Shawn Stringham (00:00.11)

stop or we need to do anything, that's totally fine. That's the miracle of post and the miracle of Chloe to make us look and sound like we know what we're talking about. that's, it's also fantastic. So don't like if you get flustered, it's okay. Just to pause and kind of go back and restart on a conversation. Chloe, I, I hate to say this, the fans are still on in here. Part A part B.

My old there's no way my eyes can read that chat from here So I don't know what you just typed in there if you just type in a big red five or something like that's I don't know Copy them, okay. Yep

Mark St. John (00:44.95)

Thanks for listening.

Shawn Stringham (00:47.778)

would be a jump scare.

Shawn Stringham (00:53.038)

that's way better. That's good.

Shawn Stringham (01:02.104)

Thank you.

Mark St. John (01:02.756)

I feel like that's a little bit better.

Shawn Stringham (01:07.767)

Alright, cool.

Chloe, do need to give us a countdown or do you want us just to start when you're ready? You just give us a thumbs up and we'll go.

That's fantastic. Hey Mark, it's great to have you on the podcast. I'm so excited to have a conversation. You've been incredibly influential in my life and in water polo. Um, I think I was just sitting here thinking like, how long have we known each other? We've been friends here in the mountain zone of four years, a water polo, right? It's gotta be at least 10 years, 10, 15, 10 and 11, 12 years right there. So.

Mark St. John (01:39.908)

Right.

Mark St. John (01:43.428)

That'd 10, 12 years at least.

Shawn Stringham (01:47.406)

I think most people know I'm based out of Salt Lake City, Utah, hotbed of water polo in the United States. We can say that, right? And you are also in the equal hotbed of water polo in the United States of Las Vegas. How's water polo in Las Vegas these days?

Mark St. John (02:03.511)

Well, we're in our winter season, so just coming up from air from the busy summer. So we are probably two thirds of capacity. And then once we get to March and April, we'll get back to normal numbers. So we're at 35, 40 kids right now, which is normal for this time year.

Shawn Stringham (02:18.222)

Nice. And how many, and so just brag on Las Vegas water polo a little bit. You've got when you're at your max, are you like 50, 50, 60 kids? Is that what you're thinking?

Mark St. John (02:28.387)

50, 60 kids, we really can't get bigger than that. Just with pool space and coaches. So I mean, my favorite numbers are on 40, 45. I mean, there's enough room in the pool for that. When we get bigger than that, we got to get another pool and the coaches are spread then. So I'm happy around 40, 45 kids.

Shawn Stringham (02:46.348)

So small but mighty there in Las Vegas. That's a crazy thing. So Mark, you've been incredibly influential on Game On Live Studio. And this first part of this series that we're putting together in these podcasts is that of the Goals Legends. And you definitely fall into that category. I think if we rewind pre Game On Live Studio, like I said, we've known each other for a long time.

You know, we get back into COVID, March 2020 hits, things start to shut down. You and I kind of both recognize that we had an opportunity where we were able to play some water polo here in Utah, which is just over the border from where you live there in Vegas. And what was your perspective of kind of watching water polo disappear overnight back there, back in 2020?

Mark St. John (03:39.652)

Well, I remember we were, I think we played the last tournament, last sanctioned tournament and whether it's February, March, whenever the cap seven international, they host it. We played in that and then everything shut down like a week later. Um, so that was just like a big now what? Because water polo, like for you, it's, it's just a way of life. Like it's just, I live in and breathe it and think it all the time. So it was not just like, Oh, we're going to do something else.

Shawn Stringham (03:49.538)

Yeah, yeah.

Mark St. John (04:08.833)

It was like a big chunk of my soul was just missing. Right? Like, you know, so it was, you know, the funny Saturday night live clip. He has a fever. He's more cowbell. When I have a fever, I need more water polo. Right? So it's replaced the cowbell with water polo. So that was kind of just a big shock of an okay. Now what do we do? So we, we took two weeks, three weeks, you know, everyone's watching the news. And it's like, we got to find the monsters always in find a way, figure it out.

Shawn Stringham (04:12.767)

Right. Yeah.

Shawn Stringham (04:24.097)

There you go.

Shawn Stringham (04:37.601)

Right, right.

Mark St. John (04:37.997)

So we got pool time here in Vegas at a city pool that, you know, but it wasn't real water polo. was just passing and swimming. had to stay distanced. So, but we're in the water.

Shawn Stringham (04:45.919)

I disinfect the balls in between, you know, each time you touch the ball back when we, when it was.

Mark St. John (04:50.283)

Right, like...

Exactly. So you know, you touch the door handle, got to wash your hands. was a whole, you know, you know, everyone knows that. So we, you know, we found a way just to get back into water in any regard right away. I feel like a little bit sooner than everyone else because, you know, we're a tourist town, so things were open, but not really. Right. So open to the certain people. So we just found a way just to kind of get back in the water and then

Shawn Stringham (04:58.411)

yeah? yeah.

Mark St. John (05:23.007)

I was at the time the commissioner of the men's national league for USA water polo. And we tried, tried like with just to get one more weekend in and then that shut down. Then it came like real, like if USA water polo can't figure out a way to get in the water, you know, now it's, now it's So we, we just practice, practiced a lot. And then we have a small, we had a small, I wouldn't say partnership, but we had a sister club.

Shawn Stringham (05:39.542)

Right. Right.

Mark St. John (05:51.092)

in Southern Utah water polo in St. George and Hurricane and Jesse Nodra over there. You know, Jesse rest his soul. and they, they really have, as you know, in Utah, the restrictions were much different. So they said, look, we have the pool, but we don't, we don't really run tournament just one a year. Can you help us get water polo here? Like whoever they didn't, you know, forget the tournaments that we did and back to back weekends.

Shawn Stringham (05:59.308)

Yeah. Yeah.

Shawn Stringham (06:05.665)

Very different.

Mark St. John (06:20.515)

They just want to do some of the scrimmage against. I was like, well, if you have the pool time and what are the current restrictions, let's, let's figure this out. Um, and I was feeling the pressure, you know, of just the kids here and the parents, like let's play water polo and coaches that know I host tournaments. What are the restrictions like there? we play, you know, just weekly texts and calls. So I said, you know what, let's just figure it out. So we, at the, at the end of it, we did five weekends back to back.

Shawn Stringham (06:22.742)

Right. Yeah.

Mark St. John (06:49.771)

We administered 3022 COVID tests before the tournament started. One on site positive that they quarantine. I mean, that's incredible. 322 teams. So.

Shawn Stringham (07:03.425)

And that's amazing because right. I mean, we had just from a storytelling standpoint, I had run the salty splash tournaments up in Salt Lake, right. And that was, I wanted to say end of October into that early November. then, I vividly remember this like, cause, we had a great, mean, teams that you would never ever expect to come to Salt Lake city. That was like very opportunistic of me to bring them in to live stream and they're no, no.

No, no spectator. that's, that is the truly the impetus of where game online studio came out. was like, we're going to host these tournaments because I was the, I still am, but like the club director for Olympus, we were hoping we're hosting these. I very vividly remember after getting through a couple of those weekends, you calling me saying, Hey, let's have this conversation. And I told you, like, I I remember exactly where I was sitting. was like one of those moments in time.

was just sitting in my front room on my couch and I said, Mark, you know that I have a live streaming company, right? We should live stream these games. And I also have contacts to be able to deliver COVID tests. Like let's figure this out and, and to see if we can make this happen. And those egg beater events, those five weekends of egg beater events, by the second or third weekend, we were broadcasting everything onto YouTube at that point. and I remember seeing like,

Mark St. John (08:09.132)

Yeah.

