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M. water polo's Dan and Mike McKenna ponder water polo and sibling rivalry

Recently, 'Prince' staff writer Sofia Mata-Leclerc sat down with senior two-meter Dan McKenna of the men's water polo team and his brother and teammate Mike McKenna, a sophomore driver, for a session of questions and answers.

'Prince': Being from Pennsylvania, how did you guys start playing water polo?

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Dan McKenna: We both actually started when each of us was in the eighth grade. The way I started is that I didn't really want to play football anymore so I asked the coach if I could play water polo instead. So that's pretty much how it started.

Mike McKenna: Ditto to that.

P: Why didn't you want to play football anymore?

Mike: I was kind of pissed off with football, and he started playing water polo, so after I saw him play for a few years I was like 'eh, I'll do it.'

P: So how do you like playing on the same team?

Mike: He doesn't pass very much, but I like it — it's fun.

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Dan: It is fun. Our mom always tells us we have a sixth sense together, like we know where each other is going to be. I don't know if that's necessarily true...

P: Is there any noticeable rivalry between you two during practice? Dan: I think there definitely is. We get in fights a fair amount in practice and like punch each other sometimes just because we are comfortable in that stuff. We know we can kind of fight and beat each other up a little more than maybe some other guys on the team.

Mike: Yeah, like in high school there were points for our high school career and I actually beat him out and scored more points in my high school career than him which was a big accomplishment.

Dan: In high school at practice one time I poked him in the eye. He had to sit out for about two weeks.

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Mike: Yeah, that was bullshit. He scratched my cornea.

P: And what did you do to him?

Mike: Nothing. That wasn't sweet.

Dan: My mom was the assistant coach in high school, though. I forget if she was there that day, though. She started out by bringing the Gatorades.

Mike: Yeah, like team mom stuff.

P: Does she still try to stay involved?

Dan: Yeah, she's still pretty involved.

Mike: She sends out the [team] emails to all the alumni. All the alumni have been giving really positive feedback, just because it keeps them all in the loop. All they see are the scores online. They don't really know individual stuff. It has really helped get the alumni involved. They came to all our games out West, and that's been really awesome. So it's been a big help for her to send those emails. P: So as captain do you get to boss your brother around?

Dan: No, I definitely can't get to boss him around, but I definitely enjoy being captain. It's a big responsibility but I enjoy it.

P: So how are you two doing in terms of injuries? I hear you've been having to ice some interesting places.

Mike: Yeah, I hurt my hip flexor and the trainer has been working that out pretty well and it's getting better. Yeah, and I've got to ice it — a lot. The hip flexor's in an . . . awkward place. Hard to ice and even harder to wrap.

P: Dan, and what about you?

Dan: Yeah I've had a few different things. I was sick a little bit and my shoulder's been hurting. Actually I didn't play in our first game at Southerns and Luis [Nicolao], our coach, wrote on the score sheet "DNP CD," which means "Did not play, Coach's decision." Then he added "soft" in parentheses, so I feel like there's a fairly big sentiment that I'm not the toughest guy on the team. Definitely not.

P: Any funny stories about each other?

Dan: I threw a battery at him one time.

Mike: Yeah, in fourth grade for some reason he got angry at me and gunned a battery at my ribs. I had a welt for quite a while. He also dropped a 10 pound weight on my foot and broke my foot.

P: So where water polo is concerned, do you guys try to outdo each other?

Mike: I just try to emulate him in all aspects of what I do — someone to look up to.

Dan: And I just try to retroactively emulate him as well.

P: With two McKennas on the team, how do the players distinguish the two? Any nicknames?

Dan: He's "Smalls," and my dad came up with that nickname, so you can ask him.

Mike: Eh, that's a really long story dating back to the third grade and if people really want to know they can come ask me. I don't want to put it all in the paper. My room is always open for anybody who wants to know. Yeah, and he's Dejar.

Dan: Yeah, it's another family thing. There's a hockey player named Eric DeJardins so DeJar "dan." So, that's where we got Dej or Dejar or any form of that.

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