US women’s water polo coach Adam Krikorian got a little aggressive with one of his players during the third quarter of his team’s 13-3 win over Brazil at the Rio Olympics on Monday.
As 17-year-old Makenzie Fischer exited the pool late in the third, Krikorian yanked her by her chin strap. It’s unclear whether Krikorian was expressing happiness and complimenting her or whether he was showing disappointment, but he did so aggressively:
Despite the large margin of victory for the US, Krikorian was still bothered after the game.
“No one likes to talk about defense, it’s not sexy. I thought our defense was great in the first three quarters but I’m not happy with how we played the fourth,” said Krikorian. “I thought we relaxed. It was a little disappointing as we’ve got to play better defense. We got a little lazy and we know in the next two games we’ve got to be sharp for a full four quarters otherwise we’re not going to get the job done. We know there are bigger tests ahead.”
Even if Krikorian was being positive and congratulatory, there’s no need to yank a player by their chin strip like you’re pulling on a horse’s reins.
