Wilbraham & Monson Academy's John Adams '20 has accomplished something no student in the history of the school has ever done.
At school meeting on Jan. 11, with the entire school in attendance, John was recognized for his remarkable achievement of becoming the first water polo player to score more than 100 goals in his first two seasons.
"I was surprised," John said. "I knew how many I scored last year but I didn't know my amount this year. It never got brought up until today. I was surprised and didn't know I had 133 goals in two seasons. I was honored and happy. I'm looking forward to next season as well."
Flanked by Coach Steve Gray '70W and Assistant Coach Patrick McCormack, John received a water polo ball, marked with the game and date of when he recorded his 100th career goal.
"John is a great example of the classic water polo player: tall, athletic, strong, competitive and knowledgeable," Coach Gray said. "In his first two years playing this sport, he has progressed amazingly well. His skills have developed exponentially, so much so that his abilities have been recognized regularly by both the opposing coaches and game officials. It is a truly awesome sight to see John having two defenders hanging on him, turn them, face the goal and score with impunity."
John, a 6-foot-7 left-handed player, netted 73 goals this season after scoring 60 goals as a freshman. He joined Ben Marcus '11, Jason Bois '91 and Austin Fabbo '15 in the 100-goal club. Ben tops WMA's all-time list with 236 goals.
As an eighth grader, John was recruited to play basketball at WMA. Interestingly, the Academy offering water polo played a role in his decision to attend the Academy.
"I heard about water polo when I was touring with Coach (Mike) Mannix because he was recruiting me for basketball," John explained. "He said most basketball players do water polo. A smile lit up on my family's face because they knew I love the water. I didn't know what I wanted to do for a second sport, and a lot of schools didn't have water polo available, so that was one reason why I thought it might be better to come here than other schools."