In a development perhaps reminiscent of LeBron James’ monumental move from Cleveland to Miami a decade ago to play with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh—a shift that made the Miami Heat two-time NBA champs—Tony Azevedo and Maggie Steffens, two of the biggest names in American water polo have joined forces in the best interest of the sport.
Photo Courtesy: 6-8 Sports
Steffens and Azevedo are united in 6-8 Sports, a venture focused on performance analytics for young athletes. With expertise in the use of standardized metrics and advanced data analysis, 6-8 Sports—representing the founders’ cap numbers: “6” for Steffens and “8” for Azevedo—has developed an extensive program of performance tracking software and related equipment to allow players to elevate their game.
By many measures, Azevedo is the greatest water polo player to ever don the Stars and Stripes. A five-time Olympian, the Brazilian-born prodigy has scored more goals representing Team USA in the Olympics—60—then anyone. A four-time Cutino Award winner, presented annually to the best collegiate player in America, Azevedo is a Stanford graduate who is second all-time on the Cardinal scoring, having notched 332 goals while on The Farm. He also played on back-to-back NCAA titles (2003, 2004)—championship hardware that goes along with a silver medal from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
[Catching Up With Water Polo Olympian Tony Azevedo]
Perhaps the Stanford graduate who comes closest to Azevedo’s water polo exploits is Steffens, who is the next generation of an tradition of water polo success on both parents’ side. Steffens’ father Carl played at Cal for Pete Cutino, whose record of excellence spawned the award that bears his name. Pete Schnugg, her uncle, also played for Cutino at Cal; between them the older generation capture two NCAA titles; Maggie all by herself has won three playing for Stanford. Selected in 2018 by FINA and Swimming World as the world’s best female player, Steffens has won two gold medals playing for Team USA—at the 2012 London Games and then in 2016 in Rio.
Tony Azevedo. Photo Courtesy: 6-8 Sports
The company’s origins date back to 2017, when Azevedo collaborated on a technology venture with Adam Wright, another Olympian who is the head coach for the UCLA men’s and women’s water polo teams. Steffens was on-board in early 2018, and by July 2018, 6-8 Sports was official born.
[Team USA’s Maggie Steffens On The Record]
Now, a year later, the company is rolling out a new version of their signature product. A recent press release touts the release of the 2.0 version of the 6-8 App. “Maggie and I are very excited to finally launch this new and improved version of the 6-8 App,” Acevedo said. “After months of testing the beta version and listening to feedback from athletes, parents and coaches, we committed to major improvements that have resulted in a stellar product.”
The app allows athletes to score their own games in real time as well as store and analyze game data. It also uploads results from the 6-8 Challenge, a skills combine that assigns participating athletes with a global ranking for each skill assessed. Azevedo runs his challenges at skills clinics all over the world, enabling him to continually gather data—from more than 5,000 athletes so far—providing 6-8 with an entirely robust set of performance models.
Given both athletes long and successful association with the U.S. men’s and women’s national teams, it’s no surprise that USA Water Polo—the national governing body for the sport in America, is on board.
Maggie Steffens. Photo Courtesy: 6-8 Sports
“The collaboration between Maggie, Tony and our Olympic Development Program [ODP] staff has been and will be incredibly valuable in the development of our athletes in the pipeline,” said John Abdou, USAWP’s Chief High Performance Officer. “Anytime that you can bring objective measurements into athlete development it’s a win, and to have two of the best players to ever play the game be involved is an even greater win.”
The press release touts 6-8 Sports’ focus on developing game scoring and data analysis technology for clubs, teams and federations.
“This is an exciting time,” said Steffens via the press release. “We are moving forward with key developments that will help spread the 6-8 model [including] a College Recruiting Portal and Scholarship Tools.”
These last features could prove to be extremely appealing to parents eager for their children to extend their playing careers in college. Relatively small at the collegiate level—approximately 60 women’s teams and 50 men’s team that play NCAA varsity polo—the sport commands an almost cult-like reverence among parents, who tend to be affluent, and players.
6-8 Sports services are available for a $9.99 per month subscription, which allows unlimited games recording, access to advanced data analysis as well as 6-8 Performance markers, and the ability to view the company’s entire video library—including new videos, which are frequently updated.
Whether the target audience is willing to invest this in their kid’s future remains to be seen, but there’s no denying that having Steffens and Azevedo join forces is a formidable consideration for water polo’s long-term health.