 Hey bears, welcome to another episode of Behind the Hype with Kelty Sports. I'm Jan Serz and I'm here at Speaker Aquatics Complex with senior Shafak Shemsek, who's leading our men's water polo team in scoring this season. Hi Shafak, thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. It has been a tough season so far, especially for the stunt that you guys sat in the past. And what can you say about this season overall and how does it feel to have NPSF championships here at home in Berkeley? It wasn't just a tough season for us, it was a tough season for I guess for every other team because everybody was losing and winning against everyone and so it was hard to predict the games. And I think we have 10 losses by now and we have to win NPSF to go to national championship this season unfortunately. But as you said it's going to be at home and I think we are playing better at home as we proved in 2016. Speaking of 2016, you guys won the NCAA tournament in your first year. So how was that just coming year, coming right out of the gates, winning the championship and building that experience right now in your last year, in your final year. That moment was amazing, like playing at home in front of your home crowd. They had huge expectations even though we lost against UCLA and USC in the regular season. It came up, it sticked together and we figured out by the end of the season and playing here was a huge plus for us. And since I am a senior now who played in that tournament with two other seniors, we are trying to impose that feeling and that moments to our team right now. Like you played in a senior club team back in Istanbul in Turkey before coming here in high school and just right out of the gates you were really successful here as a freshman between again older players than you just like in the club's new team. And now as a senior for the first time in a long time you will be one of the older players in the pool. So how is that like preparation back then prepared you for now and how does it feel to be one of the more experienced in the team? To be honest, I was always the youngest player in Galatasar and it was great to play with older players because you don't have that much responsibility and also they are really experienced and self-confident and competitive. And while I was practicing it I was trying to take it in and learn from that experience and by the time I grow up I start to develop with those experiences in a better way. And when I came here the oldest player wasn't that older than me I think we had just three or four years difference and compared to Galatasar in Galatasar we had like 30 year old players and by the time I became senior now I had responsibility in my hands so I am trying to be more careful and more mindful with the freshmen and everybody I mean it's a big responsibility so I am trying to do my best with other seniors too. Speaking of taking responsibility you showed your clutchness every time you had in the past three years, three past four years. For example as a freshman in the NCAA title game under all that stress you had a head trick in the title game when you guys beat USC for the title and again last year's NPSF semifinal and again against USC you had the game winning goal with six seconds left so would you say all those experiences prepaid you or do you have like a trick to prepare for those clutch moments? I mean there is no trick but the preparation starts from the practice you practice every kind of shot that you can take in the game so actually preparation starts from there as I said and then before the game I take a good one hour to visualize everything that might happen in the game and yeah some of them doesn't happen or some of them is the first time for me actually that goal on NPSF last year when there was six seconds left it was a different moment for me because for the first time on that game I had the chance to fake at least six or seven times and I didn't get that often on that season but I was prepared for that mentally but there is no trick I would say the trick is only I think visualization To end this nice interview I was thinking maybe we can play a little game of super-relatives in the team out of your teammates who is the most talkative? I would say our captain Jordan Hoover he's very talkative I guess that comes from being captain as well and what would you say who's the funniest who cracks the jokes a lot in the locker room or during the breaks Oh Bernardo for sure Bernardo the goal quicker yeah for sure what would you say your teammates one word that your teammates would use to describe you as one of my friends described me in the senior recognition dinner I would say grumpy okay thanks a lot for this interview Shafak and guys don't forget to come here and support Vance Volterpolar team as they go have to head with the best teams in the nation and the MPSF championship for a bit in the NCAA tournament here in Berkeley starting this Friday and going all weekend I'm Giancaros I am Shafak Go Bears