ONE on ONE with Canadian International, Professional Athlete, and DDO product

NATHANIEL MILLER

Interview conducted by Michael Gordon.

How many years have you been playing polo?
I’ve been playing for 16 years. I started playing water polo when I was 12 years old, at DDO.

How did you start playing? (i.e. summer pool, DDO recruiting?)
I guess I’m one of the rare cases in that I started at in the winter at DDO, without having played any summer polo prior to my first year of winter water polo. I joined in part because I wanted to play on my summer team (Valleycrest) the next year.

Did you swim competitively before playing water polo?
I swam for one year at Pointe-Claire, when I was 8 years old… didn’t go back because I wasn’t a big fan of chasing the black line up and down the pool!

What other sports did you play?
A little bit of everything really. Hockey, Baseball, Basketball, Football, Soccer, Volleyball, some Judo and Karate… most of them I played for several years, though I never felt as passionate about them as I did about water polo.

Where would you rank yourself, compared to your teammates, when you were a bantam, cadet, youth, and junior playing at DDO?
Bantam: bottom of the pack. I was just in it for fun and really didn’t take it seriously. As a result I often missed training and didn’t work very hard in practice, which regrettably cost me a chance to go with the team on a few big trips. My behavior back-fired big time since in the end, by not working hard in practice I didn’t improve much, often got in trouble with my coaches, and didn’t really have much fun.

Cadet: My first year as a cadet was much like my bantam year, and I was ready to quit playing prior to my last year of cadet. A friend talked me into staying, and it was perhaps the best decision I ever made.
We went to the first ever Cadet Nationals at the end of my second year, and won. Even though I was the 7th or 8th guy on the depth chart, the taste of winning was great and really changed the way I looked at things.

Youth: As a youth player, I discovered my passion for the sport and the drive to improve. I started to set goals and slowly climb into a starting spot on the team. By the end of my 2nd year as a Youth, I had improved enough of beg (literally) my way into the Youth National team program. That summer I went to Europe with the National team and my love of international water polo began.

Junior: At this point, my drive and determination started to pay off. I was an All-Star at both Junior Nationals, helped lead my team to 2 gold medals, earned a starting spot on the best junior National team to represent Canada (8th at Worlds) and to my unexpected surprise, made the senior national team and got to play at the 1999 Pan Am games in Winnipeg (winning a bronze medal to boot!)

What factors would you say were instrumental in supporting your rise during your developmental years at DDO?
Great coaching. Led by Daniel Berthelette, the DDO men’s program rose to National dominance during the late 1990’s. The 77-78-79 generation of players from DDO enjoyed great success, winning several national titles and placing several players in the national team program. Dan’s leadership changed the culture of the DDO club and created an expectation of winning that we all benefited from.

What inspired you to try out for the Junior National Team?
In 1995, David Hart (a famous Canadian Coach) created the “dream team” program for the ’79-’80 Junior national team program. It was a four-year plan designed to identify and train 40 athletes from which 13 would compete in the 1999 World Junior Championships. In 1995 when the program starter, along with 3 of my DDO teammates, there was an N.Miller (Noah) on the initial list… but it wasn’t me. That burned me badly and from the first day I saw the list, I vowed to make that team.

Isn't there an inspirational story involving your desire to get a tryout for that team, and the coach refusing to allow you to play, unless you passed certain requirements?
Something like that…
As a youth player, I worked very hard to improve my game and to earn a spot in the “Dream Team” top 40. Going into my last youth nationals, I thought I had done enough. I performed well at the event, and our team lost by a goal in the final (which was heartbreaking enough as it is). Afterwards I was hoping/expecting the coach of the program to invited me to at least try out for the team, but he walked right passed me on the deck without a word. I was crushed, and wasn’t sure what else I could do. As fate would have it, the Youth national team program was preparing for Europe at a training camp with the Maccabiah games team in Toronto shortly after nationals. The coach of the Maccabiah team was Pat Oaten, the now incredibly successful DDO and Senior National Women’s team coach. Pat invited me to play with the Maccabiah team at the training camp, giving me one last shot at impressing Coach Hart earning a spot in his program. I went to Toronto and busted my tail off trying to prove my worth. After the last training session, David Hart approached me an offered me a spot on team for the European tour that summer. That made me player #40 on the youth national team, a long way from top 13, but at least now my foot was in the door.

After the summer tour, on the flight home, Coach Hart told me that he liked how I played, but given the depth at my position I was a long shot at best to be in the top 20 the next summer. The priority was for me to swim 100m under 1:00… may not sound like much, but for a kid who had never gone under 1:08, it felt like I had to climb Mount Everest naked to make the team. Nevertheless, I put my head down, and set my sights on the 1:00 mark. Despite my distaste for “chasing the black line”, I joined the John Abbott swim team that fall, and began what has now been over 10 years of 2 a day workouts. It paid off. That spring I swam a :57 100m in our Cegep finals. I was 7th or 8th in my heat but I don’t think another swimmer in the whole meet let out a bigger scream for joy that weekend. I immediately called Coach Hart and let him know. That summer I made my first all-star team at nationals (more importantly, we won gold, avenging our loss to York a year earlier), made the top 13 on the junior team and got invited to join the National Training centre in Calgary.

