Editor's note: Chris Fetterman is the boys' water polo coach at Hoffman Estates High School and a journalism major at Roosevelt University. He will be contributing articles and assisting in the running of Illpolo.com for the 2009 season.

ENTRY #1 - "Writer's Block"

by Chris Fetterman

2.25.09

I have been having a hard time trying to come up with a story to begin my quest as the greatest water polo writer to ever live. I have had countless interviews with coaches, referees and players that never grew out of the game. I still have had the hardest time thinking of a way to knock your socks off.  Something so intriguing that you will want to wake up every Tuesday morning to check illpolo.com, not for scores and detailed highlights but for my next blog entry or story. My hope is to become the Hemingway of water polo…but I would settle for two hits a week. That would mean someone cared enough about water polo or found my thoughts to be interesting enough to check it out each week.  Of course there is always a chance I fail miserably. 

Here is what two hits a week looks like… 

1.   Two people are reading my articles; Aaron Brown, the creator and editor of this web site, and myself.  We both only read the story once. They were so bad that we never bothered reading them again. 

2.  My mom reads Page 2 and loves it so much, she reads it one more time just to meet my “two-hits-a-week” quota.. 

3. Both hits are from me. 

4.  And… last but not least, I have to go to the page 5,000 times myself just to make myself look good.

It is highly difficult to find actual story lines for this sport.  Maybe once the season is underway, but with one month to go, I am at a loss. But, I will try and get the ball rolling here…

First and foremost I would like to thank those of you who have read this far (I can imagine how leaving Facebook for 5 minutes must feel, keep reading)  And I would like to thank Mr. Brown for hiring me on, to hopefully take on some of the burden this site has become. This site as most of you know, started off as a small voluntary job for him and has since turned into the best, not only water polo website, but one of the best sports websites I have ever seen (and I am volunteering for this gig, so I am just being honest) Ok, enough of the sentimental stuff, this is water polo.

A couple of things I hope for… 

1. This site becomes so popular that I we never have to have day jobs again. 

2. I get to go to the page myself 5,000 times, just to make myself look good. (and in case that went over your head, I am ok with going to the site 5,000 times to make myself look good).

3. Will Ferrell quits his George W. Bush one-man-show to start a new one where he reads my stories in front of an audience.

4. I cant walk down the street without being recognized, not as the guy who looks kind of like Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Jack Black, but as that Pulitzer Prize winning writer from Illpolo.com.

I firmly believe at least two of those will happen, but I won’t hold my breath on the others. 

Rather than boring you with my life story, or how I got involved in this sport (wait for week 3), I really just wanted to introduce you to my new page, and give you a little taste of what is to come. 

I am really anticipating an exciting season for both boys’ and girls’ this year.  I am the head coach for the Hoffman Estates Boys’ team (in case you didn’t recognize the face or the name) and I am also the founder of the Beached Whales Water Polo Club.

With water polo making a name for itself in this state, I personally would love to see it grow into something bigger, which is what this whole web site is all about. There are so many people putting in a ton of hours to make sure we all have fun playing the sport we all love so much. So, my contribution, besides attempting a run at the Mid-Suburban League crown, is to write down my ideas, talk to as many people as I can, and write amazing stories that promote this fine game of ours.  

Throughout the season, I am going to try and interview some of the really great people in this sport; veteran coaches, established officials, and some of the sport's top athletes come to mind.

So, despite the few days I have spent staring at my computer screen, typing out different Doogie Howser, M.D. journal entries while humming the catchy theme song, trying to avoid writing my first article, I think this entry will certainly do for now and I hope you are just as excited about what is to come for the 2009 season as I am.   

I am not going to actually worry about two hits a week, or 1,000.  Rather, I am going to write until I get my first comment (hopefully some good ones) or I am asked to become a writer for Scrubs or Curb your Enthusiasm,  whichever comes first.

Good luck to all the teams, coaches and officials this season. I’ll see all of you 'Poolside' soon!