Freshman attacker brings worldly experience to men’s water polo

At any of the UCLA men’s water polo games, you can be sure to hear coach Adam Wright yelling the names of his players as he directs his offense from the opposite end of Dirks Pool.

He’s made the names “Fellner,” “Ryder” and “Chance” resound throughout aquatics complexes across the nation for three years and the names “Daboub” and “Danny” for four.

The newest addition to Wright’s name arsenal is “Spencer,” the freshman attacker who follows sophomore Alex Roelse, junior Ryder Roberts and senior Danny McClintick as the latest first-year to become a top-six scoring leader for the Bruins.

“He’s always been talented offensively, always,” said Dustin Litvak, who coached Farrar at the Los Angeles Water Polo Club for eight years and at Agoura High School. “A great shooter, he can pass, he’s quick, understands the game … I still remember competitions when he played as a 12-and-under, 14-and-under in Canada where you could just see on his face how much he wanted to win, and I think that has carried him to where he’s at today.”

As it stands, Spencer Farrar is one of four Bruins to have played in every game of UCLA’s undefeated season. He is one of only three true freshmen to get a cap number and is on pace to score 31 goals, putting him in the excellent company of Roberts and McClintick, who scored 36 and 37 goals, respectively, in their first years.

Three years later, between Roberts and McClintick, the accolades total an NCAA Tournament MVP, two third team All-American awards, an honorable mention All-American award and two honorable mention All-MPSF honors.

Only time will tell how Farrar will add to the standout freshman legacy, though he already has a legacy of his own.

But before Wright could make “Spencer” echo across collegiate pools, Farrar was just an ordinary kid with an extraordinary affinity for water.

At age 3, Farrar remembers swimming and boogie boarding in Malibu oceans. By age 5 he was competing at swim meets, winning each one of his first races.

“I’ve always been in the water,” Farrar said. “But I kind of gave up everything for water polo at age 9, except for surfing.”

By the time he was 13, Farrar had sponsorships from O’Quinn Clothing and Roberts Surfboards, and was named National Scholastic Surfing Association’s Surfer of the Week in April 2010.

“I was going to try and do both (water polo and surfing) for as long as I could,” Farrar said. “I wanted to get into a good school like UCLA and get a great education while playing a collegiate sport, so that was ultimately the deciding factor.”

One weekend, shortly after his recognition by the NSSA, Farrar had to choose between a surfing contest or attending a tryout for the U.S. junior national water polo team.

With an hour to go until the tryouts began, he left the contest and the sport entirely, choosing to go all-in for water polo. He would go on to win national championships for Litvak’s LAWPC while being named first team All-CIF in 2013 and garnering All-Marmonte League honors for Agoura High School.

“It’s been fun to watch him grow up,” Litvak said. “I think he made a great decision coming here (UCLA) for sure, and I’m excited to see how he develops over the next three years. He’s a great talent.”

The summer before his senior year of high school, Farrar would take that talent to the international level, not in water polo – that would come later – but in lifesaving.

“My mom was like, ‘Hey, there’s this great team that’s being assembled, they’re going to go to France for the world championships and your sister is going to do it,’” Farrar said. “I was actually on my way to a water polo tournament when they had their tryout.”

Farrar had done junior lifeguarding before, but the sport of rescue and lifesaving is something else entirely.

The events, though many involve a lot of swimming, also incorporate carrying heavy mannequins through the water, rescuing live victims as quickly as possible and racing in and out of rough ocean waves on surfboards that beach lifeguards use in active victim rescue.

Casey Graham, head coach of the U.S. junior national rescue and lifesaving team, classified the events as representative of the skills used by good lifesavers and lifeguards around the world for the last 100 years.

Farrar and his younger sister, Tess, both made the team, which took only six men and six women. In France, Farrar competed against veteran lifesaving athletes, while he himself had only been practicing for a few short weeks.

“Racing-wise, the youth national team members from the Australian team are professional athletes in the sport,” Graham said. “Just seeing him line up with the world’s best was incredible … literally some of the people that you see on Kellogg’s cereal boxes in Australia.”

Farrar remembers fondly how shocked some of his opponents were when they heard it was his first time competing after only a few trial runs at practice back in the States.

Part of that shock may have been due to just how well Farrar did with the little preparation that he had. Farrar placed 13th out of 40 men’s surf finalists, and his rescue tube relay team placed fourth overall.

But the highlight of the trip was Farrar’s time in the 50-meter manikin tow, which set an American record, making his performance the fastest ever by a member of the American youth national team.

“We definitely set a lot of American records in the sport … and he was the fastest (American) ever in that event,” Graham said. “He showed a lot of leadership, he’s big, he’s strong, he’s determined, he’s focused, but he’s also a lot of fun.”

From France, without coming back to his home in Malibu, he and his older sister, Alyse, moved into an apartment near Genoa, Italy.

Spencer had made arrangements to forgo his senior water polo season at Agoura High School and play on the Chiavari Nuoto professional Italian water polo team.

“That was hard,” Farrar said. “I remember looking at it and thinking, ‘Am I really going to do this? This is my senior year.’ But going to Italy was much better development-wise.”

At 17, he was the youngest member of the team, competing consistently against, once again, professional athletes with more years of experience, some who even played on the 2012 Italian Olympic team.

“I would guard somebody in a game and afterwards somebody would say, ‘That’s the left-hander that played in the Olympics,’” Farrar said. “Our goalie was a former Olympian who played for Greece. I would have guarded these guys for a whole game and I wouldn’t even know.”

While he still had to do schoolwork most of the day, Farrar made the most of his experience, buying focaccia bread from the local bakery every morning, riding on the back of his coach’s scooter to watch the 10-time defending Italian league champions Pro Recco, furthering his basic Italian through their art of gesticulations and making lifelong friendships.

“I was really fortunate to be able to go there, I mean, I want to go back,” Farrar said. “I want to go back after college, I want to go back in the summer, I just loved it. Some of my best friends are there.”

Those friends would come to visit Farrar at his own home in Malibu the following summer, but shortly afterward, Farrar was on the move again.

He embarked on his second international water polo tour in the summer of 2015, this time playing with his future UCLA teammates at the World University Games at Gwangju, South Korea.

“He’s a pretty worldly kid for an 18-year-old,” Graham said.

Indeed, with Farrar’s resume – he is an American record holder who has played internationally with elite Italian water polo players and who is now a top six scoring leader – it’s no wonder his name makes such a ring around the pool deck.

It already has around the world.