Introducing.... Tyler Palma!
Tyler grew up in Pennsylvania and has had an impressive Water Polo resume before joining us here in Cleveland in 2024. Not only did he help get his little sister into the game (and keeps trying to get her to play); he was one of the founding members of his high school team and then created a team in college - just so he could keep playing! "When I moved to Cleveland in 2024 I had hope that a bigger city would have some polo going on. Little did I know I'd find the best possible club I could hope for!"
"Tyler is a friendly assassin. He will greet you with a smile of a hundred suns when you see him but can also rip a sneaky quick shot when he wants. Shoutout to an amazing teammate and person"
Even though we've added another engineer to the team - we've also added an artist. "I've been making art since I was really young. Now I do digital illustration and paint occasionally. Recently I got to do some commissioned art for some indie tabletop RPGs, which was really cool." Many of the best suggestions for both the Instagram page and the team swag has come from the mind of Tyler Palma. His art can also be seen on display at a Halloween party near you.
"There is a Tyler-made acorn necklace hanging in my bathroom....If you ever need a Sharpie tattoo on your chest - Tyler is your guy"
Speaking of tattoos - Tyler has quite the collection himself. But the real masterpiece is the first one he ever got. "My first tattoo is the one on my bicep of the Pioneer/Voyager disk pulsar map. I got it in college from a friend-of-a-friend who was doing an apprenticeship. I had no money for tattoos but they were only allowed to charge like $20, so I said sure why not?? It's admittedly not the best looking tattoo but it's special to me and the carefree context of getting it like that says something about how I aspire to live my life."
Tyler loves the competitive nature of Water Polo and being in the pool "feels like coming home". But what is most notable - is how much he loves being a friend both in and out of the pool. Some of his favorite memories are when he can enjoy the social side of Water Polo. Like drinking Ron Wine at Cinnamon Lake, meeting new friends at Quarry, and joining the socials at away tournaments. Always thinking ahead; Tyler brings proper club PPE, and his friends at the club some much needed water (even when it looks like beer).
"We liked Tyler so much we got another one"
The always fashionable and worldly Tyler never ceases to impress. He has seen several musicals - his favorites being Bridges of Madison County, Hello Dolly, Heathers, and Into the Woods. You can often find him listening to K-Pop on his way to practice and then walking on to the pool deck with the best trench coat on the team. He's going to continue to put us all to shame by learning a new language. "I've been taking Chinese classes for the past couple of months - because I think it's a cool language and because I really want to go back to China and spend some time traveling around in the future. I'm not very good...yet!! But as they say: 加油!"
