South Florida WPC impresses at the 2026 Sunshine State Games
Last weekend marked the 46th year of the famed Sunshine State Games, a club level sports competition hosted by the Florida Sports Foundation that includes sports such as archery, artistic swimming, figure skating and of course, water polo. It was on Father’s Day Weekend that the water polo competition was held at the large Coral Springs Aquatics Complex that South Florida Water Polo Club would assert its dominance over the elder age groups and gained valuable experience competing within the younger age groups.
Starting with our beloved 12U team, the young group of athletes led by slightly more experienced athletes such as David Shumilin and Robert Yuzhakov, did not necessarily achieve the results they desired, however, there was much learning to be had as majority of the team was constituted of athletes competing in their first ever tournament such as Eva Romanova, Daniel Vilalobos and Pavel Rehmus. The young group competed hard to earn themselves a fourth-place finish.
The 16U contingent saw a similar outcome after their four-game stint at the Sunshine State Games, a team led by club veteran Diesel Warywoda and by up and coming youngsters in Matthew Lapin and Jake Corbett, would see themselves win one game of the four, however, the team was a large mix of 16U and many younger athletes with the average age of the team being only 14 years old. The group had a great opportunity to learn together and saw multiple standout performances, especially from 13-year-old goalkeeper Lorenzo Zuluaga who got his first chance to play in the 16u age division.
While the younger contingents of our club did not medal, they gained experience and had an opportunity to watch the elder age groups of the club compete and show the standard of South Florida Water Polo Club. In the 18U division, would mark the last major age group tournament for the incredible group of athletes that had come through the club that graduated earlier this summer and will soon be going on their own paths. The 18U team began their first-place winning campaign with two victories on the first day of the tournament, defeating Team Orlando in the first game with a 11-9 score and then thrashing Hialeah Storm with a 12-4 score. Due to a massive storm that delayed the tournament on Day 2 of the tournament, the bracket deciding game was postponed after the first quarter of play, to be played the next day at 7 AM, our tired and weary boys would manage to turn around a 1-3 halftime deficit to defeat Orlando Thunder by a 5-3 score to ensure that they would get to play for a gold medal later that day. The 18U final was played on Sunday afternoon, though the game started sloppy from our boys, they kept the lead the whole first half and in the second half pulled away to win 9-5 against Miami Wolverines to win the Sunshine State Games 18U Men’s Division.
The tournament marks the end of several athletes’ time as age group athletes as they graduate high school and graduate completely from age group play to compete strictly in the masters age group. This group of boys have been the most recent generation of South Florida Water Polo Club dominance in Florida, beginning all the way back in 2022 when they would win the 13U division at the Annual South Florida WPC’s International Tournament, it would set off a chain of events that would see the group dominate age group play in the region medaling in nearly every major event the region hosted, while also proving the club to be one of the premier water polo programs in the nation including a 2022 USAWP Dallas Junior Olympics 14U Division gold medal run, 2023 USAWP Dallas Junior Olympics 16U Division gold medal run, 2024 USAWP Session 1 Junior Olympics 16U Division Gold Bracket gold medal run and a 2025 USAWP Session 1 Junior Olympics 18U Division Gold Bracket gold medal run. Congratulations these incredible seniors who have given so much to the club; Lev Konnikov, Chris Bennett, Matthew Orsini, Sam Eastaugh, Leo Blaya, Max Possin, Evan Miller, Juan Lopez, Arsen Paliy, John Corbett, Milo Cupic, Magnus Warywoda, Thiago Ometto and Holden Harkins.
While they were winning the 18U division, the 18U boys were also playing up in the Open Men’s Division, alongside another contingent from our club of elder more experienced players that included many former NCAA collegiate players and some players who even played some professional water polo overseas. Incredibly, both of our teams ended up matching up in the gold medal match bringing a playful and enjoyable end to the Sunshine State Games campaign where the elder masters would handle the younger and tired 18U masters team in the final.
The 18U masters team saw their path to the final start rough, playing a fantastic game against Team Orlando they would only lose by three goals to a team of many current NCAA collegiate players and that was spearheaded by a former twenty-year professional water polo player, our young team battled hard and only lost the game in the dying minutes to their more experienced opposition. However, the loss would only spur on the young group that would go on to defeat the local powerhouse masters program of Miami Riptides, led by the offensive prowess of University of the Pacific commit, Sam Eastaugh, tactical know-how and an impressive job between the goalposts led by goalkeepers Rafael Blaya and Marcell Varhalmi, who teamed up to stop three of Riptides’ four penalty shots would see South Florida defeat Riptides with a 12-9 scoreline. Following the impressive victory, the 18U team would continue to double time between the 18U division and Open Men’s division, defeating Patriot and Neptunes masters programs, our 18U team would line themselves up into the final on Saturday afternoon.
Our elder masters saw an undefeated path to their well-earned gold medal, beginning the tournament early on Saturday morning at 7 AM they would slam Miami Riptides with a 17-5 scoreline, however, the lopsided scoreline did not play in their favor headed into the second game of the day against Team Orlando. Team Orlando would take an early lead to finish the first quarter 1-5 in favor of Orlando and the second half would begin with a score of 5-9 in favor of Team Orlando, however, our experienced masters proved their steel and resilience as they would erase Team Orlando’s lead in the third quarter to make sure the fourth quarter would begin with a 10-10 scoreline, now in full momentum and spurred on by the loud cheering of the 18U team that was warming up for the game after them, the elder masters would find several openings on the counterattack that would seal the game in favor of our masters with a 15-13 score. The victory over Team Orlando would mean that a win against Tampa’s masters program would seal our elder masters into the final, they would deliver big time, the Sunday morning game was a victory for our South Florida masters with a 7-4 scoreline.
The final between the two teams began in the favor of the stronger, more experienced elder masters who benefitted from the 18U team being on their fifth game of the day. The elder masters would take an early lead in the game that they would only build on and never relinquish, outside of the large score deficit, the match was full of smiles, playing around and enjoyment, the best way to end a long weekend in the scorching and humid Florida weather.
