Youth water polo startup hopes to create far-reaching waves

Ryan Castle has a couple of goals for the sport of water polo locally.

The Highland Park High School water polo coach with NCAA and Olympic-level coaching experience will open North Shore Water Polo this May to: 1. build the sport in the area and state and 2. make the program as strong as possible.

The bonus: His own children are also around the age to learn and appreciate the sport.

“I started the club one to get the sport into the for the young ages,” said Castle, who grew up playing water polo in Cape Town, South Africa “So it’s not very common here in Chicago, with 8 and under 10 and under that type of age group. And whereas it’s very popular for those ages in California, and so I’ve got kids that age.

“So I started the club primarily as an offshoot to support my high school program, but over the long term, by having 8-and-under, 10-and-under, 12-and-under, 14-and-under age groups, so that more and more kids can play our sport.”

Starting May 31, the club will host its programs at the Highland Park High School aquatic facility, utilizing the space as a premier training hub for athletes in grades 1-12.

Castle brings legitimacy to the club. He was the head coach for water polo at Indiana University from 2017-2019 and then at Carthage College from 2019-2022. He also served as an assistant at other major universities (Hawaii, Arizona State and Michigan) and the head coach of the Kazakhstan women’s senior national team.

Castle said that water polo is a sport that will challenge student-athletes and teach new disciplines.

“What’s unique about water polo is it’s a team sport that’s played in the water, whereas every other, most team sports, are played on land, so you’re always walking, you’re always running, whereas in water polo, you’re fighting against the water, and you’re trying to learn some new movement,” Castle said.

“And if you’re able to pick those movements up very early, it changes the whole dynamic from kids really struggling to being able to just be confident in the water and be able to have fun instead of, like, stressing about where their next breath is.”

Castle recently took over as the head coach at Highland Park. Prior to that, he was a club coach at Stevenson High School.

But when the job opened at Highland Park, he quickly talked to the athletic director, joking that his job is now just a walk from his home.

“It’s nice that it’s just down the road I walk to work, and I’m giving back to my community,” Castle said. “That was the biggest draw. I live here, I see the kids down the road. I see them every day, and now they’re kids that I coach.”

While he’s not coaching at Stevenson anymore, Castle said his club is open to student-athletes in that area and beyond locally to allow the sport to grow.

His logic: The better the competition in the area, the better his high school team can become.

“I’m a firm believer that you are only as good as your closest competition,” Castle said.

The lessons for potential athletes begin with a simple offshoot of water polo, called splash ball, which allows children to become comfortable in the water and slowly develop the feel for the game and comfort in the pool.

But another unique aspect of North Shore Water Polo is the addition of coach Ivan Munoz, a local special-education teacher.

“I found out that there was just, there’s a lot of special-ed programs that have disappeared around the country in all sports, and there’s so few activities that cater to kids with special needs,” Castle said.

“They are kids that have hearing challenges, or they’re very sensitive to sounds and that type of thing. Well, this would be a great sport to at least help people get into the water and become water safe. … We just thought it’d be great to offer to the community.”

This summer, Castle’s North Shore Water Polo will bring four teams — one boys and one girls U-16 team and one boys and one girls U-18 team — to the Junior Olympics.

This will serve as one of his purposes of trying to grow the sport and interest in Illinois.

“We’re going to take our kids to go and compete against kids from Washington, Hawaii, California, Florida,” Castle said. “It’ll just be a great experience for them, and it’s also a great thing for our club. As we start, we want to travel and compete against all sorts of kids. We don’t just want to be Illinois only. We want to go out and see play against other teams and travel and compete.”

Find out more information about North Shore Water Polo on the club’s website or email hello@northshorewaterpolo.com.

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