Rick Merlo was born in
Fresno, California
Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...
on August 5, 1982. Merlo is an American
water polo
Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...
player and was a member of the
United States men's national water polo team
The United States men's national water polo team represents the United States, United States of America internationally in men's water polo.
They are the only squad outside of Europe to medal in the Water polo at the Summer Olympics, men's Olymp ...
at the
2008 Beijing Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...
. In the championship game, the USA team won the silver medal, defeated by Hungary.
High school
CIF Champion at
Buchanan High School in 1997 and 2000. CIF MVP, First-Team All-American, All-League, and All-CIF in 2000.
College
Merlo attended
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...
and played water polo under
Ted Newland and Marc Hunt. In 2003 Merlo played at the World University Games in
Daegu, South Korea
Daegu (; ), formerly spelled Taegu and officially Daegu Metropolitan City (), is a city in southeastern South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; the fourth-largest metropolitan city in the n ...
and placed 8th.
First-Team All-American, First-Team All-MPSF, and Scholar Athlete in 2005. Third Team All-American and Second-Team All-MPSF in 2004.
Career
In 2005 Merlo played for Genova Italy Nervi and then for Brazil in 2007.
Assistant coach at
Fresno Pacific University
Fresno Pacific University (FPU) is a private Christian university in Fresno, California, United States. It was founded as the Pacific Bible Institute in 1944 by the Pacific District Conference of U.S. Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches. ...
See also
*
List of Olympic medalists in water polo (men)
Men's water polo has been part of the Summer Olympics program since 1900. Hungary men's national water polo team has won sixteen Olympic medals, becoming the most successful country in men's tournament.
There are fifty-nine male athletes who hav ...
References
External links
*
1982 births
Living people
American male water polo players
Water polo drivers
Water polo players at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Olympic silver medalists for the United States in water polo
21st-century American sportsmen
{{US-waterpolo-Olympic-medalist-stub