The Chicago fall sports season might be most strongly associated with the echoes of shoulder pads slamming and maple wood bats connecting with postseason baseballs. But at Oak Street Beach on the morning of Sept. 27, the traditional sounds of American pastimes were swapped with locals splashing in the 67 degree water of Lake Michigan to play a friendly game of water polo under the rising sun.
If you hit the Lakefront Trail underneath the city’s skyline on Saturday mornings this past summer, you likely found coach Chris Mulcrone refereeing and providing guidance to his community of dedicated water polo players.
Mulcrone runs the Hickory Water Polo Club, a northwest Indiana and greater Chicagoland-based organization he started alongside his niece Tammy Travers in 2023 to “(bring) the community back together” following a dropoff of participation in master programs during the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in Chicago, where he has played and coached for over four decades.
“I see the community growing from this, getting better from it,” Mulcrone said. “The quality of the game in high school will get better, which will get more college players out there, which will bring more people back to Chicago. It’s a big, circular wheel.”
In mid-June, the club announced open-water lake games throughout the summer on social media. Anyone was welcome to come and play from 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. free of charge, and the group had over 30 players on their first outing with minimal advertising. The popularity only blossomed from there.
On average, the lake consistently garners 80-90 participants — with some participants’ families watching on the sideline — each weekend. The participants include a diverse, co-ed player pool that ranges from high school students who are learning the ropes to post-college veterans looking to connect with the game they love. For Mulcrone and Travers, the club is all about spreading the sport and getting it in the purview of more people.
“We’re happy to share our resources to make it happen for everybody,” Travers said. “Three new members came up and asked how it works and they suit up, warm up and after 20 minutes they cap up and play. It’s great to see returning players that were shy the first time and then realize ‘oh wait, I can play here.’”
Mulcrone’s father, James, was also a long-time Chicago-based polo coach who dreamt about coming to the lake to play games outside of the traditional indoor environment. Bulky equipment prevented this thought from becoming a reality, but recent advancements have since made it possible.
“With this new technology to blow up (inflatable) goals, it allows us to be able to do something that was his dream,” Mulcrone said, adding that there are many differences between playing indoors versus in open water. “We call it ‘lake effect water polo.’ From the swells to the seaweed, there’s a lot of things that are a little bit different than having flat water you get in a pool.”
Newcomers and experienced players alike are encouraged to toss on a silicone-eared cap and jump right in, including Katherine Delacey. Having not played since high school, she attended her first scrimmage with her 5-year-old son.
“Water polo was everything to me in high school. It’s been like 18 years since I’ve held a ball,” Delacey said. “It’s crazy, but it’s happy and fun.”
Delacey stays active by running and playing other casual sports, but water polo, especially along the undulating lakefront, presents a unique set of physical challenges.
“Just to be in the water and have your head above water without a floatie is a big workout,” Delacey said.
The club has grown significantly over just a few summers, and unless they are rewarded with another beautiful Chicago morning, the group will be done with their concrete beach meetups until summer 2026. Still, they have no plans to stop any time soon, and look forward to pushing their influence even further in the near future.
“Next summer we are looking at potentially doing a league,” Travers said. “We are trying to set up beach water polo as an official sport. … With the resources we have and this awesome lakefront, hopefully we can put together some powerhouse teams.”
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