By Kyle Jorrey
Sports Editor
“I don’t know. There’s just something about drowning another human being that is so appealing.”
Hmm … OK … did I miss something here?
The above statement was made by Pepperdine senior Kanoe Hook, one of the 14 members of this year’s club women’s water polo team. But she’ll be the first to tell you — out of the water — she’s a really nice person.
Sure she is.
In an effort to better acquaint myself with the sport of water polo I agreed to participate, if only briefly, in one of the team’s daily practices. Before that scheduled date, a number of the girls on the team had made it clear to me that water polo, despite any preconceived notions, was a physical sport — a really physical sport.
I heard tales of broken noses, broken ribs and gouged out eyes. I heard about hospital visits and fist fights.
“Oh, it’s very physical,” freshman Erica Sigman said. “People just don’t know because they can’t see what goes on underwater. But whatever you can get away with underwater when the referee doesn’t see it, goes … you learn a lot of dirty tricks.”
“Was this water polo or medieval combat?” I thought. “But really,” I assured myself, “How scary could a bunch of girls in swimming suits and caps possibly be?”
I arrived around 7:30 p.m., just 30 minutes late, and secretly slipped myself into a pair of board shorts. Just as planned, I was able to sneak into the water unnoticed, avoiding any unwanted peer pressure to “throw on a Speedo.”
Keep in mind, this was done for the good of the team, not just myself.
The team’s volunteer coach and member of the Pepperdine men’s varsity water polo team, Phil Spataru, informed me that the team would be doing some drills before they got into scrimmaging. Just passing and shooting … that seemed easy enough.
Using everything I remembered from P.E. 199 I calmly went about the drills hoping, at least in the onset, not to make a fool of myself. Though I consider myself an athlete, my experience in the pool was strictly limited to summers spent at the YMCA. I thought I had this “eggbeater” stuff down, but before long muscles in my legs that I didn’t even know I had began to hurt.
“Don’t mind me, I just need to check my contact,” I said as I made a quick break for the side of the pool to catch my breath. It was at this point my little friend reality tapped me on the shoulder.
“Guess you bit off a little more than you could chew,” reality said.
After just a few moments of recuperation (20 minutes, two visits to the water fountain) I got up the courage to ask Spataru to give me some action in the scrimmage the was already underway. It was about time to show these girls that I knew my way around the pool.
As I sat aside watching, my eyes scanned the pool looking for the weakest link, the one I could use my strength and size to gain the advantage over.
I spied Sigman, who at five feet tall and maybe a couple sacks of nickels over 100 pounds, seemed the best choice.
I quickly went to show her that I wasn’t here for fun and games. As I made a move for the goal she grabbed at my arms, and in self defense I fought back.
“Is that legal?” I asked her after the confrontation.
“Uh, yes,” she replied, seemingly unintimidated by my physical moves.
Suddenly, we took off for the other side of the pool. This is when things started to go seriously wrong. As I sprinted with all my heart’s content for the other side of the pool, I noticed that Sigman had quickly distanced herself from me — a big distance.
By the time I had recovered and made it to the other side, the freshman had the ball and was eyeing the goal.
“Here’s my chance,” I thought. “I’ll just pounce on her and get the ball.” And so went the signal — down from my brain, through my torso and into my legs — only the legs didn’t respond.
As I struggled in vain to make the stop, Sigman cocked back and fired a shot worthy of Arizona Diamondback ace Randy Johnson. A goal scored. And it was all my fault.
As supportive as the team was, I had seen enough. I’m not sure if it was my pride or legs that hurt more.
For a club team primarily comprised of girls with only one or two years of experience, I must say, I was impressed. In just its second year of existence, it seems things are looking up for the Pepperdine women’s water polo team.
“A lot of these girls came out here having never played before,” Spataru said. “They didn’t know how to eggbeater. So we basically had to start from scratch, learning the rules and the fundamentals of the game. At times it’s been frustrating, but I’m definitely seeing improvement … I think if we got enough girls to come out and they kept working hard and staying committed, with the help of the school, this could become an NCAA team.”
After my experience, I would not disagree.
“A lot of people don’t know about water polo, especially women’s,” Sigman said. “It’s the kind of sport you can’t really respect and understand until you play it.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
April 03, 2003