Quiet 49er Holloway intense in competition

Men's water polo

By Jeff Dusing
Daily Forty-Niner

For those who don't know him well, Aaron Holloway may come across as the quiet introvert.

His tone, expressions and gestures appear very calm and relaxed.

For those who know Holloway the water polo player, they know he can be an aggressive driving force behind Long Beach State's offensive strategy.

"Aaron, to me, is probably the best left hander in the nation," teammate Justin Jewell said. "Having him in the pool with players like team captain Chris Segesman and myself, adds to the offense.

"Our whole offensive strategy is based on him," Jewell said. "When his presence is in the pool, other teams have to change their defense to adjust. They can't play us like they play a team of all right-handers."

"He brings us a completely different way to approach the game," said Head Coach Rick Azevedo.

Having scored nine goals in 10 games, Holloway's impact on the scoreboard is obvious. What is not obvious is the number of goals he has indirectly assisted, based on the opposing teams having to adjust their defense to cover the strong left-hander. Holloway also has a great impact on six-on-five situations according to Azevedo.

"He is a huge threat to the defense of other teams. I'm just glad he didn't get picked up by another school," said senior goalie Rob Smith. "He's got speed too."

The 6-foot-5 lefty is not new to the sport or to winning. Before graduating from El Segundo High School in 1998, Holloway played water polo for four years. He received first team all-league, second team All-CIF as a junior, and league MVP and first team all-CIF as senior.

Holloway spends much of his time pursuing his degree in civil engineering when not in the pool.

"My dad's an engineer and his job seems pretty cool," Holloway said. "I did an internship at Hughes Aircraft over the summer. I helped do thermal analysis on satellites, but it didn't pay very well."

After attaining his degree, the young engineer hopes to put his skills to work in his field of study.

When he is not busy with school or water polo, Holloway spends his time doing another of his favorite pastimes, surfing. He is sometimes able to do this while he is life guarding for L.A. County. Life guarding has been his summer job for the past two summers.

"They let you run and swim and surf on your break," Holloway said. When not working as a lifeguard, Huntington Beach and Newport are his preferred surf spots.

Still, water polo remains Holloway's primary passion.  He said that after college he would like to try out for the national team or play in a league in Europe.

"They have professional leagues over there. I was hoping that Azevedo could put in a word for me," Holloway said.