Boys varsity water polo head coach Giovanni Napolitano listens to an assistant coach during a match against Carlsbad High School on October 22 at Paly. 

– Matt Ersted

In a joint statement, 16 former and current Palo Alto High School boys’ water polo players commended recently dismissed boys’ head water polo coach Giovanni Napolitano.

Napolitano was asked to co-coach the CCS Division I All-Star Water Polo Team and will be co-coaching the team with Dante Dettamanti, who coaches water polo at Menlo Atherton.

In a statement released to the The Paly Voice, the water polo players, including seven former and current captains, applauded Napolitano on his coaching skills and achievement, thanking him for mentoring them.

“Giovanni is a coach of profound integrity and honesty,” the statement said. “He instills in his players the importance of a strong work ethic and strong morals and is an extremely skilled and knowledgeable coach.”

“He went far beyond his responsibilities and also established a fantastic club water polo program for Jordan and Paly students,” the players added. 

The players also asked the administration to reconsider their decision to let go of Napolitano, which they said didn’t take in to account the many water polo players whom had no problems with Napolitano.  

“The administration failed to get any input from most of the Paly Water Polo community before making this decision,” the players wrote. “We urge Principal Winston and Coach Hansen to reinstate Giovanni as the head coach of the Boy’s Water Polo Team.” 

Despite Napolitano’s dismissal due to complaints from some parents to the principal, many of the old water polo players lamented his loss.

“We are incredibly disappointed by the Palo Alto High School  Administration’s recent decision to fire Giovanni,” the players wrote. 

The boys wrapped up the message with an overall thank-you to their coach for being an inspiration to them.

For more information about the dismissal, click here. 

Editor’s Note: Aaron Zelinger, senior captain of the boys’ varsity water polo team, is a current editor in chief of The Paly Voice. He was, however, not involved in the writing or editing process of this story to avoid conflicts of interest.

A previous version of this story incorrectly said that coach Giovanni Napolitano had been recognized as the 2011 Central Coast Section Water Polo Coach of the Year. The original statement forwarded to The Paly Voice stated that the former and current water polo players commended Napolitano for being named CCS Water Polo Coach of the Year due to a misunderstanding about the difference between All-Star team coaching and CCS Water Polo Coach of the Year, which currently does not exist. An honor coach award does exist but has been stopped for this year’s program according to the CCS homepage. Napolitano accounted for the misunderstanding by saying that he had no idea what “the process” was before the CCS All-Star Division I versus Division II game. Although the recognition from CCS is different, George Kadifa, Paly alumnus ’09, who sent and signed the original statement said in an email to The Paly Voice that being asked to co-coach the CCS Division I All-Star Team was a “tremendous honor” in and of itself. The previous version of the story also stated that the players applauded Napolitano for his award, but because Napolitano did not win CCS Water Polo Coach of the Year and a new statement was not mailed out, only Kadifa’s words was posted in this note. The orginal statement was taken out because of the incorrect information.