*Editor’s Note: PA won against Cox on 11/6, making this the school’s first championship win.

PA’s water polo team has finished the regular season and will attempt to win big at the championship game this weekend.

Water polo has been around for the last four years, and the team plays at local recreation centers or any available pools that can be used to play. For now, only four of the 12 high schools in Virginia Beach have a water polo team, so it’s “one big club” according to Coach Christopher Hakim. Though the number of participants has doubled recently, there are not enough players for all 12 high schools, so the teams are currently co-ed.

Water polo is a team sport consisting of seven players, combining soccer and basketball-like skills with the tinge of a wrestler’s attitude. Using a ball that’s the size of a volleyball, the objective is to score as many goals as possible to win the game, but there’s a twist: players can only use one hand for throwing. It takes intense strength, skill, and stamina to play water polo.

Senior Brett Sill, who has been playing water polo since he was 10, said one goal for the team is to “promote the sport so more people know about it” and to “mentor and develop younger players.”

The team has been dominating this season, ranking as the first seed with a 4-0-1 record against Cox, Ocean Lakes, and Kellam. Each team has its own captains, and Sill leads the team in goals for Princess Anne.

Sill said the team will “use strategies for helping on defense” to prepare for the playoffs this weekend. Sill plans to continue playing water polo in college, and already has several offers to play at Division II and Division III schools.