A sophomore from Walnut Creek California Andrew Milcovich is quickly becoming a visible figure around campus. Some people know him to be a rising star on the water polo team and others know him as a friendly and down to earth guy. Some see that his performance in the classroom matches that of his performance in the pool.
But what a lot of people don’t know is how he got to where he is today despite the harmful stereotypes some hold about him and his teammates that he has to overcome along the way.
Milcovich says that he started playing water polo around the age of 11 because of his two older brothers one of whom is now a junior who plays for Oakland City University. By the time he was in 9th grade he was playing on the national water polo team for his age group.
However Milcovich was not always solely devoted to water polo. He used to play soccer competitively making it to the state and then divisional teams by 9th grade in the position of keeper. When he made the national team for soccer later that year he had already made the national water polo team. It was at this point that Milcovich realized he’d have to give up one of the sports.
“There’s no way I was going to be able to do water polo and soccer at that level says Milcovich, but I still love soccer. I follow the World Cup like no other.”
Playing in college has been part of Milcovich’s plans since high school.
“My parents would push me to do well and take me to practice all the time he says. I knew at that point that I wanted to return the favor and help them out by getting a good scholarship for college.”
Milcovich went on to receive generous scholarship offers from Pepperdine UCLA and UC Berkeley. Pepperdine stood out to Milcovich because of its small class sizes and based on the fact that “Those other schools already have a strong history in water polo since they’re both top four teams. I want to be able to leave a legacy by helping Pepperdine break into those top four spots.”
As far as pursuing his sport professionally Milcovich plans to take his future as it comes.
“I think that playing professionally would be awesome Milcovich explains. You have to work your way up though before getting paid well. You know if the opportunity comes for me to play professionally that’d be awesome. But if I need to take a break to go to grad school then that’s what I’ll do. If I don’t wind up playing professionally I might like to be a lawyer. I’m not really sure yet.”
Injuries are common in water polo and Milcovich suffers from ongoing tendonitis in his right shoulder.
“It’ll go and it’ll come back says Milcovich, but it’s a common injury in water polo. A lot of guys on our team get shoulder problems.”
Despite what some may think water polo is a contact sport. “The common saying is that under the water anything goes because the ref can’t see anything. Guys throw punches and elbows under the water all the time.”
Milcovich went to De la Sal High School which is widely considered to be one of the biggest high school sports powerhouses in the U.S. with excellent programs in basketball baseball and a football team that in recent years has been ranked No. 1 in the nation. As a result water polo was considered more of a fringe sport there and no stereotypes really affected Milcovich there.
“We weren’t into being ‘meatheads’ and stuff so we weren’t really stereotyped. We were a really humble team.”
Unfortunately Milcovich says Pepperdine is far from void of stereotypes about he and his teammates.
“Yea I get that a lot. I remember one time me and my roomy Bryce were walking around campus one of the first days of our freshman year. We ran into a couple of girls started talking and stuff but when they found out we played water polo they were like ‘Whoa we’re on the soccer team. We’re not supposed to talk to you we’re told.'”
Milcovich said he thought that perhaps the players in previous classes left behind a bad reputation but that things are definitely improving with his class.
“I’d say there are also a lot of neutral stereotypes like that our hair is dead we smell like chlorine a lot and that we’re sunburned all the time Milcovich said with a laugh. I think there’s going to be bad stereotypes wherever you go and it’s just something I’ve got to deal with.”
One stereotype at Pepperdine is that water polo is often considered to be a clique-ish sport where the players only hang out with each other. Milcovich discards this reputation as simple ignorance.
“I still have a great group of friends back at home. You know a lot of people say that we all just hang out with each other but we all really have our separate groups of friends. I’d say I have a core group of friends on the water polo team and a core group of friends who don’t play any sports or anything like that.”
Balancing sports and academics is often said to be a huge problem with college athletes. Many say that most Division I athletes are in college for their sport and not to get an education. “A lot of people think ‘well that’s got to be tough getting up that early and devoting that much time to a sport-and it is'” Milcovich said. “But it’s really a blessing in disguise. My grades during season are actually better than my grades off-season. It seems contradictory but water polo keeps me organized and hard working.” Milcovich’s record seems to do some of the talking for him. Last year he had the highest Grade Point Average on the team with a 3.8 during the first semester which is water polo season and a 3.6 second semester which is off-season.
Milcovich is out to prove that he and his teammates are just as friendly studious and conscientious as anyone else at Pepperdine. He contributes to Pepperdine on a variety of levels-not only is he a gifted athlete who represents Pepperdine well in his sport but more importantly he focuses on the educational and social aspects of being an respectable member of the student body.