More than a dozen players are currently off the game-day roster for one of the top high school boys' water polo teams in California as the school investigates what's reported to have been hazing that injured multiple players at a Santa Clara hotel.
The boys' water polo team at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach is historically one of the state's best, with a former player included on the U.S. Olympic team in each of the last seven Summer Olympics. (The most famous alum is Tony Azevedo, a five-time Olympian.) The Bruins have won 17 of the last 18 Moore League titles and have been a perennial playoff team in the Southern Section, the largest collection of high schools in the state.
This year's team was shaping up to be one of the best in recent memory, ranking fourth in the Southern Section's midseason playoff rankings. And computer rankings at MaxPreps, a nationwide high school sports website, have the Bruins as the No. 31 team in the country.
Last weekend, the Bruins came up to the Bay Area for a tournament, featuring top teams from around the state and even a team from Hawaii, hosted by three South Bay schools: Bellarmine and Harker in San Jose and Saint Francis in Mountain View. Wilson was set to play four games, and won the first two on Friday, Oct. 9.
It was that night when the hazing occurred, according to the Long Beach Post. The outlet reported on Wednesday about an email Wilson coach Zac Polmanteer sent to parents of students in the program on Monday. In the email, Polmanteer reportedly said most of the team gathered in a single hotel room and that "multiple student athletes were subjected to humiliating and physically harmful acts. Some athletes sustained injuries from being physically struck by their teammates."
According to the Long Beach Post, Pomanteer was informed of noise complaints about that room the next day, but did not learn about the hazing until after the team had returned to Long Beach. His email, which the Post reported was sent on Monday night, reportedly said the behavior was "shocking, unacceptable, and completely contrary to everything we stand for as a program."
According to an Instagram post from the weekend, the team was staying at the Element Santa Clara hotel. SFGATE reached out to the hotel's general manager but did not hear back in time for publication.
Wilson proceeded to lose both matches they played on Saturday, the day after the hazing reportedly occurred, by one goal each. Local outlet The562 covered Wilson's first water polo match after the coaching staff learned of the event, when the school faced its cross-town rival, Long Beach Poly, on Tuesday.
The562 reported that most of the seniors, including the program's entire previous starting lineup, did not play on Tuesday. The Post reported that a total of 13 players who were on the roster didn't play on Tuesday, though it wasn't clear how many players were held out for disciplinary reasons, hazing-related injuries or any other reason.
After winning Tuesday's match, the Bruins traveled to Los Angeles to face Loyola High School, a team they had beaten 11-7 earlier in the season. But on Wednesday, Wilson was shut out, 5-0. The Bruins have two more regular season matches next week, their final tuneups before the Southern Section playoffs begin.
It's not the first prominent hazing scandal to rock the Southern California water polo scene. In March 2025, the Orange County Register reported that Lucca van der Woude, one of the top youth players in the country, had been arrested in February 2024 and accused of sexually assaulting teammates at Harvard-Westlake in a hazing act. Van der Woude transferred to Newport Harbor in the summer of 2024 and won a section title at the school, all before his arrest was public knowledge. (Van der Woude is now a sophomore competing on the water polo team at Golden West College, a community college in Huntington Beach.)
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This article originally published at Bay Area hotel hazing reportedly rocks star Long Beach HS water polo team.