It’s been more than 20 years since I played in high school, but I remember thinking the robes were pretty cool until we looked into buying them for our team. Back then it was mostly TruWest that had the stranglehold on water polo “stuff”. Now that’s all, more or less, migrated to Kap7. The cool gear available for water polo is so ungodly expensive. Only the elite programs in affluent areas can afford the stuff, which isn’t a positive reflection of a sport we’re trying to grow. I was hopeful that growth in Texas would bring more vendors into the sport and drive down costs. That can still happen, but for now, nothing will go anywhere so long as Schumacher/Wigo Corp are ripping people off.
The other marketing problem I’ve noticed since I was a kid is the drab blue/white cap contrast, especially at the international level. I played when we switched from flags to hands, and the colors should have immediately switched with them! High school and college have been a little creative, but seeing China in blue caps, or the Dutch in anything but orange is kind of a bummer. Even the USA caps, whose colors fit into the rules, are so BORING!
It’s been more than 20 years since I played in high school, but I remember thinking the robes were pretty cool until we looked into buying them for our team. Back then it was mostly TruWest that had the stranglehold on water polo “stuff”. Now that’s all, more or less, migrated to Kap7. The cool gear available for water polo is so ungodly expensive. Only the elite programs in affluent areas can afford the stuff, which isn’t a positive reflection of a sport we’re trying to grow. I was hopeful that growth in Texas would bring more vendors into the sport and drive down costs. That can still happen, but for now, nothing will go anywhere so long as Schumacher/Wigo Corp are ripping people off.
The other marketing problem I’ve noticed since I was a kid is the drab blue/white cap contrast, especially at the international level. I played when we switched from flags to hands, and the colors should have immediately switched with them! High school and college have been a little creative, but seeing China in blue caps, or the Dutch in anything but orange is kind of a bummer. Even the USA caps, whose colors fit into the rules, are so BORING!