Mark St. John (08:15.459)

Yeah.

Shawn Stringham (08:33.931)

that subscriber count turned to a thousand there. And that was like, okay, this might just work. This might be a cool thing that we're going to be able to do. So you being able to trust goals and me in doing that for egg beater is really the framework and the baseline of being able to have what goals has grown into. I, that's why you're a goals legend in my mind right there.

Mark St. John (08:54.829)

Well, I mean, you are the legend. You you're the one that brought this. I remember that phone call, too, was like, where did you start? What is what playbook can you share? And, you know, it was here's the starting point and then figuring it out along the way. Right. So sourcing the covid test, which was, you know, not easy to do every week. You're you know, so you can buy ten thousand.

Shawn Stringham (09:05.655)

Right.

Shawn Stringham (09:11.841)

Yeah, yeah.

Shawn Stringham (09:16.801)

Yeah. Yeah.

Mark St. John (09:21.699)

But then what if the restrictions get loosened and now I have 700 tests I don't 7,000 tests I don't need. then, so now you're piecemealing it. Okay, so as the person I'm dealing with this week is gonna scam me. Are we gonna have all these teams come to St. George and not be able to play? So it was fun, but it was wild at the same

Shawn Stringham (09:24.909)

Can you have 7,000 coca-tots a year?

Shawn Stringham (09:33.345)

Right.

Shawn Stringham (09:42.126)

Yeah, it was, it was totally the wild west and the, talk about like getting good fast and getting reps. Like you talk about 10,000 hours of getting that and like people, I will still remember like when Nick Baba and you sent the schedule. It's like, guys, these games start at 6 AM and go until midnight.

Mark St. John (10:03.107)

Well that was, so that was I think weekend three. And we were, so we had, well what's new name of that place, sorry.

Shawn Stringham (10:06.165)

Yeah, right.

Shawn Stringham (10:11.949)

the Human Performance Center at Utah Tech. Yeah, Utah Tech. Yeah.

Mark St. John (10:15.413)

Utah Tech now. So, Dixie State now it's Utah Tech. So we had Utah Tech, two courses there. And then that third weekend, I think we would try to do masters and 16 and 18 boys. Like it was different. We couldn't host everyone every weekend. So that third weekend, we had the Cedar City Pool. And for some reason, they had, I think it was either out of towners, some restriction popped up for them. So I had all these teams.

Shawn Stringham (10:26.722)

Right.

Shawn Stringham (10:34.231)

Right.

Mark St. John (10:44.655)

And I remember calling and, know, Katie, you'll say water polo was a great help through. I wouldn't be able to get the rosters in and all the safe sports stuff that was just coming down, like all the concussion protocols. She, she was great in this. I was like, okay, here's the teams and here's the, here is the, order in which they entered their rosters. Right. So it's like, well, I can't just tell if I have a 16 under from one club and a 14 under from the same club. I can't tell them one not to come. So how do I do this? So I called Nick.

Shawn Stringham (10:48.705)

Yeah, right.

Mark St. John (11:13.827)

I was like, Nick, can we make this work? He's like, we can make this work. But the last game on Saturday starts at 3 a.m. Okay. So I remember typing this email and my wife was there. She's like, there's no way these people are going to play 3 a.m. Like the parents, there's no way. So I put the email out. said, guys, we can make this work. I don't have to uninvite anyone, but Saturday we have to go until 3 a.m. And no one bought. Like everyone was like, we're in, like we have no choice.

Shawn Stringham (11:28.717)

Right, right.

Shawn Stringham (11:39.437)

Okay, yeah, that sounds great. What are you gonna say, no?

Mark St. John (11:42.436)

So like, this is going to be fun. then what's the opportunity there? So I called a couple of food trucks. I said, guys, everything, I mean, no offense to the town, everything closes there at eight. Right. So I called, right. So I called a couple of food trucks. They stayed out there till 1am. I think we had a barbecue place and like a sandwich, you know, just come and a Hawaiian place down the road, brick and mortar stayed open. So that weekend was wild and

Shawn Stringham (11:52.183)

Yeah, right. It is a retirement town. It is more college town now.

Mark St. John (12:11.979)

I remember one of the referees were like, okay, we're on time. And then he, you know, he had his break came in his three games. He worked all went to shoot out. It's like, yeah. So we went to like four 15 or something like absurd. And I remember like, Nick, okay, you're refining. I have to go sleep. I will come in the morning and you finish the games. And I mean, your crew was there. So.

Shawn Stringham (12:23.885)

Come on, you're killing me, brother!

Shawn Stringham (12:37.601)

We were there. And I remember personally, I sat on that day. I sat down on that chair to start calling games at 5 45 AM for the 6 AM start and went through until 1 AM. Like it was like straight, no break. Like just bring me some water and some food. And it was one of those, like by the end people were at that point, people were coming up and saying, my gosh, you guys are doing a great job. This is so cool. So fun. People are loving it.

Right. But those, that moment, I will again, another key moment of when people say to me regularly, like, man, I really just, I just don't know if I have energy to do five games in a row. So you have no idea. Let me, let me, let me talk to you about how this is going to be. Right. So.

Mark St. John (13:19.309)

And the ref, mean, blessed the referees, I mean, they've never experienced that and they came correct, right? So as you know, like once the tournament starts, it's really in the referee's hands at that point, know, 80 % of it's really how, as they go, goes. So we really got to give it to them to continue to do that and then work the next day, right?

Shawn Stringham (13:26.315)

Yeah.

Shawn Stringham (13:39.083)

Yeah. Run, run through those numbers again. You dropped those early. was like, how many, how many teams.

Mark St. John (13:43.908)

We administered 3,022 tests. So I'd say of those, maybe 200 of them were probably coaches and the rest were athletes. Right. And I had to test the referees and the table staff, you everyone there. Um, and then 320, you know, 322 teams and, uh, five weekends. So we did five weekends and run that third weekend was the most busiest. We actually had teams stay in Vegas.

Shawn Stringham (13:51.318)

And that was all. Yeah, you got coaches and referees. Yeah. Right.

Mark St. John (14:12.035)

Cause we sold out the team. sold out the town. I remember Jordan, the, whatever the manager of those hotel chain, he's like, we're going to give you cue to city. Like you're booking the town five weeks in a row here.

Shawn Stringham (14:14.519)

That's crazy.

Shawn Stringham (14:24.919)

Key to the city in November in COVID, no one's coming anywhere and they're booked out. Mark St. John, you're up.

Mark St. John (14:30.371)

Yeah, so it was a fun weekend. know, Vegas, I would get, I'd leave Friday and get to the hotel in like an hour and 20 minutes, you know, fly through the gorge there and you know, exactly right. So I'd get there quick, but it was fun. mean, I think I spoke to you and Nick Bava more than my wife during those flyaways.

Shawn Stringham (14:41.163)

Right, yeah. Because there's no one on the road, no one's driving anywhere.

Shawn Stringham (14:54.625)

Yeah. yeah. We were, we were on like, we were, we were, mean, think we did a good job of all, everyone did a great job of pulling it off, but like we were making it up on the run. Right. Like, I mean, that was, that's the best part is just trying to get through and get that done. What do you think like go back now? Like we're five years removed from that probably like now just past this five or five or six years, five years removed. What impact do you feel like that those events in those early COVID?

Mark St. John (15:05.186)

Yeah.

Shawn Stringham (15:21.997)

had on the sport of water polo overall? Can you forecast on that of what you feel like?

Mark St. John (15:29.635)

Well, if you look at that and I guess say a senior, that's a senior in college now, they needed those games, right? If you remember weekend two or four, it? I mean, I have to look, but like I said, different age groups. think weekend four was high school girls and that was essentially their season, right? And Kusano was the MC there of know, of

Shawn Stringham (15:42.306)

Mm-hmm.

