Student-Athlete of the Week – Calvin Kovaleff
PALM DESERT, Calif. (KESQ) – Our latest student-athlete of the week is Calvin Kovaleff with the Palm Desert High School boy's water polo team.
“We're so lucky to have him," Elise Stein, the Aztecs assistant coach, said. "His teammates are so lucky to have him. He is very selfless and does a great job of really rallying the crowd and keeping everybody in check.”
Kovaleff is a standout athlete for the Aztecs, and is primarily the 2-meter position on the team. He said it's a sport he's fallen in love with over the last five years and said "there's just something about it."
“Everybody always told me to play basketball, since I'm six-foot-five," Kovaleff said. "But, it just felt like the natural path. I love the water. I love being in the water, and it's just fun. I don't think there's ever been a sport I've enjoyed as much as water polo."
He started playing water polo in seventh grade, by joining the Scorpions; a USA Water Polo registered club in Palm Desert. It was the start of his journey, that's all thanks to where he happened to grow up.
“The coaches are my neighbors," Kovaleff said. "I grew up on the same street as them. They taught me how to swim. I remember Elise babysitting me and Michelle babysitting me."
“I've known him since he was very, very little," Stein said. "Now, he's just shot up and he's also just become such a great young man. We're really proud of the man that he is becoming, and also how he is developing as a water polo player.”
While he's enjoyed the sport and the community he's built from it, Kovaleff said he doesn't plan to continuing playing after graduation, unless it's in a club format. He has big plans for what's next in his future, and they're going to require time and focus.
“I've got a 4.65 GPA, weighted, and I like engineering a lot," Kovaleff said. "That's what I hope to major in; mechanical engineering. The goal is Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for mechanical engineering. If not, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.”
Out of the pool, Kovaleff said he also enjoys surfing, thrifting and playing guitar. Water polo has meant a lot to him, and he hopes the sport grows more recognition in the Coachella Valley.
“I would say I'm friends with everybody on the team," Kovaleff said. "I wish more people played it…They call it the hardest sport for a reason. I wish there was more recognition for it.”
If you know a local senior who should be our next student-athlete of the week, please reach out to share@kesq.com to submit a nomination.
The student-athlete of the week segment airs every Tuesday throughout the schoolyear on KESQ News Channel 3.
