POTENTIAL needs to be recognized before it can be realized. Hawaii brings aboard
a winner with water poloRecognition that women's water polo would be an instant splash at the University of Hawaii came early. Now the Wahine are a power to be reckoned with.
And it's only their first season.
Yesterday, No. 4 Hawaii fell to No. 2 Stanford, 10-9, in double overtime. The Cardinal, a program with some 20 years of tradition, had to rally with 40 seconds left in regulation to force the extra period.
That's how far Hawaii has come in a year since hiring Shari Baird-Smart in January 1997. The Wahine have learned to sprint almost before they could crawl -- or is that dog paddle? -- in the increasingly competitive national pool scene.
"It's nice when you know you've done something the right way," said UH assistant athletic director Marilyn Moniz-Kaho'ohanohano. "We made sure we chose the right sport for Hawaii. We looked at what was developing in women's sports across the country and at the Olympic level. We knew women's water polo would be in the Olympics, hopefully by 2000. And we knew it would be developing because of that in the U.S.
"It was a matter of picking the right sport and developing it the right way."
TO that end, Baird-Smart was hired early enough to give her a chance to recruit last spring. She ended up with 11 freshmen on the 16-player roster, including Canadian Marie-Luc Arpin, who was named the MVP of the Aloha Classic yesterday.
Baird-Smart was told the UH administration would like to see a national title contender within three years. She believes three years might be closer to reality -- and she's not counting out this season.
The Wahine will leave later this week for the 10-team Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament at Pacific. The teams will be seeded into the West Regional qualifier, with the top seven advancing to the national championship tournament.
"If we play like we did today, we'll be there," Baird-Smart said after yesterday's loss. "I'm not counting us out this year. We have the potential."
What Hawaii lacked yesterday was depth on the bench. Baird-Smart used nine players during the game, which lasted an hour and 45 minutes.
Water polo players are considered the best-conditioned athletes in all of sports. But 105 minutes of sprinting was draining for the young, less-experienced Wahine.
STILL, it was a terrific effort by Hawaii, an exciting team in an exciting sport. The early time (10:15 a.m.) and threat of rain might have cut attendance -- which has been as high as 400 -- but about 150 fans got to watch a great game at no charge.
"I'm really happy," said UH assistant athletic director Kaia Hedlund, who helped start the women's club programs at Southern Cal and UC Irvine. "It's great that we're able to battle the traditional powers the first year. When we started talking about adding water polo here, you saw the high schools get into it.
"It's a great sport for girls, a fun sport to play. But you have to be a swimmer to be a water polo player. And you have to be in shape."
There are about 34 varsity teams at the NCAA Division I, II and III levels. Forty are required for an NCAA-sanctioned national championship.
"The sport is really growing and I think we could have enough teams by next year," Hedlund said. "A lot of teams are on the border of going from club to varsity level."
"It's a baby sport, one that we knew if we got in at the beginning, we would be successful," Moniz-Kaho'ohanohano said. "It's definitely exceeded our expectations for the first year."
Hawaii will restart its women's track and field program in 2000, a sport it dropped when softball was added in 1983. If water polo is any indication, Wahine track and field should get off to a running start, too.
Cindy Luis is a Star-Bulletin sportswriter.
Her column appears weekly.