Shawn Stringham (15:52.065)

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Mark St. John (15:57.86)

you know, doing his thing. And he, said, look, let's carve out some time. Let's come up with some words and really any, anyone who's a senior here, let's recognize them. and I think just, just that girls weekend, because we had that mountain zone. wouldn't say all star team, but we had that coalition of mountain zone girls that stayed together and succeeded. It was really important for them just being like not 10,000 feet up, but really on the ground. There was coaches begging for the live stream.

Shawn Stringham (16:06.189)

Right.

Mark St. John (16:26.541)

coaches begging for rosters like cap numbers and who's playing because that was their recruiting. And I think all of those girls on that team ended up playing in college one way or another.

Shawn Stringham (16:32.674)

Yeah.

Shawn Stringham (16:37.131)

Yeah. And it's amazing. Like you go back and look at that early footage, like the Vanguard team with chase in rider dot on it. Right. Like you had, mean, all of those kids were there in St. George and it was what the best part was a great moment last summer at the end of JOS where beast boys won JOS. All of those dudes were there as eighth graders, right. In that, and they, they had that opportunity. had the opportunity to continue to play. like at what, at what were you in the moment?

Mark St. John (16:58.221)

Yeah.

Shawn Stringham (17:06.995)

than at Eggbeater or since that time where it's like, yeah, this is a bigger moment in the history of water polo in the United States. you have a sense of when you had that connection?

Mark St. John (17:17.079)

I had a sense. I I, I felt the pressure like immensely of one, getting those things off the ground and then two, opening it back up in my own state. Right. So not only was I running those tournaments there with, Jesse and Audra, you know, their support there and then Nick. we, we just divided and conquered Jesse and Audra did the tables, up the courses every day, every time Nick did the schedule. was the COVID testing and just rallying the teams.

Shawn Stringham (17:24.853)

Uh-huh. Right.

Shawn Stringham (17:33.452)

Yeah, yeah.

Mark St. John (17:46.754)

Right. And just kind of being there all day. looking back, I think the one thing I missed, I did not really coach. didn't coach a single game. And that really bummed because I was just so busy as you can imagine, you know, this team comes in, whereas your results are, it was just a wild time. looking back, I'd say West coast. mean, it's your tournaments and those tournaments were really it. You know, I think, I think Texas was maybe doing something.

Shawn Stringham (17:57.101)

Yeah.

Shawn Stringham (18:10.743)

Yeah.

Mark St. John (18:15.939)

But we were running, mean, teams were coming every weekend and we were, we were waitlist and I hated to, I hated like, look, this is the, I'm opening up registration. It's really first come first serve and it's not like to entice you to sign up fast. We don't have room. Yeah.

Shawn Stringham (18:21.751)

Right. That's the most.

Shawn Stringham (18:30.977)

to come. Yeah, exactly. Cool. All right. Go ahead. Go ahead.

Mark St. John (18:36.035)

So, and then, yeah. So then, and then your component, how I was able, when you brought, okay, let's live stream this. I never really thought like, you know what, like maybe all the parents can come, the grandparents can come. And then when you said, let's just do it, I had no idea how to, that was not my world, right? And you just showed up and said, I just need ethernet and just leave me alone. Guys was like, whatever, like whatever.

Shawn Stringham (19:01.037)

I still use that line everywhere I go. just need an outlet and I'm good to go.

Mark St. John (19:04.835)

Give me the internet and leave me alone. Essentially. So I knew you to be like an authentic person, right? So I trusted you to essentially make the tournament look good because the only eyes there were the coaches, the players and the parents in the stands. And you are the one that brought it to everyone. You know, so I remember watching the live stream just to see how it looked and you know, the commercial spots and every weekend I think had a sponsor for the live stream.

Shawn Stringham (19:10.253)

Yeah, yeah.

Shawn Stringham (19:17.548)

Right.

Shawn Stringham (19:29.868)

Right.

Mark St. John (19:35.118)

And I just remember seeing the comments like, thank you so much for letting my live streaming it. We couldn't make the trip restrictions and I'm high risk. And just so many comments like that thanking you and they had no idea what they were thinking. They didn't know Shawn, they didn't know Mark, they just the thinking. And that really hit hard because I was just like, you know what? This is bigger than the sport. These people love to watch their kids play. They can't make the trip. And this is their only opportunity to do that.

Shawn Stringham (19:49.249)

Right, yeah.

Shawn Stringham (20:02.144)

Yeah. Great section. All right. We're to take a pause here and, that was fantastic. Really good, Mark. You know, you're, you're, you're natural. This is so good. Yeah, totally. Chloe, all good on your side.

Mark St. John (20:11.661)

Well, we're just talking, right? So it's easy. Like, it's a lot easier than I thought it would be, to be honest. To begin with.

Shawn Stringham (20:23.702)

Fantastic. I'm going to take a sip of

Shawn Stringham (20:33.366)

Help. Okay.

Mark St. John (20:35.821)

We're now set, segment two, Sean.

Shawn Stringham (20:37.484)

We're go to segment two, yeah.

Shawn Stringham (20:42.134)

We're going to talk about Quicksilver and fun things there as well.

Mark St. John (20:45.219)

You know, this was just not deliberate. I just happened to wear this today, actually.

Shawn Stringham (20:48.536)

I love it. That's good. Product placement. Good stuff. All right. Let's see. Okay. So Mark, we were just... I'm ready.

Mark, we were just talking about the past five years ago when we were at Eggbeater. It was, we had a great time. were just making things up, getting, impacting the sport, I feel like. And so now we're fast forwarding, let's call it three or four years now. And you're still, you kind of caught the event architect bug. You're creating cool events now. We've partnered with you to do Quicksilver.

which we've done the last two years now. And we've had a ton of fun putting that together, that event together, right? We've got smoke machines and tunnels. And one of my favorite moments that we did last summer is like having the athletes coming up and signing the lens and just really making an opportunity to make it a show, right? Like what's your dream as you have put together Quicksilver?

What's been your dream with that event and kind of the growth and where you want to see that event go?

Mark St. John (22:03.927)

Well, growing up, just being around who I was around, my coaches and the things I was able to have access to, I always wanted to host an international event. The prestige, the pomp, the delegation of it, the decorum of it, I've always wanted to do that. So every so often I'll daydream and think about if I had unlimited access to resources, how would I run an event? And then when you think about it, okay,

those things are achievable now, like you can still do those things. So I remember the genesis of the event was three years ago at junior Olympics, I spoke to Katie again at USA Waterpool, who's always been helpful. You know, what would it look like if I brought international teams to play some of our best clubs? And the conversation before that was, you know,

Shawn Stringham (22:48.778)

Yeah.

Shawn Stringham (22:53.633)

Mm-hmm.

Mark St. John (22:58.115)

Would it make sense to have a team come from out of the country to play our best clubs? And the answer was yes, because when a team goes to Europe or goes out of the country to play, they go to one town, one village, and they just scrimmage and play that one team. And there's no really a presentation to it. But it's a great trip. I I've been out of the country to play with the club before. It's fun. Right. So then how do we bring that model here?

So you were there the first year, we had a team scheduled to come right after world championships, but they weren't allowed to come from the championships. They'd have to go back to their country of origin, the whole visa thing. So that the first year really hurt because I sold it as we have an international team coming to play. anyone who knows, I say something, people can take it to the bank, right?

Shawn Stringham (23:54.688)

Yeah.

