The U.S. women's water polo team, with an unexpected hype man, has its sights set on Olympic history – and alter for the game

Flavor Flav realizes that that is an unexpected crossover.

The rap icon once had only a vague idea of ​​water polo, having watched the Olympics on television. But Flav has developed a brand new appreciation for the game and marvels on the tremendous endurance it requires. He recently signed a five-year sponsorship deal to serve because the official endorser for the United States men's and ladies's national water polo teams.

“What connection does rap have to water polo? None,” said Flav.

Until now.

How the collaboration got here about is well documented: Maggie Steffens, the longtime captain of the U.S. women's team, posted a photograph of the players on Instagram in May with a caption describing the challenges the athletes often face, including that players often have multiple jobs along with their Olympic dreams. She urged her followers to follow and support women's sports.

Flav, who said his manager initially reported the post, responded to the decision and pledged his support. Thus was born an unprecedented partnership. He and Steffens appeared together on “CBS Mornings” last Monday, where Flav announced that he would give each team member $1,000 and the crew a cruise with Virgin Voyage.

The 65-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer told The athlete He plans to attend the Paris Games and cheer on the team because it goals for its fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal, a feat no water polo team (men or women) has ever completed.

“I'm here to cheer them on. I'm here to give them the vibe to win that fourth gold medal,” Flav said with a confidence befitting his role. “…And I know we can do it. We're going to do it.”

Flav also said he plans to attend the ladies's team's final home game before the Olympics against Hungary. In a post on X, he wrote that he would attend Tuesday's game in Berkeley, California, and take photos and sign autographs “before and after the game, but not during the game” so he can stay locked down.

I might be at the sport on Tuesday. I might be taking pictures and signing autographs before and after the sport, but not in the course of the game. We are all here to cheer on these women. https://t.co/8AHYAtzE0R

— FLAVOR FLAV (@FlavorFlav) July 3, 2024

“I try to get as many people involved as possible,” he said. “Hopefully what I do opens the doors for other celebrities like me to sponsor these Olympic teams, because these (athletes) are busting their butts to make the United States look good.”

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The U.S. women's water polo team is relishing the additional attention on its option to an Olympic record. Coach Adam Krikorian, who has led the U.S. to more Olympic gold medals than another coach of another team in women's water polo, called it “a sport that is hungry for attention and seeks celebrity.”

“We're a team that sometimes feels like we go unnoticed,” he said. “So when someone steps into the spotlight and shares their love and passion for our team, it's touching. We love it. We welcome it. We hope it inspires others to get involved.”

Krikorian said he doesn't mind if Flav's interest encourages a bunch of followers to follow them in the summertime: “We'll take them all. You didn't have to be with us in the beginning.”

What will excite all recent fans is a team that’s synonymous with success. Since he was hired in 2009, Krikorian and the U.S. women have been on a shocking run, winning gold on the last three Olympics and 6 of the last nine World Championships.

But Krikorian – a former UCLA water polo star who cites the late basketball legend John Wooden as his coaching idol – is less concerned with the outcomes. The results don't even come up when his staff reevaluates a practice or a game. He preaches presence over perfection, a philosophy he emphasized when talking about Emily Ausmus, an attacker who Krikorian said has “jumped headfirst” right into a larger role as a defender.

At 18, Ausmus is the team's youngest player and represents a team with no Olympic experience in a squad that consists of nearly seven Olympic newcomers and 6 returnees. This level of experience is a change from the last Olympic cycle in Tokyo 2021, when a lot of the players were a part of the group that also won gold in Rio in 2016.

At the opposite end of the experience spectrum is Steffens, who led the U.S. to gold on the last three Games. At the Tokyo Olympics, she became the all-time leading point scorer in women's Olympic water polo. And if the U.S. women win gold in Paris, Steffens might be the primary water polo player to win 4 consecutive Olympic gold medals.

Steffens, 31, can name an inventory of younger players on this yr's squad with whom she made contact at earlier stages of her life, underlining that these games have brought her full circle:

— Ryann Neushul, 24, is the third Neushul sister Steffens will play with within the Olympics. “I remember when she was a kid,” Steffens said.

— Jenna Flynn and Steffens posed together for a photograph on the Rio Games when Flynn was a young fan. “Now she's at Stanford and here on Team USA and one of my closest friends on the team, and we're 11 years apart.”

— Jewel Roemer, like Steffens, is from Northern California and grew up attending men's practice games at Diablo Valley College, where Roemer's father was a coach. “I remember getting cute videos of (Jewel) saying 'good luck.'”

— Ausmus attended camps and classes organized by Steffens' company, 6-8 Sports. “(She was) someone we talked about five, six, eight years ago and thought, 'Oh my God, this girl is so good and we're really excited to see her potential.'”

“We've really built a special bond,” Steffens said of the younger group. “And I think as much as they look up to me as a leader and have looked up to me since they were kids and walked this path, I think it's really amazing that I look up to them just as much.”

Steffens is sincere in her praise, in addition to her belief in her teammates. Ashleigh Johnson, who’s making her third Olympic appearance with Team USA, called Steffens “a dreamer in every way.”

“When you're around Maggie, anything is possible,” said Johnson, 29, the team's goalkeeper who’s widely considered the very best on the planet at her position. “She's our captain, but as her friend, she will pave a way to make any dream come true. And if you believe in something, she believes in it and you'll achieve it together.”

For example, Steffens is generally the one encouraging others as she pushes through the hardest parts of a workout or squeezes in a final swim, Johnson said. Outside of the pool, Steffens is the one who arrives in a brand new city after 24 hours of travel and either has a packed itinerary or sets out to explore with no plan. Johnson said she has an “energizer bunny attitude.”

That boundless energy has spilled over into other areas, too, as Steffens and Johnson have change into de facto ambassadors for his or her sport, a task that didn't all the time come naturally to them. In 2016, Johnson became the primary black woman named to the U.S. Olympic water polo team. She said over time, she's felt more empowered to talk out about her experiences, share her story and advocate for diversity to encourage others.

Steffens, who joined the team at age 15, said it took her 15 or 16 years to search out her voice when it got here to advocating for female athletes and speaking more openly concerning the financial challenges of playing the game.

Training for the Olympics in water polo takes place in Southern California, an area of ​​the country where the price of living is notoriously high. In an Olympic yr, training takes place six days per week, which is practically a full-time job for the athletes, Steffens said.

Payouts on the Games rely upon the game, country and placing, however the International Olympic Committee and the governing bodies of every sport traditionally don’t pay prizes to winners. World Athletics, which governs track and field, became the primary international body to announce in April that it will pay gold medalists on the Paris Games a prize of $50,000.

The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee paid athletes on the Tokyo Olympics $37,500 for gold, $22,500 for silver and $15,000 for bronze.

Steffens said she would play water polo – for which there isn’t any skilled women's league within the U.S. – if it meant not earning profits and having to sleep on the couch. But she hopes future female water polo players won't should work extra hours to make a living while playing at the best level.

“I would like to see people retire much later in their careers in the future because they can afford to keep playing water polo and don't feel like they have to retire at 22 to get a 'real job,'” she said.

Any support helps, Steffens said, and Flav's sponsorship is an example of the reward she has experienced after posting on the subject.

“What I love about water polo and our team is the mentality of humility and hard work,” Steffens said. “And one of my dreams is to leave the sport and the women in the sport better than I found it. Hopefully I want to give them more opportunities and more exposure, tell their stories and get their names out there.”

Steffens knows there remains to be a number of work to do and she or he must win over more fans. But each one counts and up to now she is achieving her goals.

The athlete