GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Goalie Heather Morgan of Punahou went up for a save during a scrimmage at the University of Hawaii's Duke Kahanamoku pool. The scrimmage was part of a water polo clinic.

U.S. water polo team
grows with sport

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By Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.com

It is always difficult to gauge the interest for a first-time event. Coach Guy Baker knew there wasn't a problem to find volunteers from his USA national women's water polo team to come to Hawaii, but he was curious to see the participation numbers for this past weekend's Women's Programs for Athletes and Coaches Education Clinic at the University of Hawaii.

It far exceeded expectations with 80 turning out at the Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Center for the two-day program.

"Our players fought to come to Hawaii and we had to base it on seniority," said Baker, the women's national team coach since 1998. "But the enthusiasm locally has been great.

"This program is only a year old and we will only come somewhere if we can get a minimum of 50. We had about 75 signed up before Friday. The reception here has been fabulous."

It's the same treatment that women's water polo in the U.S. has been receiving lately. It is the fastest growing intercollegiate sport for women and, after years of being limited to a club championship, the NCAA sanctioned it as a championship sport last spring.

It debuted as a medal sport for women at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. The U.S. team, captained by former UH swimmer Maureen O'Toole, lost in the gold-medal match to Australia, 4-3, on a controversial last-second goal.

GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM Punahou's Kristen Johns tried to maneuver past Aja Kusao of Hawaiian Islands Water Polo during a clinic scrimmage.

Baker coached that team, along with his assistant, former Punahou standout and two-time Olympian Chris Duplanty. The Hawaii clinic featured four 2000 Olympians in goalie Nicolle Payne, driver Coralie Simmons, center Ellen Estes and defender Heather Petri.

"There are mostly good memories from 2000," said Baker. "But there were tears.

"And we knew that Mo (O'Toole) was retiring after the game. We miss her. This team is different than the one two years ago."

Baker and Team USA just returned from Perth where they practiced against the Australians. The team will be back Down Under for the World Cup in December.

Hawaii was the second stop on the P.A.C.E Clinic tour. The first was in Modesto, Calif., last month.

Next week, clinics will be in Corvallis, Ore., and Albuquerque, N.M. Next month, it's on to San Diego and Philadelphia.

"From the time I was hired full-time in January 2001, one of our goals is to help water polo grow from a regional sport to a national sport," said Baker, who is also the program's development director. "We have divided the U.S. into nine zones and we're trying to have at least one clinic in each zone every year."

Baker spent 10 years coaching at UCLA, winning four men's titles and three women's. He is the only coach to win men's and women's national titles in a sport in the same academic year, a feat he accomplished two years in a row.

"I enjoy coaching both genders because I enjoy coaching," he said. "I really enjoy being at the national-team level because it's the best of the best, and we play the best of the best."

Two Hawaii products are currently on track to get to that top level. Punahou graduate Maureen Flanagan, a senior at UCLA, has been a strong contributor for the U.S. junior national team, while her sister Katie, a UCLA freshman, was on the U.S. youth national team this past summer.

"It's a tough sport, but it's been really well received and the growth in the U.S. has been phenomenal," Baker said. "As recent as 1995, the girls we were getting to play (at UCLA) were ones who had been on boys teams in high school because there were no girls teams. Or they had been playing club because their high school didn't offer water polo at all.

"It's great seeing the progress that's been made in a very short time."