Mark St. John (23:55.318)

If I'm running, if Mark's involved, we know it's going to be correct. It's going to be done right. Like my word is like my bond, right? So, right. So if I say it by law, it's like it's happening, you know, so.

Shawn Stringham (23:58.063)

no.

Shawn Stringham (24:02.197)

Mark is an action guy for sure like any Mark does Right totally can't can't and correct can confirm. Yes

Mark St. John (24:11.245)

So I just, felt really, I wouldn't say embarrassed. I just felt hurt that like, you know, I didn't foresee that being an issue because I put that into someone else's hands. Like, okay, get this team here and I have everything planned once they get here. The second year we, you know, we partnered with a company and they were able to bring the team and, know, had a liaison for them and, you know, Quicksilver was great in sponsoring, you know,

That portion of it. that was really fun to have, CNAB last year at the event and just a different style of water polo. you can tell some of their players were just seeing the game in slow motion. Right. So the nexus of just having it was just, I remember coaches coming up and saying, sometimes we, and there's, is not a knock on the event. Sometimes we'll get to junior Olympics and maybe the last day and a half.

is competitive for us. And my club, maybe your club is quite the opposite. You know, we, and it's not offense to us. It's just, you know, it's a different experience. It's a good.

Shawn Stringham (25:15.265)

Hahaha

That is not an offense. The last day and a half is great because you're playing teams where you're not potentially lose 100 to zero, right?

Mark St. John (25:26.667)

Right. So like the teams that are winning by 25 the first day, they don't enjoy that either. They're not, they're not having fun either. Right. So, you know, can you help us to get a tournament in the summer where every game matters? And, know, you're looking at this calendar that the weekend before JL was really the only open weekend. So it was hard. There were some hurdles there kind of everyone to kind of swallow that pill. but with all the other events going on that you run, you you, you live stream.

Shawn Stringham (25:54.314)

Yeah.

Mark St. John (25:55.15)

There was really no other weekend and when I'm not going to do it on the holiday weekend. So we just went with it. I wanted every game to matter, right? And I wouldn't say I had to sell the event. Okay, like I didn't present the facts, right? Your entries must be due here and we're going to have this and games are on that. Everyone knows all that. Okay, I was more interested in presenting to the admins and the coaches the outcome, right? So games on the 110.

Shawn Stringham (26:25.206)

Yeah.

Mark St. John (26:25.749)

Every game feels like a one-off situation.

Shawn Stringham (26:28.556)

And talk about why that's important. Like, I mean, cause that is unique. Even for, from a streaming perspective, right? Like tell me why having games on one 10 is important. mean, I know, but.

Mark St. John (26:39.117)

Well, like I said, 1-10, every game feels like a one-off. The teams get proper preparation, proper warm-up, time in front of the goal. You don't feel rushed. If the game does extend, there's built-in buffer there.

Shawn Stringham (26:51.115)

Yeah.

Shawn Stringham (26:56.234)

We good? Hold on,

Hold on, Mark. Chloe, I just heard your voice and my camera just went away.

Mark St. John (27:02.189)

Yep.

Shawn Stringham (27:09.002)

WAH WAH

Shawn Stringham (27:14.41)

Are you, what else did, you're coming?

Shawn Stringham (27:20.992)

Was it just a camera issue?

Shawn Stringham (27:29.068)

Thanks.

Shawn Stringham (27:39.564)

Tell us when you're ready, Chloe.

Mark St. John (27:44.099)

Bye, see you next time.

Shawn Stringham (27:47.724)

All right, so Mark, tell us why games on the 110, why that's important. Like what's the draw on that?

Mark St. John (27:54.244)

Well, like I said, the teams feel like every game is a one off. They have time in front of the goal and they're not rushed. If the game before them takes longer than expected, they are feeling like this is the only game going on right now. And not only on the 110, one whistle per pool. So you've seen the sites that Quicksilver, we have massive 55 meter pools, but one of the sizzles was one, no matter the size of the facility, one whistle per course or per facility.

Shawn Stringham (28:11.946)

Right. Massive. Yeah.

Shawn Stringham (28:22.208)

Right. Right.

Mark St. John (28:23.787)

And then, you know, your presentation after the game, that takes time. So we finish the game, they go to the lounge. What was that dog's name?

Shawn Stringham (28:32.508)

Vandog in the gold zone.

Mark St. John (28:34.221)

Yeah, Van Dogg, right? So that's your tradition that the kids love.

Shawn Stringham (28:37.76)

Yeah. Which like, who thought that that would be a thing? Like, people like, can we just hang out with the dog?

Mark St. John (28:44.419)

I they all fight over it. Who's going to hold it? Right. So, I didn't want teams to not be able to do that. And I wouldn't, I, know, we were a little bit rushed, but we had the buffer, right? So on the one 10 and then we built in breaks because I felt if the tournament's going to run well, the referees need to be good. I mean, good before they get there, but like fresh, the table staff would like to use the restroom, I'm sure. he's like to eat, not at the table.

Shawn Stringham (29:13.804)

Take a second off in a while. Yeah, for sure.

Mark St. John (29:13.859)

Well, they're working, right? So we did four games and then like an hour and 20 minute break, hour and 30 minute break. then the refs are rested. The table staff is rested. The live stream can catch up. So, um, you know, all year round the teams and I'm sure, you know, live streams game, game, game, game, game. And that's fine. I mean, that's, that's water polo, but we, wanted to present something different and I know the host appreciate the break.

because they have to have time to get hospitality set up and then their staff maybe needs to overchange. So instead of asking someone to work eight games straight, hey, work four games, go get a lunch if you can come back, So I mean, that's just all the kind of preemptive planning and like problem solving that I like to do before it even happens.

Shawn Stringham (30:02.604)

And I want you to talk about like, you'd mentioned the decorum and the presentation. I want you to, you don't necessarily have to close your eyes because you've probably already visualized it, but like fast forward four or five, six years, what does Quicksilver look like in your head? Like, what does the event look like? Because we've, you've done some incredible things with like the smoke machine and the tunnel and the team intros.

What are like in your, and maybe you don't want to give away your secrets, but what are the things that you want to see that we could add, that you want to add sizzle to the game?

Mark St. John (30:34.563)

Well, I can tell you I will be looking for a facility that I wouldn't say look the other way, but just open mind. I'd like to have fire entrances, kind like an NFL game, right? So I'm not talking like, like a flame thrower, but just like those streams of fire or like a sparkler, like a really big sparkler, right? Maybe just for the final day.

Shawn Stringham (30:45.108)

Yeah.

Shawn Stringham (30:55.978)

Right. Hey, tell me you don't live in Vegas and that you live in Vegas, right?

Mark St. John (31:00.033)

Yeah, right. So I see it here, you know, so I can't do a waterfront like Bellagio. So let's do fire, right? So like something safe, but also, you know, I know there's restrictions, but something that we can do there. I actually called the base there in Long Beach to try and get a flyover. And they said, almost lapped in my face. It's like, it needs to be a real event. Like it's a real event. There's real people here.

Shawn Stringham (31:20.213)

Uh-huh.

Mark St. John (31:27.443)

And, you know, so then I remember we spoke about can your drone, you know, can carry a flag? Is it too heavy? So just stuff like.

Shawn Stringham (31:32.982)

Yeah, dude, I got, I got a new, I got a new drop, big fat drone that can carry a flag now. We're in for that.

Mark St. John (31:38.724)

Yeah, so like stuff like, cause I remember, mean, you grew up playing sports. grew up playing sports. I don't remember a single score of any of the games I played. I remember how much I played, how much I didn't play. I remember just like the stuff that happened. Okay. And if you look at the 12 and unders, uh, the final day, they got, the entrance, they're going to remember that.

