Forever Pirates -- Eduardo Wainberg
Our next installment of "Forever Pirates" features men's water polo standout Eduardo Wainberg, who competed with the Pirates from 2017-19.
My OCC story started with a decision to move from Brazil to the United States. My goal to pursue a Bachelor's degree and play water polo could not have been better in any other place.
I am very happy and proud to say that I studied and played at Orange Coast College.
The first week was amazing, I made 15 new friends on the water polo team which helped me a lot with feeling comfortable in a new environment. I am grateful to have represented a water polo program led by Coach Adam Lee, who created a family of athletes, helped me become a better water polo player, provided me guidance, taught me important values for my life, and gave me an opportunity to be a Pirate.
As a student, I loved being able to explore the campus, use the library to focus on my classes, hang out and eat at the cafeteria with my friends. I took an opportunity to work as a Swim Instructor at OCC and really enjoyed teaching kids how to swim. I also volunteered in the Adapted Kinesiology Program, which is where I taught and helped disabled students at the gym and pool.
I am very happy that OCC had opportunities for students outside the classroom. As an athlete, having a diverse group of athletes whose families came from Mexico, Jordan, Japan, Italy, Puerto Rico, Vietnam, and Brazil was an amazing opportunity to share our experiences with each other. We had the best times traveling to play at different colleges and spending weekends in different cities.
My greatest memory at OCC was definitely in the last game that I played as a Pirate. We were fighting for 3rd place at the SoCal Championships against Long Beach City College. After a challenging game with a lot of emotions, we won that game 17-16.
As a team, family, and group of friends, we worked so hard and gave so much of ourselves everyday that winning that game paid off. It was one of the best moments of my life and I will never forget it. We brought back the trophy to OCC and we made history.
Wainberg finished his two-year career at OCC as one of the Pirates all-time top scorers. After racking up 76 goals, 32 assists and 41 steals as a freshman, he came back with 48 goals, 45 assists and 53 steals as a sophomore, finishing his career with 124 goals, 77 assists and 94 steals. Coast went a combined 37-16 over his two-year career and lost just two Orange Empire Conference games over that span.
