Sam Paur is a redshirt senior utility player on the Pepperdine men's water polo team. Sam spoke with us about bis favorite highlights from his career at Pepperdine, how the new players and the team have been doing thus far, and his personal plans for life after water polo:
Q: What are some of your favorite highlights from your time at Pepperdine?
A: Some of my favorite memories from Pepperdine have been with water polo. My junior year we won our conference tournament, which was an amazing and unforgettable experience. That whole weekend will be something I will never forget. Some of our travel trips will also be unforgettable. The past two years we went to the East Coast for a tournament and just being with the team in a completely new environment is always fun. We don't typically travel outside of California so it was awesome to be able to travel with the team back there.
Q: What are some things you do to highlight your leadership as a captain?
A: As a captain I just try to be the best teammate and leader I can. We have a very young team this year and just trying to give the young guys some guidance when it comes to water polo as well as school is something I try to focus on.
Q: What role do you play this season? You're one of the team's leading scorers.
A: I think my role on this team is that I just to try and get the ball in the right people's hands at the right time to score, and if it is my turn to score then I will take advantage of that. We have a very talented team with people who can score from both sides of the pool so it is difficult to say that I am the go-to guy. Trying to do whatever I can do to help my teammates score is one of the best things about a team sport. Scoring goals is always fun, but helping your teammates score is just as fun.
Q: What are your hopes and goals for the rest of conference play and the postseason tournament?
A: We came together as a team early on this season and wrote down some goals we thought we could accomplish, and one of those was to win the Golden Coast Conference Tournament. The teams in our conference this year are all very even and it's anyone's ball game. This is a very achievable goal with the team we have and we are looking to shock some people by winning that. Of course it is always a team's goal to win an NCAA championship and I think we have the players and coaches to put ourselves in the position to accomplish that this season.
Q: What are your takeaways from the first part of the season thus far? What can improve and what has been going well?
A: As I said before, we have a very young team with lots of freshmen making big contributions. It is always difficult to have lots of new guys come in and be able to gel as a team right away and I think that is one thing we can always improve on. In the recent weeks we have been playing more and more like a team that has been together for a while and it is evident in some of our wins. We have gotten great at starting our games strong and getting an early lead on teams. However we can work on maintaining those leads and not allowing teams to creep back in and give them hope.
Q: How do you feel your individual performance has been compared to recent years?
A: In recent years I did not play much at all so I think my play has improved a lot. I went from not really contributing much my first three or four years here to becoming a starter and being a big help on both offense and defense. I am able to understand the game much better and see things that I didn't really see before as well as being able to be a much bigger contributor than past years.
Q: Do you have any advice for the young guys on the roster and those that possibly would want to play at Pepperdine in the future?
A: My advice to the young guys would be to take advantage of everything the university has to offer as well as athletics. There are lots of knowledgeable people here that only want to help, so ask more questions of your teachers and try and form more personal connections with people that work here. To those that want to play at Pepperdine I would recommend reaching out to the coaches or even attending the summer camp that our coaches run. I was recruited through the camp and wouldn't be playing water polo here if my mom didn't make me go to the camp.
Q: What are your plans for life after water polo and graduation?
A: As of right now I don't have any set plans for life after water polo and Pepperdine, but I am going to start applying for jobs in the coming weeks and see if there is anything out there for me. So if someone reading this is looking to hire someone with a business degree who played Division I sports, my door is always open.