Shawn Stringham (31:48.31)

Right.

Shawn Stringham (31:55.062)

Yeah.

Shawn Stringham (32:03.306)

I have never seen a group of water polo players more hyped than those 12 years at the end of their championship game. Like where they, they came up and this was even year one. was just as fun last year, but when we were at Woolat in year one and they all ran from the up to the goal zone, did the interview, they were not leaving. Like they were having the time of their lives. was that, that was just so fun to watch and to see. And they still, like I still have athletes.

who are now 14, 15, come up to me and say, that was so cool. Thank you so much for doing that, right?

Mark St. John (32:34.275)

Yeah, that's the goal. mean, Waterpolo is almost secondary at that point. Of both years, really, maybe I watched the final, maybe, because I'm so making sure that we're on time and what's next, what can I anticipate, what can I get ahead of? And once the event starts, all problem solving, right? It's putting out a fight.

Shawn Stringham (32:45.663)

Right.

Shawn Stringham (32:56.64)

Right. And do you feel like, do you feel like the event that the flywheel of the event has started moving and that teams are now reaching out to you like, let's do this again. We're going to do it. What are, what are your, what are the big plans for this coming year?

Mark St. John (33:09.847)

Well, the, the event is community driven, right? So if the community wants an event, like I mentioned, one whistle per pool, games on the one 10 higher level referees presentation prize money. If the community wants that, the event continues. If the community has no more need for it, then I'm happy for it to, mean, I wouldn't be happy, but I'm being content where it just goes away because the community has spoken. Right. So.

Shawn Stringham (33:13.951)

Okay.

Shawn Stringham (33:26.859)

Right. Right.

Mark St. John (33:39.379)

All I was doing year one was just organizing the obvious. Right? So I threw out questionnaires to coaches that I respect and that run, you know, programs that are successful and say, what would you like to see an event? So like I said, all I did was organize the obvious and put it into action.

Shawn Stringham (33:58.06)

And are we good for 2026? We're still excited? All right.

Mark St. John (34:00.226)

Well, mean, at the moment we're good. have more interest. We have more interest in some international teams, New Zealand, Australia, Trinidad.

Shawn Stringham (34:08.556)

Okay. Cool.

That was that Beast Boyz, I mean, that was really part of the story last year, right? Because Beast Boyz wanted the Triple Crown. We were talked about that. They wanted to do Superfinals, hit Quicksilver, hit JOs, and they hit two out of the three. And I think that played into that loss against CNAP, Quicksilver against Beast Boyz, that played into their success into that JOs victory. Yeah. No.

Mark St. John (34:20.376)

Yep.

Mark St. John (34:33.335)

I honestly think so. I watched the game. mean, they weren't lacking talent. They just, and this is not a knock on any of them, they just had to figure out how to play like a team. And I think that I wouldn't say struggle because they were winning.

Shawn Stringham (34:41.418)

Yeah, yeah.

Shawn Stringham (34:47.104)

Yeah, they were killed, yeah.

Mark St. John (34:49.027)

And I'm happy with the result, but at same time, I wouldn't have mind handing the check to a friend. You know what mean? Like at the same time, but I'm glad it worked out the way it did. Because now the opposite continue to work with us and bring CNAB back to defend their title. So that's, and then that's a big draw on and maybe another team follows. So I was happy to see them become a unit and play so well.

Shawn Stringham (35:07.68)

Yeah, that's cool.

Mark St. John (35:19.808)

at J.Os. But that was a really good game. then they played a team that, you know, I think they saw three or four times throughout the year. And I don't know the results, but maybe they were 50-50 against them. it was a cool game. Yeah.

Shawn Stringham (35:32.234)

It was fun and it was fun to be a part of that and it was great storytelling. So again, another huge Mark St. John success. Let's take a quick break and we'll come back for our last six.

Shawn Stringham (35:46.56)

That's so good. You're great at this, Mark.

Mark St. John (35:48.493)

Thank you. No, you're just teeing them up, so it's all good.

Shawn Stringham (35:59.308)

point.

Shawn Stringham (36:44.147)

I'm looking at the teleprompter and reading it, but I'm not looking at Mark who's off the screen so that's little whack. But it's all good. no one else can tell. Well, you just let me know when you're ready to start again. OK.

Mark St. John (37:22.851)

Cool would it be to have the pyrotechnics?

Shawn Stringham (37:25.158)

That would be so rad, right?

Mark St. John (37:27.915)

I just got to find a pool that can do it. Or would want to do it. I don't think any of this Long Beach City, like we did last year, I think there's too many restrictions there. But a pool where the coach really has their hooks in, like, my job is safe, the admin knows they can trust me, a pool like that, would work.

Shawn Stringham (37:32.469)

Right.

Mark St. John (37:50.915)

But, you who knows, maybe there needs to be like a fire department there. I don't know what it needs to look like, but I think that'd be cool.

Shawn Stringham (38:00.812)

Let's see here. Adam called me, so I gotta just check and see.

Shawn Stringham (38:15.338)

Alright.

Chloe, everything happy on your side?

Shawn Stringham (38:28.149)

All right, here we go. Are we good to go? Just start, Chloe? Anything else we need?

Okay, cool. So Mark, we've talked about Eggbeater, we've talked about Quicksilver a little bit. Everyone knows, and this is one of my favorite Mark piece, knowledge drops here, is that Mark is marked as a top contributor on the USA Water Polo Facebook page, right? Have you ever noticed that, that you have the little diamond icon? Top fan? Yeah, so you...

Mark St. John (38:59.501)

No, the top fan, top fan. Yeah, yeah.

Shawn Stringham (39:04.117)

How long have you been involved in water polo? You mentioned that like when COVID hit that the oxygen was sucked out of the room. What drives you to love the sport of water polo?

Mark St. John (39:15.843)

Well, I'm actually, so I'm at my mom's house. Uh, like I mentioned before, I didn't want to the kids or the dogs involved in this thing. So when I, when we deliver pizza, I always, when I order on the apps, like call me, please don't ring the doorbell unless you want the dogs involved. Right. So I, for sure. I mean, we have a busy house, so it would, I'm here. So I am 15 feet away from where team Vegas water polo started.

Shawn Stringham (39:23.509)

Not often kids and wives in recording, yeah, not always a great company.

Shawn Stringham (39:33.961)

Right.

Shawn Stringham (39:44.043)

Wow.

Mark St. John (39:44.24)

in 1994. this team, the team that I grew up on and now coach on and admin on, is in my blood, right? At my dinner table, San Anita, Von Kettlewpe, my mom decided to start water polo in Las Vegas. So it's like I said, like you, it's just, it's a way of life. I live it, I breathe it, I think it, it's just a part of me. And I just grew up loving it.

Every single, like I loved the workouts, I loved the competition, loved just like the friends I made. It was just my, I couldn't breathe without it. You know, people say you can live four or five days without water. Well, not if you're a water polo player. You know, so that's really my, I guess my essence of just growing up loving a sport. And not many people get to say that, you know, and it's a sport you can play forever, you know. So.

Shawn Stringham (40:37.023)

Right. And you, and you had mentioned in the, as, as we were kind of teeing up and getting prepared that you love being behind the scenes. You love making things be great. how do you like, tell me, just give me your honest take on where you think water polo stands today. Right. Like you see you, you have everyone's number in the sport, right? Anyone you can probably text or any coach anywhere in the country.

They all know who MSJ is, right? People know that like what you have a probably a pretty good insight of what people are thinking about the sport in general. would love to know what Mark St. John has to say about water polo in 2020.

