U.S. women’s water polo, with an unlikely hype man, eyes Olympic history

Rapper Flavor Flav realizes it is an unexpected crossover. He once had only a vague awareness of water polo, from seeing Olympic matches on television. But he has a new appreciation for the sport, and the stamina required to play it, after recently signing a five-year sponsorship deal as the official hype man for the U.S. women’s and men’s national water polo teams.

“What type of relationship does rap have with water polo? None,” he said.

Until now.

How the collaboration came together is well documented: Maggie Steffens, the U.S. women’s team’s longtime captain, posted a photo of the players on her Instagram in May with a caption outlining challenges the athletes often face, including that players typically work multiple jobs while pursuing their Olympic dreams. She called on her followers to watch and support women’s sports.

Flavor Flav, who said his manager flagged the post, responded to the call, pledging his support. He and Steffens appeared together last week on “CBS Mornings,” where Flavor Flav announced he would give $1,000 to each team member and a Virgin Voyages cruise to the squad.

Flavor Flav, 65, a member of the Rock &Roll Hall of Fame, said he is planning to attend the Paris Games and cheer on the women’s team as it aims for a fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal, a feat that has not been accomplished by any water polo team, men’s or women’s.

“I’m there to hype them up,” he said. “I’m there to try to get them into that spirit of winning that fourth gold medal.” He added: “And I know we can do it. We’re going to get it.”

The U.S. women’s water polo team has welcomed the additional eyeballs. Coach Adam Krikorian called it “a sport that’s been starving for attention.”

“We are a team that feels like, at times, we go unnoticed,” he said. “And so when you have someone who’s in the spotlight share their love and their passion for our team, it’s touching. We love it. We embrace it. We hope it inspires others to hop on.”

Krikorian said he would not mind if Flavor Flav’s interest encouraged people to jump on the bandwagon. “We’ll take ‘em all,” he said. “You didn’t need to be with us in the beginning.”

New fans would be rallying around a team synonymous with success. Since he was hired in 2009, Krikorian and the U.S. women have gone on a staggering run, claiming gold at the last three Olympics and six of the last nine world championships.

Krikorian, a former UCLA water polo standout who calls John Wooden his coaching idol, preaches presence over perfection, a philosophy he highlighted when discussing Emily Ausmus, an attacker.

Ausmus, 18, is the team’s youngest player on a roster nearly split between first-time Olympians (seven) and returners (six). That experience level is a shift from the last Olympic cycle in Tokyo in 2021, when most players also won gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

On the other end of the experience spectrum is Steffens, who helped lead the United States to gold at the last three Games. At the Tokyo Games, she became the career leading scorer in women’s Olympic water polo. And if the U.S. women get gold in Paris, she will become the first water polo player to win four Olympic gold medals in a row.

Steffens, 31, can rattle off a list of younger players on this year’s roster with whom she connected in earlier phases of life, highlighting the full-circle experience for her in these Games.

— Ryann Neushul, 24, is the third Neushul sister Steffens will play with at the Olympics. “I remember when she was just a kid,” Steffens said.

— Jenna Flynn and Steffens posed together for a photo at the Rio Games when Flynn was a young fan. “Now she’s at Stanford and here on Team USA and one of my closest friends on the team, and we’re 11 years apart.”

— Jewel Roemer is a Northern California native, like Steffens, and Steffens grew up attending men’s scrimmages at Diablo Valley College coached by Roemer’s father. “I remember getting cute videos from her saying, ‘Good luck.’”

— Ausmus attended camps and clinics organized by Steffens’ company, 6-8 Sports. She was “somebody we talked about five, six, eight years ago, like, ‘Oh my gosh, this girl’s so good and we’re really excited to see her potential.’”

Steffens is sincere in her praise and her belief in her teammates. Ashleigh Johnson, who is making her third Olympic appearance with the U.S. team, called her “a dreamer in all senses.”

“When you’re around Maggie, anything is legitimately possible,” said Johnson, 29, the team’s goalkeeper, who is widely considered the best in the world at her position. “She’s our captain, but as her friend, she will build a way for any dream to come true. And if you believe something, she believes it, and you guys are going to accomplish it together.”

For example, Johnson said, Steffens typically encourages others while grinding through the hardest parts of training or pushing through a final swim set. Outside the pool, Steffens is the one to land in a new city after 24 hours of traveling and either have a full itinerary ready or explore without a plan.

Steffens and Johnson have become de facto ambassadors of their sport. In 2016, Johnson became the first Black woman to make a U.S. Olympic water polo team. She said, over time, she has felt more empowered to speak about her experiences, share her story and champion diversity to inspire others.

Steffens, who joined the team when she was 15, said it has taken her 15 or 16 years to find her voice in terms of advocating for women’s athletes and more openly discussing the financial challenges of pursuing the sport.

Olympic water polo training takes place in Southern California, which has a notoriously high cost of living. In an Olympic year, training is six days a week and essentially a full-time job, Steffens said.

Payouts at the Games depend on the sport, country and finish, but the International Olympic Committee and each sport’s governing body have not traditionally paid winners. In a first for an international federation, World Athletics, which oversees track and field, announced in April that it would award $50,000 in prize money to gold medalists at the Paris Games.

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee gave athletes $37,500 for winning gold, $22,500 for silver and $15,000 for bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.

Steffens said she would play water polo — which does not have a professional women’s league in the United States — even if she made no money and had to couch surf, but her hope is for future elite players not to have to work other jobs to support themselves.

“I would love to see in the future people retire much later in their career because they can afford to keep playing water polo and don’t feel like they have to retire at 22 to get a real job,” she said.

Any support helps, Steffens said, and Flavor Flav’s sponsorship is an example of the payoff she has seen after posting about the topic.

“One thing that I love about water polo and about our team is it’s a very head-down, humble, hard-work mentality,” Steffens said. “And one of my dreams is to leave the sport and the women in this sport better than when I came in, and hopefully provide more opportunity, provide more exposure, let their stories be told, let their names be heard.”

Steffens knows there is more work to do and more fans to rally. But each one counts and, so far, she is hitting her goals.