Boys' Water Polo Player of the Year:
SHP’s Vaunted Offense Starts with Andrew Churukian
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But Churukian’s overall impact on the game for the Sacred Heart Prep water polo team — his “gravity” — goes beyond simply scoring goals.
Like baseball turning to more sophisticated analysis of the game to determine a player’s value, it takes a more nuanced eye to see how much Churukian, a junior hole set, gave to the Gators this season.
“He was our third-leading scorer, but he drew 96 ejections,” said SHP coach Brian Kreutzkamp. “There were games he was drawing four or five kickouts a game. Then you throw in the 5-meter (penalty shots) he drew and all the extra-man opportunities he drew for us … He starts everything (offensively for us).”
Churukian helped lead the Gators to West Catholic Athletic League regular season and tournament titles and their seventh straight Central Coast Section title, which was also the CCS’s inaugural Open Division bracket. In the process of winning CCS, Churukian became just the third-ever unanimously voted the best player in the section. The Gators then went on to a second-place finish in the Nor Cal tournament,
And to cap his junior season, Churukian is the Daily Journal Boys’ Water Polo Player of the Year.
“The nice part is, most of our team has been playing together pretty much our entire high school career. Even before we all met at high school, we played for the Stanford Water Polo Club together,” Churukian said. “Just trying to make myself better every day and making the team better, I think that was the goal for everyone (this season).”
The other goal the Gators set was to continue their run as CCS champs and, while the Gators’ streak of championships will, surely, come to an end one day, it wasn’t going to happen in 2017. Not if Churukian had anything to do about it.
“Our goal is definitely winning CCS. There is a little pressure, but it’s a nice pressure,” Churukian said. “This year, it was a whole new game with the Open Division. I think that really got us going. It was a whole new challenge.
“The nice part about the Open Division, it really widened the competition (putting all the best teams in one bracket). So the games before the championship game were tougher, so I think it made it a more fun experience for the players involved.”
Churukian got a nice introduction to the high school hole set his sophomore year by working in tandem with Jackson Enright, the 2016 Daily Journal Boys’ Water Polo Player of the Year. Churukian said the offense ran a dual 2-meter set last season, with he and Enright sharing the hole set chores.
“[Enright] definitely helped me get a lot of experience working with him every day,” Churukian said. “He definitely made me better and helped me learn to be a better set.”
Churukian was on his own this season and excelled. While much of the high school water polo game is predicated on scoring goals, Churukian is already showing off the style of game needed for the college and international levels, where the 2-meter man does not need to physically put the ball in the back of the net to be successful, but helps set up those scoring plays — whether through passes to open teammates or by forcing the opposition to play a man short because of fouls committed against him.
“Every college, every national team, starts with a big man in the middle. Being a 2-meter man, the man in the middle, you need to have a certain mentality,” Kreutzkamp said. “No one, in general, is going to allow goals to go in from two meters. … Big 2-meter men are hard to come by and he fits that mold — 6-4, about 220 (pounds).”
But like the modern elite NBA big man, Churukian is no plodder. He is an explosive swimmer that allows him to transition from defense to offense like that of a player at the driver position.
“He has [CCS qualifying swimming times] in the 50 and the 100, which is very unusual for a kid that size,” Kreutzkamp said. “He can keep up with the smaller guys.”
However, very few opposing players — regardless of their size — can keep up with Churukian.
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Andrew Churukian was not the most prolific water polo goal scorer in the Central Coast Section this season. He wasn’t even the leading scorer on his own team.
But Churukian’s overall impact on the game for the Sacred Heart Prep water polo team — his “gravity” — goes beyond simply scoring goals.
Like baseball turning to more sophisticated analysis of the game to determine a player’s value, it takes a more nuanced eye to see how much Churukian, a junior hole set, gave to the Gators this season.
“He was our third-leading scorer, but he drew 96 ejections,” said SHP coach Brian Kreutzkamp. “There were games he was drawing four or five kickouts a game. Then you throw in the 5-meter (penalty shots) he drew and all the extra-man opportunities he drew for us … He starts everything (offensively for us).”
Churukian helped lead the Gators to West Catholic Athletic League regular season and tournament titles and their seventh straight Central Coast Section title, which was also the CCS’s inaugural Open Division bracket. In the process of winning CCS, Churukian became just the third-ever unanimously voted the best player in the section. The Gators then went on to a second-place finish in the Nor Cal tournament,
And to cap his junior season, Churukian is the Daily Journal Boys’ Water Polo Player of the Year.
“The nice part is, most of our team has been playing together pretty much our entire high school career. Even before we all met at high school, we played for the Stanford Water Polo Club together,” Churukian said. “Just trying to make myself better every day and making the team better, I think that was the goal for everyone (this season).”
The other goal the Gators set was to continue their run as CCS champs and, while the Gators’ streak of championships will, surely, come to an end one day, it wasn’t going to happen in 2017. Not if Churukian had anything to do about it.
“Our goal is definitely winning CCS. There is a little pressure, but it’s a nice pressure,” Churukian said. “This year, it was a whole new game with the Open Division. I think that really got us going. It was a whole new challenge.
“The nice part about the Open Division, it really widened the competition (putting all the best teams in one bracket). So the games before the championship game were tougher, so I think it made it a more fun experience for the players involved.”
Churukian got a nice introduction to the high school hole set his sophomore year by working in tandem with Jackson Enright, the 2016 Daily Journal Boys’ Water Polo Player of the Year. Churukian said the offense ran a dual 2-meter set last season, with he and Enright sharing the hole set chores.
“[Enright] definitely helped me get a lot of experience working with him every day,” Churukian said. “He definitely made me better and helped me learn to be a better set.”
Churukian was on his own this season and excelled. While much of the high school water polo game is predicated on scoring goals, Churukian is already showing off the style of game needed for the college and international levels, where the 2-meter man does not need to physically put the ball in the back of the net to be successful, but helps set up those scoring plays — whether through passes to open teammates or by forcing the opposition to play a man short because of fouls committed against him.
“Every college, every national team, starts with a big man in the middle. Being a 2-meter man, the man in the middle, you need to have a certain mentality,” Kreutzkamp said. “No one, in general, is going to allow goals to go in from two meters. … Big 2-meter men are hard to come by and he fits that mold — 6-4, about 220 (pounds).”
But like the modern elite NBA big man, Churukian is no plodder. He is an explosive swimmer that allows him to transition from defense to offense like that of a player at the driver position.
“He has [CCS qualifying swimming times] in the 50 and the 100, which is very unusual for a kid that size,” Kreutzkamp said. “He can keep up with the smaller guys.”
However, very few opposing players — regardless of their size — can keep up with Churukian.
Sacred Heart Schools Atherton
Founded by the Society of the Sacred Heart, SHS is a Catholic, independent, co-ed day school for students in preschool through grade 12