Mark St. John (41:18.977)

Well, one of my traits is I get to along with everyone. I find a way just to find a connection with someone and whether it's something we don't agree on or do agree on or there's a middle ground I can find with everybody. So the community is small and if you're not long enough just like you, mean your old ex is just as big as mine. There's no one who doesn't know Game On Live, so don't sell yourself short either. But I don't have the answer to that because

Shawn Stringham (41:24.563)

huh.

Shawn Stringham (41:32.341)

Right.

Mark St. John (41:47.638)

I'm not looking at it from 10,000 feet up, but I know there's some hurdles in this country, right? It's very left coast centric. And there are some really good water polo players out there that are doing with what they have amazing things. And if they had the access that some other players might have, who knows what our country would look like in the college level, on an international level, because, you know, why do we do so well in basketball? Because it's our national.

Shawn Stringham (42:02.932)

Right.

Mark St. John (42:17.027)

You can find a basketball player anywhere. You know, so, it's just not a fault to anybody. It's just how it is. know, La Crosse has probably the same, well, it's more right coast central, right? On the East Coast, probably more prevalent. So I don't have the answer to that. All I say is get kids in the water or keep them in aquatics. You know, if we lose a kid that just maybe isn't athletic enough or doesn't really understand the team aspect of things, go to swimming.

Shawn Stringham (42:19.157)

Right, right.

Mark St. John (42:46.839)

Stay in the water. Or if there's a swimmer, reverse. Instead of letting the kid dwindle out, have him try water polo. Maybe he likes to be in the water, but doesn't like staring at that black line for three hours.

Shawn Stringham (42:47.743)

Right. so, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.

Shawn Stringham (42:59.561)

Right. Right. And so, I mean, let's talk, let's talk about growth opportunities a little bit. It's California centric, but I think it's, growing. You're in Vegas. I'm in Salt Lake mountain zone, hotbed of USA water polo. Right. We can always tease about that a little bit. What have you done in Vegas? that has attracted athletes to the sport, right? Like what are, what are some of your top.

Maybe top strategies as an influencer in the water polo space of someone who's listening in Ohio or Michigan or Florida, right? We might be able to help serve some of the athletes outside of California. Not that the California athletes don't need to be served, but they just have a little bit more infrastructure built into it.

Mark St. John (43:40.548)

Well, I would say if you are a club outside of California, be open to collaborating with people. Okay. If you notice like art, the name of our club here is not Las Vegas water polo, it's team Vegas water polo. So there's two folds team together. Everyone achieves more T E A. Right. And then it's always been a team of athletes from, so we've always combined with teams from Utah, Arizona, New Mexico. Obviously we've had.

Well, now we have players from Brazil join us from Canada, from Australia. And we don't, I mean, we can't get bigger than the 40, 45 kids we have here. We just can't, we can't grow much. There's not a lot of tools here and or coaches. So we have to combine with clubs in order to compete. And we just, we found a recipe to do that one on the mountain zone level. And I think it started, I think 2010 or 2009 really, you know, if you remember Ben Stevenson, that

Shawn Stringham (44:38.421)

Yeah. Yeah.

Mark St. John (44:38.755)

Grew up in Reno, maybe practiced one day a week there. Was able to move down here for his high school years. And we trained six times a week. I wouldn't say six days, but there's doubles on Monday, Wednesdays. And he ended up going to UOP, playing internationally and then becoming an Olympian. I mean, quite frankly, he might be the only male Olympian to never play a minute of high school water polo. I don't know if that's true or not, but just trying to think about it. Maybe.

Shawn Stringham (45:02.251)

Wow, that's crazy stat.

Shawn Stringham (45:07.487)

Right. And like pure sanctioned high school, right? Obviously played club. Yeah. Yeah.

Mark St. John (45:09.237)

So right, right, like something along those lines, know, but, know, that wouldn't have been able to be done if we didn't have the three kids from Utah join that team that we competed, the one from New Mexico, the one from Colorado, the one from Brazil that came up that summer. So how did we get there? Because we were competitive and top of platinum and we're not really looking to win this thing, but we want to, you know, you got to get in front of the right people. Right. So.

Shawn Stringham (45:36.715)

Yeah, for sure.

Mark St. John (45:38.888)

don't be afraid to collaborate with people. And if you don't care who gets the credit, you know, anything can be done. That's why, like I said, like, you know, maybe I don't shouldn't do this because I don't want people knowing, like people who need to know what I do know. Right. People know it's a Mark St. John production. No. And I I don't ever like, if you look at my feed, it's mainly like Seahawks or Dodgers. It's really like, I'm never really boasting about what I'm doing. Maybe like a fish I caught or something.

Shawn Stringham (46:06.549)

Right. Right, yeah.

Mark St. John (46:09.133)

but it's not like, look what I did. So it's always like the people that matter that I care about their opinion know what I can do, right? Or know what I do. And it's a good feeling, right?

Shawn Stringham (46:17.653)

Yeah.

I want, I know this is kind of an interesting thing as you start talking about some of the personal things. Like one of the things that's fascinating about you to me is like, you're involved in a lot of sports, like being there in Vegas, like you're working for the Raiders, right? You're, you're, you're involved actively in that. you see obviously Vegas is a huge entertainment market. So I think you see things differently, right? Would you agree to, would you agree with that in terms of like how to make it entertaining and the fact that

You have that influence of the Raiders and you have the influence of the entertainment capital of the world and applying that to water polo. you think that those things, do you see that in your world and your personality as those things mesh together?

Mark St. John (46:58.807)

Well, growing up in Vegas, you know, I've been here since I was eight years old. So growing up in Vegas, you see it all. And I have a friend, one of my best friend, we worked in casinos together, our saying was once you think you've seen it all until you see that. Right. And it's, and it's just, it's ever evolving, ever changing. I, I liked growing up in Vegas when it was really like Vegas in the, in eighties, nineties.

Shawn Stringham (47:04.298)

Right.

Shawn Stringham (47:16.499)

Right.

Shawn Stringham (47:25.771)

Yeah, yeah.

Mark St. John (47:27.445)

and early odds, just working in the industry and just seeing what presentation looks like, you know, working at properties, you know, seeing Steve win, how he does things, how I worked with the Hard Rock. So the Morton's how they run things and the presentation of things. And I wouldn't say you're desensitized to it, but I wish I was excited to see the volcano at the Mirage or the Bellagio families. Right. The same way we get excited to go to the beach or Disneyland.

The Californians are like, ugh, we've been at a hundred times. So just learning what it means to have presentation, just being from Vegas, I'm always thinking about what can I do more? I have been trying and trying to get these LED lights in the bottom of the pools, but you cannot believe the ratings and the licensing and I don't know how they do it in Europe, but it's not easy.

Shawn Stringham (47:59.808)

Yeah, right.

Mark St. John (48:21.923)

I'll find a way for us to get the first domestic game with LED lights for the two and the goal zone and the six and the half tank a half a half line I Mean I've won one we got to find an indoor pool which we can do here in Vegas but an indoor pool

Shawn Stringham (48:29.779)

I can't wait.

Shawn Stringham (48:36.859)

I just remember like how, if you go back to the 2012 London games and they had those there in that, just, I just remember that was talk about a core memory for me. Like that blew me away of like, okay, that is the coolest thing ever right there to have the red two meter line. think maybe five meter line, don't know if four five meter line at that point, probably five meter line. Like that was a game changer. That was so cool. So I'm totally stoked to hear you say that. That's so.

Mark St. John (49:05.347)

Yeah, if we can do it for Quicksilver, I will. But those games are during the middle of day, right? So you wouldn't really be able to see it. But I did find a company, local company, actually in California, that's willing to figure it out. I just gotta get them there.

