With the cool breeze greeting the players stepping out of the pool after the intense water polo game, James Pflaging (12) already begins to take mental notes in preparation for the next game. In order to become a better player, James learns from his teammates and puts every ounce of his effort into improving and learning new techniques.

In his freshman year, James began playing water polo at Harker, and after enjoying the sport’s value of self-improvement, he decided to drop badminton and solely focus on playing water polo. He has continued the sport ever since.

“I was doing really well in badminton, flying around at the national level. Training at that level got me into really liking that kind of environment, and I felt like water polo was the closest sport to emulating that environment,” James said. “There is a much harsher focus on not making mistakes and really being honest with yourself about improving whereas I feel that most other sports are a little more lenient.”

Although James is now a skilled player and the captain of the varsity boys water polo team, his journey in the sport started off shaky. Not only was he unfamiliar with the sport, but he also had his doubts about continuing with it after his freshman year. 

“I am a very competitive person, and especially with sports I have a hard time not getting invested, so it was more of a question of whether I was going to continue doing it over time,” James said. “I knew that if I was going to do [water polo for] multiple years that I would be invested, and that I would not just play the sport casually.” 

James’ dedication to new activities allows him to make progress quicker and reach achievements that would be incredibly difficult without the time and effort that he puts in. Reflecting on James’ first year of water polo, friend Arya Maheshwari (12) recognized James’ tenacity.

“I think he’s very awesome about trying new things; first it was badminton, then it was water polo, and he’s very willing to give it his all,” Arya said. “If you look back to when he was joining water polo in freshman year … to now being the captain, it’s because he really gives it his all more than anyone I know.” 

Despite James’ lack of prior experience with the sport, his work ethic allowed him to develop his skills as a player and learn how to aid the team as a captain. He believes that the environment that water polo has is part of the reason he has been able to thrive in the sport. 

“Though some people might describe [water polo] as hostile, it feels to me when people are more critical of you, it becomes much easier to address your issues and improve from there,” James said. “You have teams that are [more] lenient … [but] I don’t like that environment as much as an environment where it’s very structured and any small thing you mess up on you get feedback for. I feel like that makes me improve a lot.”

James has risen from no experience in the sport prior to joining to leading the team and helping his teammates, guiding them through the path of development.

“I came into water polo not knowing anything, and this is part of why I’m so grateful to my team. I’m able to serve as a role model not necessarily because of how good I am, but just because of character … and I’m able to give an example to my teammates where I can be a role model on how to improve,” James said.

Water polo head coach Ted Ujifusa also appreciates James’ leadership skills and the importance of the role that James plays.

“I think that a good captain has to be, not necessarily vocal, but they have to provide some sort of impetus for the rest of the players to do something,” Ujifusa said. “[James] is that guy, he has the qualities we looked for.”

Aside from James’ work ethic, his ability to learn from others also contributes to his devotion to learning new skills. Friend Kishan Sood (12) reflects on James’ mindset towards learning.

“When someone hops into something that they’ve done for a long time … they think they’re the experienced vet[eran] and that they know everything. When [James] goes into something like that, he’s always trying to learn,” Kishan said. “He’s able to recognize situations where he’s the vet[eran] and he should be teaching versus other times where he knows that other people are better, and that he can take from them and learn.”

This quality of dedication is something that is incorporated in most of the tasks that James does, including video games. James plays in an amateur league called Risen eSports for the game League of Legends. 

“I get really invested in certain parts of the year and either I play the game and it’s the only game I play or I don’t play the game at all. I get into min-maxing things and I like to just optimize my skills. I really try to always find the solution and get caught up in improvement, as I usually end up stopping things where I feel I am not improving,” James said.