Interesting Water Polo News

Ricardo Azevedo born August 24, 1956 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was recently a professional water polo coach in Camogli, Italy (a small town 30 minutes south of Genoa on the Mediterranean coast), where he was a key figure in the local club’s major rise to success at all levels. In Dec. of 2011 he was hired to be the HEad Men’s Coach of the Chinese National Team and still holds that post.  Born in Brazil, Azevedo is the son of a Brazilian World Cup soccer player. Azevedo played on the Brazilian National Water Polo Team from 1974 to 1980. He was twice voted Brazil’s “Player of the Year”. In 1976, his team won the gold medal in the South American Games. Azevedo received his Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University, Long Beach in 1980 where he also played college ball.

After his playing career, Azevedo became a water polo coach, with stints at the Beach aquatics club, then later LB Shore Aquatics, St. John Bosco HS, LB Millikan HS, powerhouse LB Wilson HS where he lead the team to 9 CIF Div 1 championships in 10 years at the helm,  and is now considered one of the premier coaches in the world. Azevedo was Head & Assistant Coach for the USA Men’s Water Polo Teams, USA Junior Teams, and at Long Beach State University (Men’s & Women’s). Azevedo became head coach of RN ElettroGreen Camogli in 2007, unexpectedly leading his young team to the division Championship title game in 2008. He has helped developed too many players that went on to the collegiate, national team and olympic status to mention here. Azevedo is unique among the global water polo community due to his language skills that have observed his coaching international teams in English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Japanese.

Azevedo has coached several Olympians since their youth including his son Tony Azevedo who was a four-time All American and NCAA Player of the Year at Stanford University and serves as Captain of the USA Men’s Water Polo Team for the 2008 Summer Olympics, and his daughter Cassie who was a two-time All-American water polo player at Long Beach State and is currently playing professionally in Europe.

Azevedo met his wife Libby when he was an exchange student at Long Beach, currently Libby has been running the Adult women’s/mom’s program at the LOS AL Pool with INTER WPC for the past 5 years. Bahram Hojreh has been an assistant coach for Ricardo in the past, and is close to the family for all the years he has known them. So it is with great excitement that we have Mr. Ricardo Azevedo to our family at INTERNATIONAL W.P.C. ! and we wish him the best of luck with the Chinese National Team.