For water polo player Janson Wigo, opportunity struck before halftime in the opening match of the Four Nations Tournament this past weekend.
“The shot clock was down to six seconds,” said Wigo, who is aiming for a spot on the United States men's water polo Olympic roster. “I had the ball, and there was a drop, so it was my shot, and I just leaned to the right and shot to the left side of the goal, and it went in.”
His lone goal of the weekend gave the U.S. a two-goal lead in a one-goal win over top-ranked Italy in the March tournament, which is used as an evaluation tool four months prior to the London Olympics.
Any evaluation will likely be influenced by his pedigree, which reads like the hierarchy of American water polo. Janson is the son of Bruce Wigo, the former executive director of USA Water Polo; younger brother of three-time Olympian Wolf Wigo, the U.S.’ leading scorer in 2000 and captain in 2004; and twin brother to fellow former Stanford star Drac Wigo.
Three years removed from his standout career at Stanford, Wigo’s next step is maintaining his standing on the U.S. team while training to earn a chance to represent his country in London. He left his professional team in Croatia to spend the past several months weightlifting, swimming and conditioning in Thousand Oaks, Calif.
“I’m the new guy,” Wigo said. “I’ve only been a part of the team for the last five months, so I’m just trying to get into the system, trying to make a spot. They make cuts in a couple weeks, so I’m just trying to play well in this tournament.”
U.S. head coach Terry Schroeder led the Americans to a silver medal in the 2008 Beijing games, a significant step forward for a national team that ranked ninth in the world heading into that summer. He’s limited to a 13-man roster at the Olympics, and considering 11 players are available that suited up for the U.S. four years ago in Beijing, it’s looking like an awfully tight squeeze for the available roster spots.
Wigo is a coveted left-handed attacker, but as a 24-year-old, he's younger than many of the players on the team. The average age of the players who scored goals during this weekend's tournament was just under 31.
“Wigo’s probably biggest weakness right now is his experience, so we’re really trying to get him a lot of experience while these teams are here and see how he does against them,” Schroeder said. “But as a young guy trying to make this veteran team, he’s got a tough road."
Wigo's ability to contribute to the national team might be blocked by a collection of veteran attackers, among them captain and soon-to-be four-time Olympian Tony Azevedo, Adam Wright and Peter Varellas.
This U.S. team has emerged as one of the stingier
international teams defensively.
“Coach Schroeder and Coach Lynn say that we’re going to win games through defense, so we pride ourselves on our defense and shot-blocking skills,” Wigo said. “We practice that more than anything.”
It remains unclear whether Wigo’s left-handed cannon will be called upon in 2012. But Wigo still offers excitement for the future of American water polo
when the international careers of Ryan Bailey, Layne Beaubien and
Azevedo are over.
And it helps that the Azevedo sees the same spark in Janson that he saw in his brother, Wolf.
“They’re both passionate, that’s for sure,” Azevedo said. “But Wolfy is one of the greatest of all-time in our sport, and Janson has the potential to be there.”
“With time, with a lot of training, with more games with us, I think he eventually could be a great player for the U.S.”
