Catching up with: Garrett Gentry

Amara Aguilar

Garrett Gentry loves to travel. He chose his major, international

studies, because of it.

But when it came to choosing a college after graduating from Corona

del Mar High, where he earned many honors playing water polo, he didn’t

look far. Gentry chose to play the sport he loves close to home, at UC

Irvine. He packed up, left home and moved into an apartment in Newport

Beach.

“I love being in the area and at UC Irvine,” Gentry said. “In a way,

close was good. But living in the same area and living at home are two

different things.”

Different, in part, because Gentry does not see his parents every day.

After all, he gets out of bed at 5:15 a.m. to get ready to go to water

polo practice at UCI, and his day extends late into the evening.

“I get home around 9 every night. I have long days and we have games

on weekends,” Gentry said.

The days may be long, especially since Gentry is enrolled in 16 units

at UCI, but his water polo experience is gaining depth with every week

that passes.

Already this season, Gentry has eight goals in six games for the

Anteaters. As a freshman last year, he had 10 goals.

“UCI is a great learning experience,” Gentry said. “The competition is

the toughest I have ever played against. Even the practices are so

competitive.”

The Anteaters are ranked No. 7 in the country. Last year, UCI finished

with a record of 20-7.

In preperation for this season, Gentry played with the junior national

water polo team during the summer. He also had the opportunity to train

with the national team. At 19, he was one of the youngest players to

train at the national level.

“It was pretty fun. The intensity and the level of play are so

different, so much faster, stronger, so much smarter,” Gentry said.

Although Gentry is very enthusiastic about playing water polo at UCI,

he has fond memories of playing at Corona del Mar High.

He still keeps in contact with some of his close friends from high

school, where he was first-team All-CIF Southern Section Division II and

Pacific Coast League MVP. Gentry also helped lead the Sea Kings to the

CIF Division II title.

All of which helped him end up at UCI, a water polo powerhouse.

“I like the fact that I am living on my own, the people at school, the

people on my team.

I have more freedom,” Gentry said. “Living on your own is always

something you think about when you are little and I get to play sports

and have a scholarship and it’s like I’m getting paid to play the sport I

love.”

There is no question Gentry is happy at UCI, but he doesn’t plan on

staying in Southern California forever.

Eventually, he wants to move to Europe. “I want to possibly travel

abroad, do international business. Move to Spain, maybe play over there

for a while,” he said.

For now though, Europe and international business will have to wait.

Gentry still has some unfinished business at UCI to attend to.