Flying down the pool for Marist water polo this season is a fresh new face 4,000 miles from home. Viktoria Kiss, a Hungarian freshman attacker, has followed in her parents’ water polo footsteps and made an instant impact at Marist as she morphs into a high-level player and future team leader.
Kiss joined the team from Budapest, Hungary, a global superpower in water polo whose love for the game is well-documented.
“Water polo is played in Hungary the way we play basketball here,” said Marist head coach Chris Vidale, who is coaching a Hungarian player at Marist for the first time. “Every pool you go to, no lane lines, only water polo goals.”
Hailing from a nation with such a passion for the sport, it should be no surprise that Kiss has been surrounded by it her whole life. Both of Kiss’s parents played water polo from a young age themselves. In fact, it was through water polo that they met each other, highlighting how interwoven the sport is in their lives.
Gergely Kiss, Viktoria’s father, was a highly prominent player who led the Hungarian National team to three consecutive Olympic gold medals in 2000, 2004 and 2008. His success set a strong example for Kiss to follow.
“He’s the perfect water polo player,” Kiss said. “Everyone wants to be like him. He reached everything possible in water polo.”
Despite this, Gergely and Viktoria’s mom, Anna, almost pushed Viktoria away from the sport they loved so much.
“They didn’t want me and my sister to play. They both knew what the difficulties are that come with playing water polo, so my dad was not happy,” said Kiss. “They wanted me to explore my options. I did Judo for seven years, I also took music classes.”
Still, Kiss eventually found the sport at the age of 12 and has managed to make it her own, highlighted by the fact that Gergely operates his own club water polo team that she never played for.
“He stayed away; trust me, it’s better that he stayed away. Even now, he just comes to my games, and people talk, ‘Obviously, it’s easy for you, your dad’s here, your dad’s helping you,’” said Kiss.
Even though she blazed her own path and became her own water polo player, her father still made sure to impart wisdom, whether he was directly involved in her career or not.
“He said ‘I don’t want to score the most goals, I want to score the last goal that takes [your] team to win,’” said Kiss.
Kiss joined TVE in 2021, a club team in Budapest that helped further her playing career and allowed her to be noticed by schools stateside. But even with TVE, much of her recruitment was about connections.
“A big part of it is word of mouth,” Vidale said of recruiting international players. “I don’t meet Vik without my buddy, Momo, who Vik’s uncle was best friends with when he was in college.”
Vidale had interest in recruiting Kiss from the moment he turned on the tape.
“She’s long, and she’s fast as hell,” Vidale said. “If they can’t catch you, they can’t stop you. When I was watching her film, I was really excited to work with an athlete like that.”
Vidale also believes that Kiss can improve by learning to play a prominent role on a more talented team and getting accustomed to how referees call games. It’s the little things she still needs time to work on and develop.
Even as she continues to learn, Kiss is acclimating quickly to the MAAC Conference. She has already brought home some hardware for the team after earning MAAC Rookie of the Week honors for their 3-0 weekend at the Wolverine Invitational where she racked up five goals and three assists.
As Kiss grows throughout her four years at Marist, Vidale has high hopes for her both as player and as a leader for the team; he is looking for her to take command.
“I need her to be a leader, I need her to take charge,” said Vidale. “And she does these little things already that you don’t really see a lot of first-years do, which has been great to see.”
Vidale explained that Kiss is still finding her footing in terms of the structure of the team, particularly because she is hesitant to step on upperclassmen’s toes. When she morphs into more of a leader, she will be able to impact the team in an even greater way than she already has.
“It’s like the freaking Lion King. Anything the light touches is yours, and she needs to start rolling into that,” said Vidale.
Kiss has been part of another strong year for the Red Fox water polo squad. The team currently sits at 19th in the country and has been gelling particularly well recently, putting together nine wins in their last 11 games. As much as their success revolves around their play in the pool, it is also because they have managed to form a water polo family.
Vidale has his team end every practice by talking about something they are grateful for. Team-building is an emphasis within the squad, particularly because the athletes on the team come from eight different nations.
“I’m surrounded by really, really good people,” Kiss said. “The international community and just the water polo team, I never feel alone – which is crazy because I came all the way across the ocean, far from home.”
Edited by August Lieberman and Max Rosen
Graphic by Quinn DiFiore, Photo from Marist Athletics
For more coverage of Marist athletics, follow @cfmarist on Instagram, X, TikTok, and Bluesky. Sign up to receive daily alerts here.