The worlds of water polo, hip-hop and social media have collided in a heartwarming way.
When three-time Olympic gold medalist and Bay Area native Maggie Steffens took to Instagram to post about the U.S. women's water polo team's challenges – raising money and awareness – she got a huge response on social media, including one from rapper and reality TV star Flavor Flav.
"Definitely not the hype man we ever expected," Steffens said. "It's very surreal. We're really excited. We're super grateful for all of Flavor Flav's support."
Flav, who said he's in touch with the team about financial support, explained why he jumped on the water polo bandwagon.
"Because nobody's really sponsoring women's sports in the first place," he said. "A lot of women's sports are being under looked."
It's now a mutual admiration society.
"He was really about supporting our story and trying to get more people to watch, more people in the stands, more eyes on the sport," Steffens said.
And the two are in touch.
"I just want to help people achieve their goals just like I achieved a lot of mine," Flav said. "I know what it feels like to want to have a chance."
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Flav said he plans to go to Paris and cheer the team on in person.
"It makes me feel like I got a purpose to serve," he said.
Steffens said the team is happy to make a famous fan.
"His positive energy is definitely infectious," she said.
Flav's support was also noticed by Taylor Swift's team, who gave the entire water polo squad and staff tickets to see her show in Paris.
