Tracy Press

 
Water polo teams attract young players

The Tracy High girls cross their school’s pool with hands out of the water to show that they are using only their legs to stay afloat. Bob Brownne/Tracy Press

High school water polo teams won’t have any official practices until next week, but since the California Interscholastic Federation does allow teams to work out, West High coach Bob Kuks pulled out a favorite exercises from his college days.

Instead of carrying a ball, the team members crossed the pool while holding buckets of water over their heads. Since there are a lot of new players, Kuks let them get away with buckets only a quarter-full. Goalie Bryan Gilliland is one of the more experienced players, so he got to wear a weight belt, too.

This year, more swimmers than ever are taking the challenge. With the new Pinkie Phillips Aquatics Center open, the West water polo teams are big campus attractions.

“We have a lot of guys who, now that we have a pool, thought it would be fun to go out for water polo,” Kuks said.

He figures the team has about 20 boys, compared to 12 a year ago. “We may have a junior varsity team because enough kids have come out.”

Lynda Donelson, assistant coach for the boys and girls teams, said that the girls had a JV team last year, and with 21 players — about the same as last year — there are still a lot of new girls taking the place of players who aren’t with the team this year.

“Half of these kids are brand new and never swam with us before. It’s awesome,” she said.

West plays in the Tri-City Athletic League, but both girls and boys teams fell short of the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs last year. The playoff teams from 2007 that West will have to beat are Tokay and Sonora for the girls and St. Mary’s and Sonora for the boys.

West’s preseason games start Sept. 4, when Downey High comes to West. League play starts Sept. 29 against St. Mary’s.

Tracy High’s water polo teams have been hard at work this week, too. Tracy coach Keith Britt said 46 girls and 27 boys have signed up so far.

“We try not to cut anybody, because this is a sport many haven’t played before if they’re freshmen or sophomores,” he said.

Britt expects that the drills from this week, focusing on treading water with legs only and swimming sprints, will be a suitable warmup to Monday’s first day of practice with the ball.

He said both the girls and boys teams have strong contingents of returning seniors, the girls returning from their best showing in six years with a third-place finish in the San Joaquin Athletic Association behind Lincoln and Lodi.

The boys took fifth, but Britt said the team did better than its league record indicates.

“The boys league might be the toughest from top to bottom,” he said, adding that he’s encouraged by the abilities of new players.

“We have a few freshman boys who have the potential to make a fast impact on our program.”
Britt said the pre-league schedules aren’t confirmed yet, but the team plans to go to a tournament in Reno in early September and will begin league play against Franklin on Sept. 30, with the first home match against Bear Creek on Oct. 7.

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