I kept thinking about this and I wanted to offer my thoughts on your question as to why the US hasn’t been able to develop a lefty of the caliber of other countries. These opinions are entirely my own, and they are based primarily on almost a decade of observation as an ODP Zone Coach including as a Zone Head Coach as well as the subsequent NTSCs and traveling internationally as a coach for ODP/NT.
Asked why the US has been unable to develop an international caliber lefty, I would point to 3 things:
the pipeline for development of left-handed players is not rigorous enough.
There has not been enough left-handed talent in the pipeline
The left-handed talent that has been in the pipeline has been disregarded by our coaches due to their own selection bias
Regarding the first point, while ODP ostensibly has the entire country of water polo talent to draw from the reality is that there are actually very few left handed players showing up to ODP camps. Of those that do show up, the ones who have any talent or development at all are almost automatically earmarked for team selection (due to pressure to always have at least one LH player on every team). What this means is that the LH players are identified early and often not held to quite the same standard as a RH attacker. The culture of the sport contributes to this; so much is made about the value of being left handed and there is so much less competition for the spots at NTSC that LH players at the youth levels in the US often lack the all-around skill set and level of development as their peers. I understand that this may not sit well with people on this board or elsewhere, and it is not meant to discredit the work ethic or ability of any player. However, I do believe that the desperation for and veneration of left handed players has lessened the rigor with which they are held in their development.
The lack of rigor in the development of LH players in the US is also hurt by the relative lack of players to develop in the first place. As I alluded to in my first point, there aren’t nearly as many left handed players in the pipeline as one would expect and far fewer who have the potential to develop into an international level player. USAWP likes to tout that they draw from a larger population than any other country, but we all know that the actual pool of potential players is much smaller than it is made out to be. Likewise the US has more competition for young athletes’ attention as well. The result is that the once in a generation lefty has just not been captured by USAWP’s recruitment apparatus at this point. Look at players like Hallock and Dodd for further proof of this. They are also generational players with transcendent athletic ability who water polo just happened to capture. It was luck that USAWP didn’t lose them to football etc. in the same way it may just be chance that has resulted in the lack of finding that lefty.
Lastly, the ODP system isn’t looking for any lefty. They are looking for one that’s fits Dejan’s vision for what that is. While I can’t say I know what’s in his mind, conversations I’ve been a part of at selections regarding left handed players makes it clear that the (almost singular) priority for lefties is shooting ability. While I understand this because of the international game, I believe it has resulted in players falling out of the pipeline because they didn’t fit the mold. I’m thinking specifically of a left handed player who had a very good college career but fell off the NT radar because his game was more about steals, counters and passing than vertical shooting. This is not to say he wasn’t a great vertical shooter, just that it wasn’t the primary feature of his game. I think you can see the reverse of this in players that have been placed on the team who are known to shoot but can’t do the other things needed at a high level.
There are probably reasons I am missing or more nuance to this conversation, etc., but the conversation comes up a lot and this is the “why”
Based on what I’ve observed.
I think the long standing bias against lefties is what hurts their ability to develop at the age group level. Too many coaches give up on them because they think they can only play the 4-5 side or not strong enough (yet) to defend the best shooters on the 1-2. They think of them as positional players who are only beneficial in a 6 on 5 power play. They don’t get the same opportunities as a result.
I cannot speak to how things have been in the past, but the numbers in recent years do not bear that out. The US is roughly 10% lefty, and these were the numbers from 2024 ODP at both regionals and among those invited to NTSC :
I don’t think age will be a factor for any player from Paris, Bowen will be the oldest and he’ll be 34. Obviously if some of the guys are not playing internationally they should not be favored by Dejan.
I agree that it has been a few years since I was in ODP, so things may have changed. However, having the bodies in ODP isn’t the same thing as having the talent.
I very much agree with that statement, and there are interesting numbers there as well. The zone who sends the most lefties to regional selection as a percentage of their athletes is PAC (the Bay Area) at 17%, but only 10% made it to NTSC selection. By comparison, 12% of SOPAC (Orange County) regional athletes were lefties, but a whopping 25% of SOPAC NTSC invitees were lefty. At least at the NTSC level, PAC was sending bodies while SOPAC was sending talent.
…Or it could all be statistical noise, but the data was fun to play with. I only wish ODP would start publishing heights and weights.
Just some thoughts on who could potentially fill that left hand role (all players during this NCAA season):
Ben Liechty - solid contributer to UCLA’s championship run
Wade Sherlock - also another solid contributer for UCLA, not sure who id rather have on a team
Kiefer Black - high potential, it may benifit him to play around better talent than at Navy
Alex Oprea - strong freshman year at Cal, very good shot
Zach Bettino - one of USC’s leaders, guarded Ryder Dodd for most of the finals game
Jackson Painter - Not sure if he will continue to play after just graduating Stanford, but good
offensive player with lots of experience
Not sure who id rather have. Personally I think Liechty is the best right now, but in 3 years Oprea or Black could very well pass him.
Molthen not reaching his full potential is disappointing. I’m not sure what happened but I think his transfer from UCLA to USC ended up backfiring on him. I’m not sure if USAWP is to blame here or the athlete himself. He was the rare lefty who was a great athlete. That’s what our lefties have been missing. The great athlete lefties are more likely to play baseball. Water polo is far down the trough for athletes and it’s why it’s not hard to find good righties given the greater numbers. Whoever said there is a bias against lefties, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Coaches are desperate for lefties. Also, to the person who said we need to stop saying lefties can’t play defense. Nobody is saying lefties can’t play defense, just that our lefties recently have been below average. Dunstan was a good defender but his offensive abilities weren’t that good.
There has not been enough left-handed talent in the pipeline.
All the rest of this is discussion can’t change those two facts. If only 10% of players are lefties, and if our USMNT is the top 2 or 3% of elite Divison 1 college talent (just throwing that number out there. If anything I think the real number might be smaller), and if Olympic rosters have 11 field players, only some of who are there for their shooting skills, the numbers are against most of our teams having lefty shooters. Even more so if the USMNT coach is not willing to sacrifice other skills to add lefty shooters. ODP can do more to identify elite players who are lefties, but they are searching for something very rare. It would be worth looking at why other countries get lefties more consistently. My guess is that fewer elite-athlete lefties are siphoned off to baseball and football in those countries–they will still end up playing basketball and tennis and other sports that give lefties an advantage. But it may be that those national teams do a better job of finding and training their lefties.
True, but for the sake of the question I was focusing on players that can impact a 45 side attack. Having a lefty center is beneficial, but for different reasons than a standard attacker. I would argue also having a 45 side lefty is more impactful than a lefty set.
That being said, both Dom Brown (UCSB, RS Freshman this year) and Jack Martin (USC, RS Junior this year) would qualify as my top left handed sets. Both are key players on their respective teams, but I would say both of their swimming speed may be their greatest weakness if they were to play at the national team level.
there was an urban legend that Nikola Vavic is actually right handed and Jovan tied his right arm so he was forced to learn to be a lefty. No idea if its true or not, but I heard it from a parent connected to Trojan WPC back in the day.
I would think that’s half the battle. The other half is actually learning the mechanics of throwing with the left which I think would be something only a born left hander could teach. Who knows?
Throwing non dominant has to be tough. There’s any number of switch hitters in baseball, but only one known switch pitcher.