Shawn Stringham (49:22.539)

And I think, Mr. Las Vegas, let's do a beach tournament in the Mandalay Bay wave pool. That would be perfect.

Mark St. John (49:34.404)

You know, we were almost there one year. We almost got it done. One of my, now Chris McGee, you know who that is, was our zone chair forever. I was a 12 and under kid on team Vegas and he was a master. And now we are best friends. I coached his kids and we're teammates together and coached together. He was a VP over at MGM Mirage Corporation.

Shawn Stringham (49:42.239)

Yes, I know Chris well, yeah.

Mark St. John (50:03.467)

And I think we were, I think in 2012 we were on the cusp of having that, getting it done. And, you know, he moved on to other things and I would, I always would think it would be so special to do it in the Manali Bay pool. I opened up that hotel by the way. it would be so cool to do there because the Bellagio Lake is cool, but it's very shallow. And those things that shoot up the, water are very sharp and you know, but I think it would be perfect in Manali Bay, maybe like international game.

Shawn Stringham (50:07.808)

Yeah.

Shawn Stringham (50:18.08)

There you go.

Shawn Stringham (50:23.711)

Right. Right.

Shawn Stringham (50:33.119)

Yeah. That would be so cool. Yeah. Yeah, we will. so Mark, as we, as we're kind of moving towards wrap up here, let me just say thank you so much for again, being a goals legend for that without that break of us doing egg beater that I guarantee you the game online studio would not be where it is today. So again, a huge thank, thank you for that.

Mark St. John (50:33.923)

Uh, yeah, we'll have a game on there for sure.

Shawn Stringham (50:58.059)

nothing but gratitude for that and the ability to innovate and to be open to those kinds of things. It's always, I always love having conversations with you because I know we're going to come up with something crazy and something really fun like fireworks and led lights in pools and, and jumbotrons and all those kinds of So,

Mark St. John (51:10.84)

Yeah.

mermaids in the water or something. Well, you make it fun, Shawn, like, you know, you're the one that actually makes me look good, to be honest. Your presentation, the interviews, the, I really love the signing of the lens, I guess you call it.

Shawn Stringham (51:23.275)

Well, I appreciate that. Thank you.

Shawn Stringham (51:29.385)

Yeah, was one of my favorite moments of the summer is watching those kids sign that and get that ready. So Mark, want you to give a call to action. So you're talking to the water polo community, the coaches, parents, athletes, administrators, and you've already kind of mentioned this of like collaborate, doesn't matter who takes the credit, all of those kinds of things. But what's your behind the scenes, like...

mover and shaker making things happen. What's your call to the action to the community? What do we need to do better to make what feel great?

Mark St. John (52:00.804)

You know, I would love to see high level domestic games here. I think that's what we're missing. You know, before services like yours, we only really got to see Waterpool every four years. Company like yours making it much more accessible. But if we were to have a domestic high level other than college, because that's probably our best, you know, apples to apples there.

Shawn Stringham (52:26.121)

Right. Yep.

Mark St. John (52:29.367)

But if there is a way, and I don't have the recipe, you everyone has thoughts on how to make it work. If we can find a way to make that work and give these athletes that maybe are done with college, just maybe have them play one or two more years to maybe elevate someone who's going to make a national team. You know, because these guys that are playing internationally or give up and the ladies that they're giving up like their lives for the sport.

Shawn Stringham (52:47.134)

Right? Yeah.

Shawn Stringham (52:58.28)

Right, Financial opportunities.

Mark St. John (52:58.551)

Right. They're giving up maybe professional opportunities, financial opportunities. Like it's not easy. I have no idea what it takes, but it's really not easy out of the water to be an Olympian. I mean, they're very talented. They're hard workers. I'm sure the water stuff is easier than the other stuff. but if there's a way to keep our best athletes here domestically so we can watch them more, I think that draws more kids to sport. Right. So if I'm asking a kid, can you go watch?

Shawn Stringham (53:13.214)

Right, right.

Mark St. John (53:28.629)

I don't know, Reco versus Sabadel. There's no connection there for them. I mean, I'm addicted, so I appreciate that, right? But there's no connection for a kid like on my club, at least, to want to watch that or even care about the results. So I don't know what it takes. always I always thought if there's a way or a person within our community that can go to every single college conference championship and say, coaches, we're all here. The certain conference.

Shawn Stringham (53:35.048)

Right, right.

Mark St. John (53:57.816)

I'd like to speak to all the seniors. I'm the so and so from growth or whatever. And say, guys, you guys are done with college. We're going to set up this program. If you live in this area, come to two practices a week. Keep playing. We'll figure it out. I know you're to work and this and that. Keep in the water. And we'll do three weekends throughout the year, small games. And just stay in the water. And maybe another club develops. Maybe these guys, hey, remember we used to play together 1400?

Maybe that's the way I think there's an opportunity we miss with connecting to guys that love the sport and they're done with college. And now what? Right. Your club goes from age group all the way to masters. My club, the same thing, not a lot of clubs aren't set up like that. You know, you mentioned like a Vanguard or North Irvine after high school, there's no masters there. There's no opportunities for them to come back and play. So I think if we're going to do something, maybe,

Clubs opening up themselves to accepting those older players just so we can boast and show off our talent for more kids to get attracted. Take the show on the road, go across the country with these teams. But there's no magic solution to it. Polo in every pool I know was an initiative.

I would just like to see more kids having fun playing polo. Not so much stressing about college or national team. There's a lot of kids in my club that just don't have the aspiration. They're having more fun than anybody. You know, they're having a great time because they're with their friends.

Shawn Stringham (55:38.027)

Yeah. want you to, as we wrap up here, tell me, just, your, just give me your favorite water polo memory. maybe has nothing to do with your own events. Let's see, unless that's something that's huge. Like what's something that's like just that core MSJ or administrator or you're a fan or what's that thing that's like this, this is why I love the sport.

Mark St. John (55:55.373)

Like a playing memory or a...

Mark St. John (56:05.451)

Okay, so I don't know the year, maybe 97, 98. We had a team, maybe you have to edit this out. had a team called Nuts, right? And it was Nevada, Utah team stars, right? And I think that summer, or like an eight month stretch, we, I think lost two games. And they were both to like Tony Acevedo's Long Beach team.

And we played everybody. Like I think we beat a junior college one year. and so Sandy, our director and my mom was the, drove the team van. She's like, every tournament you win on the way back, there used to be a roller coaster state line. Every tournament you win, we can ride a roller coaster. So we won four tournaments. Guess how many times, how many times you rode the roller coaster? Zero times because, because one time we're throwing pasta out of the back of the van.

Shawn Stringham (56:51.882)

Yeah

Great job.

How many? Zero times, Sandy.

Mark St. John (57:05.559)

or like doing something stupid in the hotel room or like, I don't know, tying up a kid and like, you know, something dumb, like something stupid boys do. that's like, we still talk about it. The kids are going like, Sandy, like we won all these tournaments and we then we never rode that stupid roller coaster because we always get in trouble.

Shawn Stringham (57:17.417)

Yeah.

Shawn Stringham (57:28.51)

The, that is so funny to say about that same timeframe. I'm older than you, but in that same frame, like so many incredible memories of, and things you could never do now, like our, our coach would put, we would put the entire team in the Ford Bronco and like drive to New Mexico. You know what I mean? Like literally kids hanging out the windows type thing. so. Yeah.

Mark St. John (57:43.799)

Yeah.

Mark St. John (57:48.802)

It's just stupid boy stuff like, you know, the tying up the kid. I'm a Houdini, you tie me up, I bet I can get out of it. Well, we never like, we left him there for three hours, I get out. And you know, we got in trouble for not helping him and you know, just obnoxious stuff. But that's core memory, not riding the rollercoasters, more of a memory than actually riding.

