Ryder Dodd
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Ryder Michael Dodd |
| Nationality | American |
| Born | 19 January 2006 |
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm) |
| Sport | |
| College team | University of California Los Angeles |
| Club | Vanguard Aquatics Huntington, California |
| Coached by | Sasa Branisavljevic (Vanguard Aqua.) Adam Wright (UCLA) Adam Krikorian (Olympics) |
Medal record | |
Ryder Michal Dodd (born 19 January 2006)[1] is an American water polo player. He won a bronze medal in Water Polo representing the United States at the 2024 Summer Olympics. He was a student-athlete at UCLA, an attacker on the men's water polo team.[2] On June 7, 2025, he was awarded the Peter J. Cutino Award as the best men's collegiate water polo player of the year for the 2024 season.[3][4]
Dodd was born in Long Beach, California to Janet and Steve Dodd on January 19, 2006. His older brother Chase played water polo for UCLA. Ryder played water polo first for Huntington Beach High School from 2020-2021, and then from 2022-2024 for Junípero Serra High School, a Catholic High School in Gardena, California. During High School, he earned All American honors six times, despite taking off his Senior High School year to train for the Olympics.[3] While an age group competitor, he played for Vanguard Aquatics under Coach Sasa Branisavljevic, a Serbian native.[5] Branisavljevic started the club around 2013 with partner Uros Dzelebdzic, after leaving Huntington Beach Water Polo Club, where he coached for a year from 2008-9. Branisavljevic had played water polo for Long Beach City College, and had earlier played professionally for the Serbian professional team Spartak Subotica originally a soccer or "football" club known as FK Spartak Subotica.[6]
