Hooper Heads to Doha for World Championships

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

It is off to Qatar for former Highlands resident Johnny Hooper.

The 26-year-old is among 15 players who will compete for the USA Water Polo men’s national team at the 2024 World Aquatics World Championships set for February 2 to 18 in Doha. Head coach Dejan Udovicic announced that 13 athletes will be eligible for each match and they will be determined prior to game day.

Team USA is in Group C and opens against Montenegro at 6:30 a.m. Pacific time Monday, February 5. The Americans will later take on Japan and Serbia in group play. Live streaming will be available on Peacock (login required).

The event is an Olympic qualifier, although Team USA has already earned its spot at the Paris Olympic Games following a gold medal victory at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.

Hooper, who has made the Palisadian-Post Athlete of the Year list multiple times, is a four-time All-American who played collegiately at Cal and finished as one of the school’s all-time leading scorers with 245 goals, helping the Bears win the 2016 NCAA Championship.

An avid surfer, Hooper attended Harvard-Westlake High in Studio City and helped the Wolverines to back-to-back CIF Southern Section Division I titles. He was a two-time Mission League MVP and got named 2015 CIF Division I Player of the Year.

He was a steady scorer for the USA men’s water polo team at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, tallying twice in the team’s 14-11 loss to Croatia in the fifth-place game, scoring the clinchers against Japan and Italy and adding three goals versus South Africa.

Internationally, Hooper tallied 11 goals at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile. He had 15 goals at the 2023 World Aquatics World Championships in Fukuoka and notched six goals at the 2023 World Aquatics World Cup in Los Angeles.

He scored six goals at the 2021 FINA World League Super Final in Athens and led the USA with 24 goals at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima and with 14 goals at the 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju. He now competes professionally for Telimar in Italy and also played for Palaio Faliro in the A1 Ethniki League in Greece.

Johnny’s father Gary was a successful pole vaulter, played indoor volleyball at UCSB and played on the pro beach circuit from 1975-84, earning 11 Open victories and being inducted into the California Beach Volleyball Association Hall of Fame in 2009.