The Eagle Eye Newspaper

By Liz Wingate, Associate Editor

Joao de Oliveira (‘26) didn’t learn how to swim until he was 12 years old. Now, just six years later, he leads the El Camino water polo team with 79 goals and 29 assists, ranking him 12th in all of California, and leading his team to an unbeaten league record of 5-0 and 12-7 overall.

Although he is top of his team Oliveira didn’t have the most convenient start to his polo career, as he grew up in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In Oliveira’s sophomore year he moved to Sacramento and joined the EC water polo team. 

“I was nervous to join but I was glad to have a team, they were all super nice to me,” Oliveira said. 

Oliveira clicked immediately, joining the polo group chat and getting close with his fellow teammates. His closest friends on the team are Jet Sumpter (‘27) and Remy Manigart (‘26), who he remembers messing around with at Bass Pros shop after their first tournament. 

“We just were looking at stuff and having fun and just messing around,” Oliveira said. He even got the nickname “Little Neymar” from one of his teammates, Neymar being a Brazilian soccer player, which made Oliveira feel accepted. 

“[The nickname] got me happy and it gave me some confidence,” Oliveira explained.

Both Sumpter and Manigart are glad Oliveira is on the team and couldn’t ask for a better teammate. 

“I love Joao, we got really tight early on,” Sumpter said. Sumpter also learned some Portuguese to communicate with Oliveira better. 

“[My favorite memory] in a game, I’ll say something in Portuguese and the other team won’t hear it,” Sumpter stated. 

Manigart considers Oliveira one of his best friends and has lots of great memories with him.

“I think he’s one of my best friends. I love Joao, he’s awesome, I look forward to seeing him every day and I couldn’t ask for a better teammate and friend,” Manigart stated. 

After Oliveira’s first tournament he got moved to varsity.

“I played well in JV, and the coach started me in their first game in varsity. It was a little scary and I got scored on twice but I think he liked me so he kept me on varsity,” Oliveira said.  

Cory Stowell the EC water polo and swim coach is very fond of Oliveira and is grateful to have him on the team. 

“Joao is one of my favorite athletes I’ve ever had, he is so coachable and I think he’s got such a great personality and a lot of talent,” Stowell said. 

Stowell has only almost gotten mad at Oliveira once and it turned out to be a memorable moment for him.

“One time I was about to get mad at him and he just smiled and said ‘sorry coach’ because he knew that he did something wrong,” Stowell explained.

Since joining, Oliveira trains everyday during water polo practice for 2 hours. On his off season he joins the EC swim team and practices water polo twice a week after swim practice. Oliveira also is on a club polo team and practices outdoors during the winter. 

“During swim I do swim practice and then I do polo right after,” Oliveira explained. This year Oliveira got voted team captain and has enjoyed the role. All of Oliveira’s teammates listen to him and he doesn’t feel the need to be ‘bossy.’

“Im not really bossy. I never really boss people around, it’s just not what I do. I try to lead them to do warm-ups,” Oliveira states.

The main advice Oliveira gives as a captain to lowerclassmen is to not be afraid and to always practice. 

“I think first don’t be afraid to be physical with someone else, if you need to, throw a kick – another piece of advice is to practice as much as you can and join the swim team, it might not be the funnest but it really helps,” Oliveira explains. 

To see Oliveira and the rest of the water polo team in action attend their next game tonight, Wednesday Oct 8, at Casa Roble starting at 4:00 pm.