Dothan’s Belsches stars for Duke water polo

By Jon Johnson

Published: January 13, 2009

At times, Dothan’s Ted Belsches must have felt like a dartboard as he played goalie for the Duke University water polo team.

“During practice, I would shy away — not wanting to get hit in the face,” Belsches recalled of his early experiences. “But my head is pretty big,” he smiled.

Even once established, Belsches said it was intimidating to be the person trying to stop rocketing shots.

“There was this 6-foot-4, 250-pound guy from Barbados that played for UNC,” he said. “We scrimmaged them a lot, and he would do a backhand shot. I got hit square on the nose.”

Then there was the time in Greece as Duke played an exhibition match against a semi-pro team and the ball came towards him at a high velocity.

“I got hit in the face,” he said. “It did smart.”

So how did a kid from Dothan end up playing water polo at Duke?

His background as a swimmer for the Dothan Dolphins Swim Club provided the background.

The Dothan club annually competes in a state meet during the summer, and Belsches said when it was over, a couple of weeks of playing water polo was the reward for all the hard work put in training for the state meet.

“We really didn’t play by the rules,” Belsches said.

But it gave the Dothan High graduate enough knowledge of the sport to be confident enough to try it once arriving at the Duke campus in Durham, N.C.

“It’s most like hockey or soccer,” Belsches said. “But you run an offense like basketball with a semi-circle around a big guy in the middle. He either scores or is fouled.”

There are seven players at a time for each team in the water — six plus the goalie — playing four seven-minute quarters with a 25-second shot clock. A player can only touch the soccer-style ball with one hand to catch and throw, and cannot touch the bottom of the pool with his feet. An average score is in the eight-goal range.

Belsches didn’t start out as a goalkeeper when he gave the club sport a try at Duke, but by his sophomore season he was entrenched at the position.

“I played in the field my first year,” Belsches said. “We had a senior goalkeeper, and when he graduated, they (teammates) said, ‘You have long arms.’

With a goal that is 8 feet wide and 3 feet above the water, Belsches’ wingspan and quick reflexes proved to be a good fit in goal.

“During practice, I held a medicine ball above my head and treaded water as long as I could,” Belsches said of his training method. “It’s not that hard. I’m basically just floating (in goal).”

Over the next three years Belsches became one of the best in the Atlantic Division of the Collegiate Water Polo Association, and helped the school to its first ever appearance in the National Collegiate Club Championships at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, this past November.

He was named first team All-Conference this past year, and was second team All-Conference during his sophomore and junior seasons. He also served as president of the Duke team as a senior.

In the Atlantic Division title game, Belsches made 15 saves in the 10-8 win over Virginia Tech.

He was named Player of the Week after making 30 saves and three steals over three games in the Atlantic Division tournament as Duke improved to 13-0 and advanced to the national event.

“At the national tournament, we thought we were going to be destroyed because our conference hadn’t done well in recent years,” Belsches said.
Instead, the team went a respectable 2-2 in the 16-team national tourney to finish in 11th place.

In Duke’s final game, a 7-6 win over Colorado, Belsches made three saves to pick up the win in goal.

Belsches is in line to graduate from Duke in May and plans to enroll in medical school.