How did the decision to move to Calgary come about? I believe you were the first to move out there from DDO, did anybody help you with the decision, or were you on your own?
After junior nationals in 1998, the assistant Coach of the senior national team, Garth Murphy, approached me. He extended an invitation on behalf of the new National Training centre to move to Calgary and train with the national team program. 4 of us from DDO were invited but I was the only one to accept. There wasn’t much of a decision process for me. My goal was clear (to make the starting line-up on the Junior team), and going to Calgary was the best way to achieve that. At the time, I went to Calgary with the intention of only staying one year… At that point I still didn’t really understand just how far my drive could take me and making the senior national team still wasn’t something that I had seriously considered.

How big was winning the Gold Medal at Commonwealth Games in 2002, and winning the MVP of the tournament on top of that? How did that change your life or career?
It was a huge accomplishment for our team and program. Afterwards we were named the AFC (aquatic federation of Canada) team of the year, a first for the men’s water polo program I believe. Beating Australia at a major competition was a big deal for us because it showed that we could compete with teams in the top 8-10 in the world. Individually, that event was somewhat of a “coming out party”. Personally it was a huge moment for me. I had a pretty serious back injury a month and a half prior to the event, and there was some question as to whether or not I’d even be able to play. Thanks to a lot of rehab and some great care by our physio’s in Calgary, I came back from the injury in time to play at the event. Winning the MVP award cemented my belief that I could be a strong international player, and got me exposure to the Water Polo world, which translated in an opportunity to play for one of the top Club teams in Europe the following season.

How did your first professional contract, playing for ONN (Olympique Nice Natation, France), come about? What can you yell us about that experience?
The FINA delegate overseeing the Commonwealth games was from France, and on handing me the MVP award he made a nice comment about how my game had progressed very far recently and that he looked forward to following my continued development. A few months later during a summer tournament in Holland, I was approached by the manager of Olympic Nice Natation (the top team in the French league), who said he had heard a lot of good things about me and wanted to offer me a contract… obviously it was no coincidence. It was a great opportunity for me as the team was participating in the “Champions League”, a season long tournament featuring all the best clubs in Europe. To my knowledge, I was the first Canadian player to play in that competition.

My experience in Nice was good. They were an elite European squad, winners of 6 consecutive French titles and coached by an Italian (Paolo Mallara) who is now the head coach of the Italian National team. The team was made up of great players from several countries (Holland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia), and was deep at every position. We had a lot of success that year, winning the French league title and coming within 1 goal of qualifying for the “Champions League” Final-Four.

As good as my experience was, I look back now and realize that I didn’t take advantage of the opportunity as much as I should have. It was my first year playing professional water polo, and that involved some dynamics in training and playing that were very new to me. I had reached that level of competition and performance in part due to the aggressive way I trained day-in day-out in Canada, but in Nice I found myself holding back at times, a little too worried about “stepping on peoples toes”. In any case, it was a great learning experience for me, one that had greatly contributed to the success I’ve enjoyed since.

You are a versatile player, once an MVP international 2m guard, and now a professional 2m forward. How is it that you've been able to move into one of the hardest polo positions so late in your career, and succeed at that?
To be honest, I’m not quite sure. I think to a certain extend, having been a guard (hole check) for so long taught me a lot about what makes a good centre forward (hole man), so that made the transition a little easier. Overall though, it really comes down to a mental thing. I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of playing hole, especially given the timing (one month before the 2005 World Championships in Montreal). However once I got over the frustration of being forced to learn a new position so “late” in my career, I embraced it as a new challenge, set some goals, and over the past 3 years I have done my best to reach them. Evidently it has paid off (both figuratively and literally) as I was offered a very generous contract this summer by a top European club (Budva, Montenegro).

Creating history at the 2007 World championships by placing in the top 12 must have felt incredible. Can you talk about the pivotal game against Romania, your expectations before the game and how it played out?
I can’t really put into words how great we felt after that game. The only sad thing is that we weren’t able to build of that win and place even higher. Prior to the game, we felt very confident that we could create the “upset”. Our team was impeccably prepared, physically, mentally, and tactically, by our coach, Dragan Jovanovic. We played a tournament in New Zealand a week before Worlds and had some very encouraging results which made it clear in our eyes that our “Team” game was strong enough to overcome teams like Romania. They clearly had a more experienced team and stronger individual players, but they lacked the discipline and “system” that our coach had implemented with us. The game was really not as close as the 9-8 result showed. We outplayed them for most of the game, and missed several “100%” opportunities (including 2 penalty shots, 1 goal called back on a mystery foul and an empty net miss). But despite the misses, we stayed positive and supported each other, playing hard for 4 quarters and eventually squeaking out the win.

