If there was a Greek sports stock exchange and polo was a stock, it would be included in the blue chips. Greek water polo, whether on a national or collective level, holds blue and white in high regard and is considered a force to be reckoned with on the world stage. Today (28.04) one more of our clubs will “visit” the European cup final. Apollon Smyrnis will play with the team of the same name in Teras (Spain) for the Challenger Cup (19.00).

Smyrna’s team became the 5th representative of our country to reach the European cup finals. The first club to reach the final was Vouliagmeni in 1997. They played in the Cup Winners’ Cup and basically won it. Olympiacos has participated in seven finals, Vouliagmeni and Panionios in two, and NO Patrons in one.

However, the participation of Apollon Smyrna in the final of the European Championship is of particular value because it is a division that was founded in 2013, competed for the first time in 2014 (3rd national) and in less than ten years became a star in ” living rooms” of Greek water polo and receive a European trophy.

The Light Brigade’s dream team is the creation of the Apollonist group, with the Afroudakis family as the protagonists and Stamatis Wellis as the supporters. To achieve this… miracle, as stated by team leader Manolis Solanakis on www.kathimerini.gr, a… combination was needed: “For Apollo Smyrnis to reach this point, a combination of things was required: hard work, a high level of individual and team goals , circumstances and people who support these efforts. Since the founding of the department, serious and methodical work has been done by people who are close to it. When you work seriously and methodically, you manage to achieve high. Behind the team are other people who work for it. They are the invisible members, and the Afroudakis family and Stamatis Wellis are the “favourites.” Without them, we would not be here today.”

Manolis Solanakis has been wearing Apollo colors for three years now. With participation in all age groups of our country and big titles on his resume, each participation in the organization is also a stepping stone for his dream. “The department has put the championship in its DNA. As simple as it sounds in theory, it is difficult to achieve in practice. It is a great pleasure for me to be the leader of this group. Ever since I was a small child, I have never stopped dreaming. Today I am one step ahead of what I dreamed of but never thought would come true. I am the captain of the team that is fighting for the European title. When I came to Apollo, I wanted to leave my little stone. I wanted to leave a legacy for the rest of the athletes in this historic club. I want them to keep dreaming and aiming high. That they make it last. It doesn’t have to be an instant success,” the 29-year-old told us.

Young team with big dreams

Apollon Smyrnis is a young team. The average age of the team is up to 24 years. These are the athletes who excelled with our “small” teams and added many titles and dreams to their resumes. One of them is Dionysius Brimis. World champion with the 2018 youth team, he competed in Greek polo at the age of 17 with the Piraeus national team. After passing through Glyfada and Panionios, today, at the age of 22, he plays for the Light Brigade. When we asked him if the young age of the Apollo athletes played a role in the success of the division, the answer was yes: “Every player has ambition. Although we all played in the “secondary” teams, most of the youth did not play in the men’s teams. In everyone’s career there is a desire for an extra step, and this is also reflected in training,” he stressed.

Each success contains a different…recipe. The success of the “Light Brigade” also has its own “recipe”. “We work every day to build a winning mentality. The team has learned not to stop there. He wants to give into the water what he needs to achieve his goal and, as far as possible, to increase the level. And this is achieved at the initial stage only by hard mental work. Tactics and technique will follow,” the 22-year-old stressed.

Apollon Smyrni’s coach is Nikos Deligiannis, who as an athlete has dozens of titles in his track record. He was the main goalkeeper of Olympiacos and the national team, participating and receiving awards in top international competitions. Behind the team, as we mentioned earlier, is a family that has identified its name with Greek polo: the Afrudaki family. What is it like for a young athlete to work with these… holy monsters of the sport? “The only thing an athlete gains from having a ‘legend’ at the head of the team that guides him and a family that loves the club and has given a lot to the sport is motivation. So each individual athlete must work every day at 100% of his potential, in every training session, in every match and be true to the plan. We are lucky that in these efforts of Giorgos Afroudakis, Mr. Stamatis Vellis and the whole team that helps us, we have a man like Mr. Polis Afroudakis on our side. We are talking about the father of polo athletes, who captured the rare romance that has been preserved in our sport,” Dionisis Braimis told us.