Two Athletes on the Afghanistan National Water Polo Team have Died

Over the past year, I have received phone calls, emails, or questions directly from people that heard what we are doing and ask me questions or say to me:

"Is the Afghanistan National Water Polo Team is a joke?"

"Are you serious?"

"That is too funny. "

"Is this for real?"

Two athletes on the team have died in combat operations in Afghanistan. I was told this today by Rohullah Marouf, the Swim Chair, at the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee. Abdullah Tahiri, Scott McCook, and I were on a conference call with him about the passports for the athletes today. He is trying to get more information on who specifically died.

Once Rohullah said this, and Abdullah translated, I felt like I was going to vomit. Most likely, these athletes were also on the 201st Corps Swim and Water Polo Team, who I spent many months with, training them, teaching them something new, making them smile, and taking them away from the war, even for a few minutes of their lives. These athletes could also have been in the 201st Commando Kandak (Battalion), which meant I probably worked with them every day for a year, spent time with them mentoring them their jobs, drinking tea with them, talking about sports, movies, and current affairs, and even watched soap operas in Farsi with them.

I was thinking about what a short life that these athletes, who were also soldiers in the Afghan National Army, had. I started thinking about their families. What if they were married or had children? Who is going to provide for their family now? Who is going to be the father of their children? Who is going to teach their children to do the right things in life, educate them? Who is going to stop the Taliban from educating these children, taking their families' food, and harming their families? Who is going to protect this family, or the village they live in from the Taliban?

All of these feelings, questions, and concerns, and I still do not know exactly who was killed. Once I know this information, I know I will be sick. I will be sick because I did not move fast enough. I should have:

Moved faster,

Convinced more people to get involved,

Had our elected officials in office move faster,

Somehow convinced some airline executive to provide air travel,

Been more effective in contacting a decision maker at the US Department of State that could provide guidance and support of this project.

Closed deals with affluent individuals and big corporations on donations and sponsorships...

The list is endless of things that I could done better and more of. But the fact remains that there are now two less heroes that Afghanistan could have had. Two less upstanding citizens who really could have unified their country, shown their countrymen what could be accomplished, shown the children of a very poor and war-torn country how to dream, build cultural bridges between Afghanistan and countries of the Western World, and shared their future personal, cultural, educational, and business experiences in other countries with people in their villages, provinces, and country, to make Afghanistan a better place.

I will never be able to talk with these athletes again, shake their hands, hug them, listen to them, see their excitement when they talk about the future, see them with true happiness in the pool, or watch them learn something new.

If I would have just made this project happen more quickly, these athletes would not have been killed fighting the Taliban, or even in a war zone for that matter. They would have been in the United States training as a team for water polo. They never saw a place without war, they never had an opportunity to make their country a better place, they never got to see why America and the Western World are so great, and they never became heroes for their country, a country that needs heroes so desperately.

This was not a case of could have, should have, would have.

This was a case of could not have and should not have had this opportunity in a million years. And then, they died. Before they would partake in the impossible feat of having a national water polo team in Afghanistan that would be following the pathway to the Olympic Dream.

This is for real. This is so real, and I failed to save two lives. My record now for losing people involved in water polo in Afghanistan is three. How many national team athletes has your country's national team lost today, this week, this month, this year, or this decade?

City Council meeting at the City of Newport Beach

This evening I gave a presentation to the City Council of the City of Newport Beach. Dave Kiff, the Assistant City Manager, was the one who put us in front of the City Council after hearing what Scott McCook and I had to say about the Afghanistan National Water Polo Team.

It was a good experience, giving a presentation to the City Council. Even though I rehearsed the presentation many times, I still struggled through the presentation at times. I always felt like I was leaving something out or not telling the whole story. I was afraid that I would not say enough or say too much. I was only slated for seven minutes for all of my slides and questions. In the middle of the presentation, one of the council members asked a question. Even though it was a simple and easy question to answer (something that I should have brought up earlier in my presentation), it threw me off a little. Other than my few stumbles, I did ok and got my points across. We will see what the future holds for the Afghanistan National Water Polo Team and the City of Newport Beach.

You can watch the video at Newport Beach TV: http://newportbeach.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=24&clip_id=953. You can fast forward on the right column by scrolling down on the right side until you see Afghanistan Water Polo or you can sit through the first ten minutes of the city council meeting.

Riding Around Pol-e-Charki

Tom Pfingsten, from the North County Times, in San Diego, expressed interest in doing a story on the team and what we have been accomplishing. Once he established contact with us, we immediately fed him a lot of information, stories, photos, and the few videos we had. He seemed to be putting together a good story.

Since it is Ramadan, the team is not working out and I did not have any video of the Afghanistan National Water Polo Team. Tom wanted video of the team working out and I could not provide it. It is one of the many things that I should have done when I had a chance. But I am only one person and it would have been too difficult, and weird, if I were trying to run the national team tryouts and videotaping the whole thing at the same time.

Tom asked me if I could give him a lay of the land. He decided it would be best, and asked me if I could go around the base at Pol-e-Charki and take photos and video of what was there. He was trying to make a deadline, and since that deadline was in two days, I thought that I should hurry and get it for him. I jumped on an ATV after work and drove around the base. I made a loop, first I by driving to the pool, then to the 201st Corps area, 3rd Brigade, one of the bone yards, and finally back to the area that I live in.

The many videos are quite interesting and can be seen here: http://www.facebook.com/AfghanistanWaterPolo?v=app_2392950137.



Tom's article came out quite well and is the first major news story on us. He even got it placed on the front page of the paper and has a very nice video online (I wonder where he got the footage from). The North County Time's article can be found here: http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/10/01/news/inland/fallbrook/z05238a4ad97f3a4b882574ce0008fad4.txt.

It is very exciting that we were able to kick off our awareness campaign this way. Scott McCook did a great job getting the North County Times motivated to do a story. We will see what kind of response that we will get from this.

Planning

Through various discussions with Leilani about the idea of a national water polo program, we decided to open an exploratory committee. I contacted water polo coaches from the United States to see what their thoughts were on the possibility of developing a national water polo program in Afghanistan, what it would take, milestones, and what possible measurable results could be achieved, if any. The feedback I received from members of the water polo community was outstanding. Everyone was very supportive and offered quality feedback. They reinforced my thoughts and also provided some good ideas as well.

Based on this information, I decided to move forward. This project could not be remotely completed without the support of Leilani, and of a team. First, I made sure that Leilani would be supportive and I also convinced her to help me start a non-profit organization, assuming that my next meeting with the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee goes well, and if it even occurs. I also called my mother, Jane Piasecki, and some fellow coaches, Bahram Hojreh from Los Alamitos Water Polo, and Grier Laughlin from Colorado Water Polo to see if they would support the project as well. I also called some other individuals that I felt would be very helpful in this project but unfortunately were unable to help because their schedules would not permit. I also called Scott McCook, a parent of a former player of mine. I caught him out of the blue on a Saturday morning. He was probably thinking I was calling from somewhere locally (Southern California) to catch up, not to be calling him from Afghanistan to talk to him about the potential of this project and the possibility of his involvement. Ironically, when I first told him the reason I was calling, he paused and then asked me to repeat what I said. Not because I mumbled or that he did not hear me, but because he had to process what I was telling him, “Water Polo and Afghanistan.” I actually think that I caught most people that I called or emailed off guard like that, Scott’s response was just classic.

Now with a good, reinforced plan in my head, and the support that I need at hand, I am confident for my next meeting with the Swim Chair. I hope that they Afghanistan National Olympic Committee will have interest in this idea. We will see what happens.