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Donations Needed To Support Illpolo.com In
2006
by Aaron Brown
Schaumburg, IL -- What has
started as a decent web site for Illinois High School water polo has
turned into an unbelievable resource. During the high school water polo
season in 2005, more than 1,600
people were visiting Illpolo.com on average to check scores, read stories, check
rankings, and find out anything else they could about what is going on
with high school water polo in Illinois.
As I sat watching the championship game at the
Fenwick Tournament between Fenwick and Brother Rice two years ago, I couldn't help but feel that it was just as exciting as
any high school basketball game that was being played that weekend. Yet
when I checked the newspapers the next day, I saw a half dozen articles
covering basketball and not even a mention of what happened on Saturday
night at Fenwick. The scores were listen in the daily scoreboard and that
was it.
If we are to continue to see
this sport sustain the positive momentum it has gained in the past few
years and continue to grow, then we need to get the maximum exposure for
our players and teams. That is the main purpose of this site...to reward
the players and coaches for all of their dedication and effort. Why should
I sit around and hope that the newspapers pick up a story when I can take
a more proactive approach and simply convince them to print information
about water polo?
I would like to personally
attempt to get as many stories printed in the local newspapers as I
possibly can. Whether I get paid for them or not is not the issue; if the
newspapers would be willing to help us hype up such a great sport then we
may be able to convince other schools that may never have considered water
polo to give it a shot.
The problem is, maintaining
this web site has become a full-time job. Start editing, writing, and
making changes around 11:00am, plan what games to attend and travel to one
or two games at different facilities and take notes. Rush home to check
phone messages, emails, and instant messages for scores and updates. Start updating the scores,
records, and rankings while writing a few stories into the night, usually
until 2:00am. Contacting athletic departments for scores from previous
days the following morning. Sending and receiving nearly fifty e-mails per
day on average. Driving from Barrington to Fenwick on Friday night, then
spending 12 hours at a tournament taking notes the next day. And I love
every minute of it! But I don't know how long I can keep this pace
up...the cost of web hosting, domains, travel, and the time spent
volunteering can be very difficult when all is said and done.
I need your help! My mission
is to ensure that the sport gets the proper coverage that these boys and
girls deserve, starting with this web site and hopefully moving towards
the newspapers. I will do everything I can to make this happen, but if I
could get some assistance I would be greatly appreciative.
Any donations can be made to
No Limit Water Polo, which is a not-for-profit organization. If you are
interested in helping out or have questions, you can contact me by e-mail
at illpolo@yahoo.com, by phone at (847) 331-6520, or by sending
mail to:
Illpolo.com
2220 Briar Hill Drive
Schaumburg, IL 60194
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