Notre Dame College to Add Men's & Women's Varsity Water Polo

SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio -- Notre Dame College, located in South Euclid, Ohio, will be adding Men’s and Women’s Water Polo in 2010 to add to the number of varsity East Coast water polo programs.

Both will be scholarship programs making Notre Dame the first college or university in the state of Ohio to offer water polo among its intercollegiate varsity athletic programs. The College also announced the hiring of Brad Silver as the head coach for both programs.

“The addition of both Men’s and Women’s Water Polo is exciting for NDC,” said Director of Athletics Susan Hlavacek. “We have a wonderful facility, and Brad is the right coach to recruit talented student-athletes and build a quality program.”

Silver, a former water polo standout at the University of Southern California, is a California native who moved to the Cleveland area in 2004.

“Water polo has been an enormous part of my life for over 30 years,” said Silver. “I appreciate Notre Dame’s support of the sport of water polo and I thank the College for letting share my love and knowledge of the game with student-athletes.”

There are 121 collegiate water polo programs in the United States and a number of college club teams.  In addition, the selection marks the second and third varsity programs added in the sport of water polo in less than a month as Virginia Military Institute announced their intent to start women's water polo earlier this month.

The Falcons have begun recruiting student-athletes for their first season, 2010-11 - the collegiate water polo season is in the fall for men and the spring for women. Men’s and women’s water polo mark NDC’s 22nd and 23rd athletic programs. In 2009-10, the College added Men’s and Women’s Bowling and Football.

With the move, Notre Dame's 23 varsity athletic teams are exceeded only by Ohio State University's 33 among Ohio's 53 four-year colleges and universities.

Notre Dame College is a co-educational liberal arts institution in South Euclid, Ohio. The Notre Dame Department of Athletics sponsors the Falcons' participation in 23 men's and women's intercollegiate sports. The College is affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and the American Mideast Conference (AMC). On July 10, 2009, the NCAA announced the approval of Notre Dame's membership application. The College is currently competing as a Candidacy Year-One institution in the NCAA Division II membership process.

Release courtesy Notre Dame College (Ohio) Athletic Communications