Chi Kredell

Craig "Chi" Kredell (born February 16, 1971) is a former American water polo player who competed for Long Beach State University . He competed in the men's tournament at the 2000 Sydney Olympics where the US team placed sixth overall. After his water polo career, he served as a manager for Long Beach Shore Aquatics.

Early life Kredell was born February 16, 1971 in Long Beach, California to father Ron Kredell and Nancy. Closely tied to the community, Kredell's father Ronald served as a Seal Beach City Counselman in 1976. Craig took his nickname "Chi" from his father Ron who was originally from Chicago, and had the nickname as a young man. Robert Lynn was a strong player at Wilson, shortly before Kredell's tenure with the team, who later played in the 2000 Olympics with Kredell. In a 1988 4A Semi-final match for the Southern Section 4A Water Polo title, Kredell scored 3 goals, but the team last to the strong program at Corona del Mar High School, coached by John Vargas, a future US Olympic water polo team coach.

Long Beach State University Kredell attended Long Beach State (LBS) from around 1989-1993, where he played water polo for the strong program at LBS under coach Ken Lindgren, a former player for Long Beach State and a Water Polo Hall of Fame inductee. At Long Beach State, Kredell won varsity letters in four years from 1989 to 1991 and in 1993. Kredell made first team All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Conference honors in 1993, and was an All-MPSF Conference second team honoree in 1991.

1996 Atlanta Olympic trials In 1996, Kredell was one of the last players to be cut from the US 1996 Atlanta Olympic Water Polo team, and though he was given the opportunity to travel to Atlanta with the team, he decided not to as he believed it would be hard to sit by while the US team played. John Vargas, the 1996 Olympic Coach, considered Kredell one of the world's most outstanding players on defense at the time. Prior to the 1996 Olympic selection process, Kredell spent a year playing club water polo in Greece, where he gained strength, and improved his fundamental and ball handling skills.

In their first preliminary game playing with the US National team, Kredell scored a goal in a 7–7 tie with Australia at the UPS International Cup in late June, 2000 at the Los Alamitos Armed Forces Reserve Center. Yugoslavia later won the Cup.

2000 Sydney Olympics Craig participated in the men's water polo tournament at the September, 2000 Sydney Olympics under Olympic Coach John Vargas. He was part of the US team that completed the Olympic tournament with an overall sixth-place finish among twelve competing countries. In preliminary rounds, the US team defeated the Netherlands and Croatia, both traditionally strong teams, but lost their last match in the final round 10–8 to Italy. Perennial pre-game favorite Hungary took the gold medal, Russia took the silver, and the historically dominant team from Yugoslavia took the bronze, having had more total goals than the United States. Hungary easily defeated rival Russia in the final game by a score of 13-6, leading in each of the first three periods by a score of 3-1, 8-2, and 10-4 respectively. With the US National team, Kredell often played the 2-meter defender, a center position who protected the goal at least two meters away from the goal line.

International competition In international competition, Kredell was part of the US team that won water polo gold medals at the 1995 Pan American Games in Mara del Plata, Argentina and the 1999 Pan American Games in Winipeg, Ontario, Canada. He competed at the World Championships in 1994 in Rome, Italy, where the US team placed sixth and in the 1998 World Championships where the US team placed seventh in Perth, Australia. He was also part of the US team that competed at the Goodwill Games in 1994.

Honors Kredell is a member of the Long Beach Wilson High School Athletic Hall of Fame

Careers Remaining active in aquatics, after retiring from elite water polo competition, he served as a Director for Long Beach Shore Aquatics, continuing to contribute to the aquatic community in his native Long Beach.