As he may try, Jack Wagner cannot stay away from the game he loves.
Wagner, who left the post after a highly successful run as Girls Water Polo Coach at Fenvic High School in Oak Park after the 2020 season, returned to the pool.
Fenvic won the nine state championship as a coach with Wagner. He was also for the 10th state title, but before the IHSA officially recognized the girls’ water polo.
A delivery driver for years for the final mile X, a company that distributes food and beverages at a restaurant in the Chicago region, prefers his job, but “something missing in my life,” he Said.
It was a familiar feeling, because it was not the first time he left Fenvic. She was the head coach of the Girls Water Polo Team at the Catholic School in Oak Park from 1993 to 1998 before leaving for a two -year term as an assistant coach for the Women’s Water Polo Team at Indiana University in Bloomington. He returned to Fenvic for another successful two decades in 2000.
“When I went the second time, I had an additional 20 years there and I was not sure I could do something else,” Wagner said. “Yes, I could live there and continue coaching, but I was worn down.”
Along with the arrival of Kovid -19 epidemic, his son’s graduation from Fenvic in 2020 convinced him to retire.
“It was just a very good way to wrap everything,” he said.
A few years later, a stunning phone call of fengic authorities returned its attention to coaching.
“They wanted me to recommend some people for a job,” said Wagner. “Then, in about 24 hours, I received a phone call from the athletic director, in which I was asked to come and meet with the principal and chairman of the school.”
If he wanted to come back, the job was his. Wagner was a pleasant surprise. He said that “they are going to give me some more money this year,” he said.
He said, “I am very grateful to him that they think enough to bring me back.” “We are going to be the best that we can see how to get ourselves in a better situation.”
The coaching is in the blood of Wagner – his first coaching position was at the age of 18 in Portage Park in Northwest Side, Chicago.
Water Polo, he said, “My favorite games, hockey, with basketball” mixes elements “.
“The strategy they have for hockey or basketball applies that we try to do in the polo of water. It is trying to get a good open shot with a lot of off-the-ball activity to cross the ball, protect and get itself a good open shot, ”said Wagner.
As in those games, defense, “without a doubt,” is the key to victory.
The score of an average game is 9–7 or 10–6, he said. This may look like a very crime, “but it is when you stop and when you get those stops that change the game.
“You can always understand a way to score. But if you find out how to stop another team, then you have a better chance to win, ”he said.
win? He is well aware of it.
During the 2019 season, Wagner won his 600th match with Fenvic.
His team won three direct state titles from 2004 to 2006. Between 2000 and 2017, his teams lost less than 100 matches. His last state crown was in 2016.
Announcing his comeback, in a news release, Beto Garcia, director of Fenvic Aquatics, said Wagner has “made a career for the achievement of decades”.
Garcia said, “They not only changed the teams, but also shaped the lives of countless athletes, who have gone to the pool to achieve greatness.”
Wagner, a graduate of Lane Tech High School, said he learned how to play water polo in the pool in Portage Park.
It is a famous pool in Chicago and Olympic history. This is the place where veteran Mark Spitz qualified for the 1972 American Olympic swimming team. He later won seven gold medals in Munich.
Wagner was in the park, working as a timer, when Spitz auditioned. “It was great, I met you to tell you,” he said.
Wagner loves water polo because “it holds your grip in a way,” adding it “I got the opportunity to expand my aquatic athleticism.”
Wagner, who was elected to the Illinois Water Polo Hall of Fame in 2005. The game has a long history.
He started the Chicago Polo Beer in 1988, which became Windy City Water Polo in 1998. He served as the coach of USA Water Polo Midwest Zone for boys from 1990 to 1998. He was the USA Water Polo Assistant Coach for the Men’s Junior National Program. 1992 to 1998. And, as an assistant coach with him, the US Mains Junior National Team won the Pan-American Gold Medal in 1997.
“Like any other team game, how does you get responsibility, accountability, with those you cannot get normally. And it teaches you a lot of things that you need the rest of your life, ”Wagner said.
Fenvic athletic director Scott This called Wagner a “all-time great”, saying that he is “known for construction teams, determines high expectations and everyone gets to bring their best every day.”
Team building is his most important task.
“Our season starts from March 3 that gives us about five weeks,” he said on 22 January. “We have a number of problems. We have to include more people. We are young, very young. We have some obstacles to climb. We are looking at girls to play.
“I have to do a lot. This is going to be awesome. I am excited that they are allowing me to do so. And I am even more excited that I have to go back to a place that is an integral part of my adult life, ”he said.
Wagner returned to Fenvic’s pool on 19 January. “To find a locker, put some shirts and shorts in it.”
“I went in and I had some trepidation. I was not sure how I was going to feel. Now I walked around the pool, I said, ‘It is good to come back’, “Wagner said.
He knows that anything remains forever, but the 61 -year -old Wagner is planning to live for a while.
“I am confident that I will stay here until I decide to stop working,” he said.