Men’s water polo manager’s behind-the-scenes work reinforces team efforts

Fifty.

Give or take an hour or two, Eitan Peled accumulates nearly 50 demanding hours a week working for the UCLA men’s water polo team.

When water polo season is in full swing from September to early December, the head manager runs around campus – from the pool to the coach’s office to training – doing as much as he can for the team.

As the pinnacle point of the water polo season begins to wind down and the shift turns to offseason, Peled works a “manageable” 15 hours instead of 50.

Fifteen.

“During season we have 8 to 10 a.m. practice and 4 to 7 p.m. practice,” said senior manager Erik Najarian. “Eitan is always there, but even after that, (he) sometimes goes in the office or works with (coach) Adam (Wright). Eitan devotes so much time, I don’t even know the hours.”

Often times, an overlooked position on any sports team is the manager. Ironic, however, is the importance that a manager plays on the team and the amount of hours he contributes to the team as a whole. The water polo team is essentially comprised of the coaches, the players and the staff. The manager’s job allows others to do what they do best – the coaches are able to coach and the players are able to focus on playing the game.

After enrolling at UCLA in the fall of 2012, Peled walked on to the men’s water polo team, hoping to continue playing at a collegiate level. But after two quarters of balancing training and a full course load, he decided to forgo his water polo career to focus on his academics.

“Playing a Division I sport is an intense commitment,” Peled said. “After reflecting on it, I decided I didn’t want to play anymore, that I wanted to focus a little more on my studies, focus a little more on other things, but I wanted to still help the team in any way that I can and the best way to help out was to be manager.”

Earning a managerial position in the spring of 2013, Peled had a powerful impact on the UCLA water polo team through other means, by organizing their operations and working behind the scenes.

He focuses on the smallest details, helping turn them into the bigger picture and allowing the team to function cohesively. Hotels need to be booked, conference rooms need to be reserved and restaurants to accommodate both the large party and limited budget need to be found.

On top of a manager’s external responsibilities, Peled attends every practice and sets up all equipment for practice. Something as simple as setting up and cleaning training bikes and making sure they are ready to go for the players is just one thing that Peled does in addition to being a mentor to the other managers on the team.

“Everything that I know about being a manager, Eitan has taught me,” said freshman manager Tyler Fidler. “He really has started the managerial work that I’ve learned. He knows pretty much everything from working with the games on the computer to what we need to prepare for tournaments. He’s just always there.”

The never-ending list of responsibilities continues to run throughout the course of the season. With the aid of other assistant managers on the team, Peled guides them in completing the day’s tasks – preparing everything from game film and practice equipment. The day is always changing and there is no such thing as a normal daily routine for a manager.

“The most challenging thing is the irregularity,” Peled said. “Things come up all the time and some of them are time sensitive, especially during season, (and) staying on top of everything is pretty tough because of that irregularity. It’s a lot of stuff – there’s a lot of stuff behind the scenes to set up for the guys so that they can practice and focus on that.”

One of the most important aspects of Peled’s job is handling game video. Dartfish, a multifaceted program, allows UCLA water polo to analyze and breakdown opposing teams.

“When there is a game going on we film it with a camera. Then when the coaches go back they sometimes want to watch specific things,” Peled said. “Let’s say they want to watch all the frontcourt offense so they want to watch the offensive possession of our game from a specific tournament, or the defensive possessions of one game, what we do is called tagging a video with this app.”

Once the video is tagged on the computer, Peled clips specific sections for the coaches to study, allowing them to watch specific aspects of a particular game they choose.

Every game played in Division I water polo throughout the year is a game that the managerial staff films. Although each team within the division conference uploads game video to a shared server due to budget constraints, the video breakdown is something unique to the UCLA program.

When Peled began managing in his first year, he searched for a way to reevaluate the way the program broke down the video. UCLA had been using the program for a number of years. Peled took it upon himself to reorganize the breakdown process, which proved to be much quicker and efficient.

“It’s a quicker turnaround for the coaches to watch more video and ultimately helps the team be more successful,” Peled said.

The men’s water polo team has been successful the past two years, securing back-to-back national championships, and capping off a perfect season with an undefeated 30-0 record.

“Honestly if (Peled) were not here these last few years, we would not have been able to win a national championship,” Najarian said. “The amount of time he puts in and the amount of time he saves with just the behind-the-scenes stuff makes it tremendously easier on (coach) Adam so he can just focus on the water polo part.”

Peled maintains the ambition of doing as much as he can do for the entire team. It’s embedded within his nature to help the team in any way that he can.

“He always brings a positive attitude. If the guys are ever down or having a hard time, they come and talk to Eitan and he just lifts their spirits up and practice goes a little bit better,” Fidler said. “He also brings knowledge. If the guys have any questions about anything logistical or about game time or games, he’s there. If you need help with video, he’s there to help.”

Najarian emphasized that one aspect that makes UCLA water polo special is how the team always comes first no matter what role you play on the team. Everyone does their part and that’s what makes them so successful.

“The most rewarding part is really the team. That’s what it’s all about,” Peled said. “It’s all about being a part of the team and everyone doing their part so that the team can be successful. Even when things get tough or when there’s a lot of work, keeping that in mind that it’s for the team, it’s not just for me, it’s for other people so that we can all be successful is the best.”

The 50-hour weeks that Peled effectively managed to handle throughout his four years at UCLA translated into two national championship titles and a 115-12 record. The hard work and passion that Peled has placed into the water polo program is also evident in his work with Students for Justice in Palestine, a secular organization whose goal is to promote Palestinian activism. SJP puts on educational events throughout the year, where speakers are invited to come and present their viewpoints.

“One of the reasons that it is so important to have organizations like that on our campus is because the UC is actually invested in some companies that actually make a profit off the military occupations that’s going on,” Peled said. “That’s an example of something we would try to bring awareness to and then try to hopefully pressure the UC to not be invested in such a thing, because these are our tuition dollars and want them to go to humane things.”

In between water polo and school, Peled continued his involvement in the organization and has raised awareness through outlets such as writing student opinion column pieces for the Daily Bruin.

“It’s obviously an issue that I am very passionate about,” Peled said. “The more you learn, the more passionate you get, the more you want to get involved in something, and then that’s what ultimately leads to doing stuff like writing because you want to try to get the word out the best you can because people are halfway across the world suffering from very terrible things.”

The total time he spends in the classroom and advocating for his organization only adds to the 50 hours of peak polo season, yet it does not make Peled stray away from advocating for something he believes strongly about.

“He’s going to go do big stuff in this world,” Najarian said. “He wants to help other people. He wants to others that didn’t have the same opportunity as him.”