In 2004, Dragan Jovanovic was named head coach of the men's national team. How has the transition been for you, and for the team?
When Dragan took over the team, he made several strong changes that led to the retirement of several players who were just entering their prime. Many people questioned this, since depth is not one of our strong points. The bottom line is that Dragan had/has a very clear plan for how to make the National team a legitimate top 8 program in the world, and no one player can be “bigger” than the program if this plan is to succeed. Frankly, for me it was a welcome transition. The National team program has an incredible sense of accountability and commitment. While it has meant playing with a very young roster and going through a lot of growing pains, the results have been pretty clear. Individually, we all had to swallow a little bit of “humble pie” and be willing to start from scratch, re-learning basic techniques and tactics, piece by piece. As he describes it, being an elite water polo team is akin to building a work of art from a puzzle. Each piece has to be perfected and then joined to other pieces. It takes a long time, but if you are patient and committed, the end result is an incredible work of art. Much in that way, we have witnessed the senior program develop these past 3 years. We are still a long way from our “masterpiece”, but every single player can testify to the fact that we have progressed immensely since he took over.

With more DDO athletes joining the men's National Team fold, especially moving to Calgary to do so, Devon Diggle, John Ruse, Scott Mumme, Andrew Robinson, and potentially Justin Boyd, do you feel like you had something to do with their decision, as having paved the way, so to speak? What would you say to younger athletes who may be thinking about a move?
Last year, I was thrilled when the young DDO guys chose to move to Calgary, and did my best to help them with the transition. I don’t know how much influence I’ve had over these young players. I hope that some of the successes I’ve enjoyed help show them that it is possible for a kid from the West Island to play and compete at the highest level of the Water Polo world. I also think that the incredible international success that several of the women from DDO have had over the years must have played a role. I firmly believe that our club is positioned to be a factory of, not only great Canadian water polo players, but great international water polo players. Having seen what youth water polo development looks like in perhaps the greatest water polo training grounds in the world (the Croatian/Montenegrin Adriatic Coast is arguably home to more elite international water polo players in the world than any other place on the planet), I can say without any hesitation that Montreal, and the West Island in particular, has all of the elements needed to produce elite water polo talent.
To any young players thinking about making the move to the National Training centre, all I have to say is AIM HIGH, you never know just how good you can be!

Now that you are playing professionally for Budva, in the Montenegrin National League and the Len Trophy, how do you look back on your Calgary experience?
Without a doubt, the volume, intensity and level of training in Calgary is as high, or higher than anywhere in the world. I am easily one of the fittest and strongest players in my club, and I know that my national teammates in Herceg Novi (K.Graham), Eger (A. Feltham) and Nice (J.Sayegh) are experiencing the same thing. Dragan runs a very demanding program in Calgary, but the pay-off is that he truly prepares you to compete with the worlds best water polo athletes. The only downside of training in Calgary is the lack of games, a problem that has no solution in sight. I was in Calgary for 8 of the last 9 years, and at times the intensity of training and lack of games was a little tough to deal with, especially mentally. However I believe that the program is now designed for young athletes to centralize for only a few years (3-4) and then make the transition to pro water polo, which I think will be great for both the program and for the individuals who make the commitment.

What is it like playing and training day in and day out with some Water Polo Heroes, in the likes of Ciric, Uskokovic and Sefik? How has the experience been so far? How good is your team? It seems as though you are making more Canadian Water Polo history by playing on this team, your thoughts?
The 3 players you named are 3 of the best in the world in their positions/roles… Training with them is like working on painting next to Pablo Picasso; everyday I’m learning so many new little things about the game and how to play it more effectively. Our team is quite strong; we have our sights set on both the Montenegrin league title and the Len Trophy title, and our results thus far back that up.

I think once I retire I’ll probably have time to appreciate what I’ve accomplished a little more, but for now I am squarely focused on both my club team goals and my dream of qualifying for the Olympics. And in the end, the only part of Canadian Water Polo history that really matters to me is to qualify for the Olympic games and advance into at least the top 8. We blew a great opportunity to qualify this summer by being upset by Brazil in the semi-finals at the Pan Am games, and now we face a huge task of trying to qualify at the Olympic Qualification Tournament.

Is there anything you would like to say to the DDO club, to the young athletes who are training hard, to the parents who are supporting them and to the Committee of volunteers who support the club itself?
Water Polo in Canada would not exist if not for the tireless efforts of parents and volunteers that give so much of their energy to make it work. As an athlete who’s had the opportunity to travel all around the world and now earns a living playing this wonderful sport, I can’t thank them enough.

To the young athletes, I would just reiterate what I said earlier… AIM HIGH! You never know how good you can be unless you go for it. Don’t let setbacks slow you down, and don’t let other people’s opinion of you stop you from chasing your goals. If you work your butt off for long enough, opportunities you never thought possible can and will appear.

TO FOLLOW NATHANIEL’S RESULTS WITH BUDVA – LEN TROPHY
www.lenweb.org

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS FOR NATHANIEL, DON’T HESITATE TO ASK HIM! HIS E-MAIL: grimkin@hotmail.com