SHUHEI MATSUO
Sports Editor
One team. Two brothers. Three relatives.
Since redshirt junior Matt MacDonell became a Wave in 2004, members of the MacDonell family just keep coming to Pepperdine one after another. His young brother, JP, joined the Pepperdine water polo crew in 2006, and now their cousin Erick became the newest MacDonell on the team in August.
“It’s enjoyable,” says Jack Kocur, head coach for the water polo team. “There is never a dull moment with them.”
They maybe enjoyable, but they also bring a high intensity to practice, Kocur says.
More MacDonells at Pepperdine in the future?
“My little brother, AJ, wants to [come],” freshman Erick says. “He is a sophomore [in high school] and is bigger than all of us.”
Maybe AJ will be the fourth, but they have a total of 38 cousins, and most of them are younger and play water polo in elementary and middle school.
“Thirty-eight is a little over my roster size, but I’m sure we can use a couple more,” Kocur says, laughing. “I’m sure there are some good ones out there still.”
The three MacDonells at Pepperdine are from Northern California and all went to Bellarmine College Preparatory, an all-boy high school in San Jose, Calif., which they say was an awesome experience.
Sure, but what about girls?
“We had a sister school so you just hang out with them just because they live in the same area,” Matt says. “I mean, look at us.”
But there was an advantage of not having girls at school.
“There is no drama,” JP recalls. “And especially with water polo, you can just roll out of the pool and just go to class. It was just really really laid back.”
They might describe their high school as laid back, but not their water polo careers. In fact, they say their school is usually the best team in the league and has won the state and national championships when Matt was a senior and JP was a sophomore.
After winning his first California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) title and national championship during his senior year, Matt decided to come to Pepperdine instead of UC Santa Barbara, his other consideration.
The main reasons that he came to Pepperdine were then Head Coach Terry Schroeder, who is now the head coach of the U.S. Olympic team, then Assistant Coach Alex Rodriguez, and the other players on the team, and the waves across the street, Matt says.
Even though both Schroeder and Rodriguez left the team before JP came to Pepperdine, having his older brother at Pepperdine had an influence on JP’s decision of college, JP says.
“I watched him win the national championship, and it’s kind of a bummer that I couldn’t play with him,” JP says. “So it did have an influence on my decision a little bit to wanting to come and win the national championship at the next level with him.”
Another thing he saw in the Pepperdine’s program was the coach-player relationship and the family atmosphere, JP says.
“I would come to the game when [Matt] was a freshman or sophomore when I was still in high school, I saw how the team interacted and how the coaches were,” he says. “I really liked that.”
When JP joined the Waves in 2006, it was the young MacDonell who led the team with a team-high 30 goals last season (No. 5 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) since the big Mac took his third year off from competing in games.
Perhaps Matt was even happier to have his young brother on the same college team.
“I wanted JP to come here,” Matt says. “I never told him to come here, but I shed the brightest light I could on coming to Pepperdine because I didn’t want to have to play against him.”
But now Matt is back on the team, the MacDonell brothers have been making some big waves in the pool this season.
While two of his cousins have already been taking significant roles at Pepperdine, the newest MacDonell on the squad has big shoes to fill.
“I’m just trying to work my way up to their level,” Erick says. “It definitely helped my [college] decision, having two cousins here, though. It’s nice having someone you know before even going to school.”
Erick’s reasons to come here are also similar to his cousins’.
“The team atmosphere is really nice,” he says. “I like the head coach and the assistant coach very much. It’s a big difference coming from our old high school coach, who is kind of more uptight and strict, and these coaches are laid back and approachable.”
Although Kocur may describe them “sometimes too dedicated to polo,” the three MacDonells also enjoying spending time together out of the pool, like surfing at Carbon Beach, across the street from where Matt and JP live. They also enjoy duck hunting, they say.
“It’s kind of nice to have some family time,” Erick says.
It seems the three of them get along great since they spend so much time together in and out of the pool. But the younger MacDonells claim that the old one thinks he is the boss.
“Matt likes to be the top dog, thinks he is the No.-1 MacDonell at school, has a Kappa girlfriend and what not,” JP says. “So me and Erick stick together and take him down.”
Matt may already be taken, but JP and Erick are “single and ready to mingle.”
“Find us on the ‘[Face]book,’” they say, “and poke us.”
For those who like to see them play water polo, the team plays its season’s home-opening game against cross-town rival Loyola Marymount on Sept. 29.
09-20-2007
