Olympic opening ceremonies that I see on TV. The flag raising was also a cool experience with some performances by the locals. The purpose of the team Canada reception was to give a welcome to all of our athletes and select a flag bearer for the opening ceremonies.
We visited Taipei 101 as a team. It is the second tallest building in the world and the views from the top were really beautiful. We also visited a Chinese history museum which had various artifacts from ancient China and Taiwan. It was interesting to learn some stuff about Chinese history, and their passion for pottery and other art forms. Recently I also visited a giant Buddhist temple, which had really cool architecture and beautiful gardens around it. Overall Taiwan is an extremely beautiful country with lots of sights, mountains and forests. I would recommend this place to anyone who wants to visit Asia to see its beauty.
We are 2-3 thus far and nearing the end of the tournament (2 games left to play).
Game 1: Canada – Hungary: 3-17
Game 2: Canada – South Africa: 8-4
Game 3: Canada – Serbia: 2 – 28
Game 4: Canada – Great Britain: 6-7
Game 5: Canada – South Africa: 7-6
Game 6: Canada – Korea: play tomorrow
If we beat Korea we will play for 9th place, and if we lose we will play for 11th.
This has been a really cool experience so far and I really happy to be a part of it. However, I cannot wait to get back to SFC and get started on the season with the team.
Information courtesy St. Francis College Brooklyn Athletics Communications
