By Michael Randazzo, Swimming World Contributor
Since 2011, Swimming World has named athletes of the year in various aquatic sports and have celebrated those accomplishments in the January issue of Swimming World Magazine.
Maggie Steffens of the U.S. was an obvious choice for our 2017 Female Water Polo Player of the Year. Her game-winning shot gave Stanford an 8-7 win over UCLA in the 2017 NCAA Women’s Water Polo final. Steffens followed this up by leading Team USA to a second-consecutive FINA World Championship last summer.
Given a number of great performances last year, choosing a winner on the men’s side was not as easy. Marton Vamos, the superb lefty who plays for the Hungarian National Men’s as well as for Szolnok in the Hungarian professional league, got our nod as 2017 Male Water Polo Player of the Year.
Duna Aréna for the Final Six. Photo Courtesy: FINA
It was a fantastic year for Vamos and his teammates. Last May, in front of thousands of his countrymen in Budapest’s sparkling new Duna Aréna, he led Szolnok to its first-ever LEN Champions League Final Six title. Two month later, in front of capacity crowds at the Alfred Hajos Complex on Margaret Island, Vamos and his Hungarian teammates embarked on a breath-taking run to the 2017 FINA World Championship title match, falling just short to Croatia by a score of 8-6. For his exceptional performance at FINA Worlds, Vamos —just 25 years old — was voted MVP.
Earlier this month, Swimming World corresponded with Vamos about his experiences the past year, playing for Tibor Benedek, former Hungarian head coach and one of the greatest players in the storied history of the Magyars, as well as Tamás Marcz, who guided the team to the FINA final, and comparisons with Gergely Kiss, one of Europe’s greatest left-handed players.
– You’ve played for Benedek and now for Marcz. What is the difference between these two coaches?
– With Tamás the rules are clear but, whether in attack or in defense, our freedom is greater. As well as all this, the atmosphere is one with more freedom too. With Tibor, it was stricter.
– The atmosphere for FINA Worlds and for the Final Six was incredible. How was it to be a Hungarian playing at home in front of such passionate fans?
– The Final Six and last summer’s World Championship really were fantastic experiences for the players and for the visiting spectators too. During the course of the Final Six, clubs played in front of nearly 25,000 spectators watching in the stands, mainly during our semi-final versus Eger and the final against Dubrovnik, an occurrence which is not common in club water polo.
We felt very good and it provided an experience which will remain with us, particularly when, right at the very end, we were able to step up to the top step of the Champions’ League podium. For many of the Hungarian players this was the first time they’d won such a title and therefore it was important that they could do it in Hungary, in Budapest and in a new swimming pool.
Gergely Kiss. Photo Courtesy: WaterPoloWorld
The World Championship mobilized the whole country, the men’s and women’s home teams able to count on capacity crowds until the very end. The event became one which truly brought a nation together with a fantastic public behind us — I think this is the conclusion of both the swimmers and the water polo players too.
– Some commenters have compared you to Gergely Kiss the great Hungarian lefty who won three Olympic golds (2000, 2004, 2008).
– I’ll be the happiest with this if it means I’ll have won as much as he has – obviously I’m working on this day by day. He was my role model as a child so it feels particularly good to be compared to him. I hope that one day I can look back on as successful a career as he can.
Well then!