Shawn Stringham (57:57.993)

Yeah.

Shawn Stringham (58:05.342)

Yeah, it just goes to show.

Shawn Stringham (58:10.888)

Yeah, it just goes to show that, I mean, the water pool is important. We want to have great technical and tactical skills, but just being with your friends and your teammates is what really people remember, right? And so that's where we build that character.

Mark St. John (58:22.273)

Yeah. So that summer was great. mean, we were a good team and I just remember playing against Tony and he was, it was something different. It had to be 98. It had to be 98 because two years later he was an Olympian. And I remember we went down seven zero quick in the first quarter. And I went to Sandy at the court. like, Sandy, if you want me to play offense, I can't guard him. I just can't. I don't have to, I can't do both.

Shawn Stringham (58:34.29)

Yeah. Right. Cool. Yeah.

Yeah.

Shawn Stringham (58:47.752)

Right. Right. Yeah.

Mark St. John (58:51.157)

Right. So we ended up, think losing by six or seven like that score. And I remember Ricardo coming over to Sandy's like, you're the best team we played all summer. And I'm like, we lost by seven, eight, go like whatever. He's like, no, we've been smoking teams. And he was, he was doing things I'd never seen. He was such an amazing player and just to be able to play against him and he's probably our best domestic player ever of all time.

Shawn Stringham (59:19.082)

right. Yep.

Mark St. John (59:20.135)

And for him to be able to do it at 16, 17 years old was really an honor to be able to be a part of. mean, just small fact, we have the exact same birthday. Same year, same date. Five time Olympian, tournament director.

Shawn Stringham (59:29.16)

Really? Wow, cool. Wow. Okay.

Shawn Stringham (59:35.85)

tournament director and of Las Vegas or team Vegas, I should say. Mark, this has been a, this has been a treat to sit and talk with you about the sport. I think we could keep going forever. but I wanted to make sure as a, as a goals legend, right. That, we give you, give you the opportunity, to kind of talk about that. So the,

Mark St. John (59:57.957)

Well, Shawn, I wanted to make sure, because one of these questions, I think, what was the trust or the leap of faith? And I typically don't write things down, but I wanted to make sure they're there. OK, so I have five attributes, six attributes that really put me to ease that I know when you call me and say, can we work on this? I don't have to think twice. Can I go through them or we don't have time? OK, number one, communication.

Shawn Stringham (01:00:04.36)

Yeah. Yeah.

Shawn Stringham (01:00:10.866)

Okay, I'm ready.

Mark St. John (01:00:28.236)

You build trust quickly. Right? So when you communicate with me early, hurdle, hurdle, hurdle, I know that we can get over it because like I said, where's the ethernet and get out of my way. Right? And that, it's not like a mean thing. It's just like, I can do it. Just let me do it. And I've never had the second guess. I mean, every time you ask me, can we do this? Can we do this? Like, yeah, I mean, as long as it doesn't interfere with our timing, our cadence, let's do it.

Shawn Stringham (01:00:30.804)

Thank you.

Mark St. John (01:00:56.238)

So communication and collaboration have been awesome. It's tension to detail. You are able to catch things that other people miss. And whether it's the, like I said, the cadence, the timing, the camera angle, where things should go in the view of the camera, what camera we should be using, I think your attention to detail sets you apart. And I love that because I feel like I'm kind of the same way. Where if I can get ahead of it, and when it really happens, I'm already prepared.

Shawn Stringham (01:01:18.836)

Thank you.

Mark St. John (01:01:26.68)

Right? Problem solving falls into that. You're able to stay cool under pressure. You're fine. You can find solutions fast. So that's really nice to work with because if a problem with the event ends up trickling down to problem with the live stream, we're able to both pivot quickly. Right? So it's, it's a really, it's a give and take that I love. I, know, just a real quick text or call and neither of us take it personal. Like if it's, you know, I think the last tournament,

Shawn Stringham (01:01:44.606)

Right. Yep.

Shawn Stringham (01:01:53.512)

Right. Just got to get it done.

Mark St. John (01:01:56.645)

If I'm or speaking fast, it just means that it's urgent. I'm not mad. Right? Because some of your staff are like, who is this guy? And it's like, I'm not mad at anyone. We're moving at a fast pace.

Shawn Stringham (01:02:00.819)

Right, exactly.

Shawn Stringham (01:02:06.954)

We are just moving quickly. Hang on and let's go.

Mark St. John (01:02:10.498)

Yeah, if I'm missing any tact or subtlety, it's not a personal thing, right? So like I said, your adaptability and you're naturally curious. What can I do? What else am I missing? What equipment can I do? What angle can I get? Should I put whatever on the bottom of the pool, like a banner, whatever that is? Yeah, you're naturally trying to find ways like most people to make things better.

Shawn Stringham (01:02:14.996)

Right, right, right.

Shawn Stringham (01:02:31.72)

Yeah, big banner.

Mark St. John (01:02:40.642)

Okay, so I truly appreciate that. And then last one, your leadership. You help others grow with the people you hire to do your play by play, your camera people. mean, your game online, think truly is a family business. Is there anyone in your family that you don't make clock in really?

Shawn Stringham (01:02:54.634)

It is very much a valid business.

Shawn Stringham (01:02:59.97)

to much to their chagrin, most people get to help go out and harvest the wheat. Yeah. That's kind of how.

Mark St. John (01:03:05.924)

There you go. So the whole family clocks in. So that's just, that's just shows your leadership, right? And, and then lastly, you own the task. Okay. If I give you something to do, you own it. I'm going to make it work. I'm to do it and you own it. So I think you're very authentic and the company you built is very authentic. And I'm happy just to be a cog in the wheel of it all really. It's happy to see you grow and your company grow and everything that you adding to your Rolodex and

and repertoire and the many sports. mean, forget water polo, you're doing many other things. And just to see all those things, I never thought I'd be watching Open Water swim, Shawn, but you put it on and I was like, hey, let me check this out, right? it was amongst the other things you do. It's really fun to watch you guys do that stuff.

Shawn Stringham (01:03:38.462)

We are, yeah.

Shawn Stringham (01:03:46.922)

Yeah, that's cool, huh?

Shawn Stringham (01:03:56.373)

Thanks, man, I really appreciate that. Well, that's very humbling. Like, kind of me, gave me a little...

Mark St. John (01:04:02.702)

Well, you sent me this thing and you asked me this question. I'm going to answer it. And I really like, you know, I don't prepare for things like, mean, everything I say, I feel, but I wanted to make sure I write down. really put in the pen to paper what I felt about our relationship and what you do and how we've worked together. So I didn't want to mess it up. You got it. You got it.

Shawn Stringham (01:04:06.058)

That's separate but it's okay.

Shawn Stringham (01:04:22.9)

Thank you. Thank you, Mark. Appreciate that. Let me end with this. Before we had streams, we had to have water. When COVID took the pools, Mark St. John gave us the Eggbeater Challenge. When WaterPolo needed visibility, he trusted goals before we'd proven anything. Today, Mark St. John, event creator, community builder, and goals legend joins us. Thank you, Mark. Appreciate it. Let's keep making great things happen for the next.

Mark St. John (01:04:49.892)

Thank you, Shawn You got it. can't wait for the next one.

Shawn Stringham (01:04:52.627)

All right. Appreciate it, man. Peace. All right. All right. Don't go anywhere, Mark. We got to...

Mark St. John (01:04:54.306)

Have a good night.

Mark St. John (01:04:58.885)

Okay.