Thrill of a lifetime

Tyler Amina was given a chance to walk on to the Princeton water polo team, so he decided to become a Tiger.

Two years later, there he was, treading water in goal against national powerhouse Southern Cal in an NCAA semifinal game in Berkeley, Calif.

"Playing in that tournament was the coolest thing," the 2010 Kamehameha graduate said. "We’re hoping to make it back there this year."

Princeton won the Ivy League championship over the weekend and is now 14-4 overall, 6-1 in the Southern Division.

The Southern Division championship tournament is Nov. 9 and 10, followed by the CWPA Championships to be held Nov. 22-24.

If the Tigers can win that, they’ll advance to an NCAA play-in game on Nov. 30, for the right to return to the NCAA tournament.

"We’re feeling good about our odds," Amina said. "We have that mentality right now that it’s ours to lose."

After playing 22 games in goal for the Tigers as a sophomore, Amina 

hasn’t received much playing time the past two seasons.

It hasn’t taken away from his experience at Princeton, which has come full circle since he stepped foot on campus as a wide-eyed freshman.

"It’s weird, because you come here as a freshman and talk to alumni and you see how crazy they are about this place," Amina said. "We have a three-and-a-half day event where all the alumni come back and party like they are undergraduates and see how much they love Princeton.

"You don’t understand that when you’re a freshman, but (Princeton) has allowed me so many opportunities and I’ve made so many friends that I feel that way now. I understand what they mean."

Amina played water polo at Kamehameha, mostly as a way to have fun and win some games.

When the time came to choose a college, Amina was looking entirely at academics and considered Pomona-Pitzer, Caltech, Columbia and Washington University in Missouri.

Princeton offered him something nobody else did.

He had an opportunity to play water polo in college.

"That was definitely one of the deciding factors," Amina said. "The coach asked me to walk on and that was huge, especially since the year before I got here they took third in the NCAAs. The opportunity to play for them was really exciting."

Making the jump from high school to college is tough in any sport, but especially in water polo.

Amina’s first tournament featured six games in two days. In high school, he was "lucky if we played 10 matches all season."

He also had to get used to playing water polo in indoor pools. Some of those pools had a shallow section on one end, allowing players to stand on the bottom of the pool during matches.

"It’s still weird, honestly, but a lot of people get called for using the bottom, which you can’t do," Amina said. "It’s not the same as being in Hawaii and playing in outdoor pools, but it’s still been fun. I’m thrilled I got to be able to do this."