Nado Natterings Back to Islandersports
A weekly column by David Axelson

Nado Natterings
by David Axelson, Chief Executive Officer
The Islander Sports Foundation

18 June 2008 Issue No. 24

Although the Men’s U.S. Olympic Water Polo Team won’t officially be announced until June 30^th at a gala to be held at the Los Angeles Athletic Club, current indications are that Coronado High School graduates Layne Beaubien (CHS ’95) and Jesse Smith (CHS ’01) will be on the squad that travels to Beijing in August.

The bid for slots on the Olympic team by Islander graduates Genai Kerr, 31, (CHS ’95) and Thomas Hopkins, 23, (CHS ’02) fell just short. Kerr, a goalkeeper, represented the United States in the Athens Olympics in 2004. Hopkins, who helped the U.S. win a gold medal in the Pan American games in 2007 as a driver, plans to continue his playing career in Europe after the Olympics. The U.S. Team will carry only 13 players into the Olympics.

Smith, 25 years old and a defender, is considered to be one of the top water polo players in the world, and has had a remarkable run during his young career.  An Olympian in 2004, the 6-4, 232 pound Smith was the team’s second leading scorer in Athens. In addition he has played in 18 international competitions, with first place finishes earned in five of the events. Smith has also played on two title teams in Europe.

“I still can’t believe my luck,” Smith said. “I have been on two championship teams in the last three years in Greece and Croatia, and both times we were the underdogs against the most popular, highest-funded teams in each country. First, I played with Ethnikos of Piraeus and we won the Greek National Championship in 2006. Then for the next two years I played with Mladost of Zagreb. Last year we lost in the fifth game of the championship series. This year we won the Croatian National Championship.”

Winning a water polo championship on Croatia is roughly equivalent to a Super Bowl crown in the U.S., but Smith would like to see the game take hold on the professional level in this country. “There are bonuses to the small, predominately California-based water polo community,” said Smith. “But there is also so much potential to involve young athletes from across the nation and create a stronger legacy in our country.

“It would also be great to start a professional league in the United States, if we could figure out a way to sponsor teams here. Like David Beckham coming to the L.A. Galaxy to play soccer, it would be great to have a few Croatian, Serbian or Hungarian players to compete in our United States Premier League year around and increase the intensity and popularity of the game. It would also be great to have some American club teams join European tournaments, allowing more of our athletes to continue playing after college in a different outlet besides the National Team. There is a lot of room for water polo to grow from both the bottom and the top, which is very exciting to me.”

Topping Smith in the playing experience department is Beaubien, who has now played in well over 200 international games and like Smith was a member of the 2004 Olympic squad in Athens. Smith and Beaubien between them won six CIF San Diego Section titles while members of the Islander water polo program and Player of the Year and All-American accolades that are too many in number to list here. Both Beaubien (Stanford) and Smith (Pepperdine) earned their degrees in four years from their respective universities.

At 6-6 and 220 pounds, Beaubien also plays the center defender position and is considered to have one of the strongest shooting arms on the U.S. National team. Translated into layman’s terms, playing center defender on the international level comes with a legal sporting license to give and receive physical punishment on a continual and constant basis.

Beaubien takes a strong mental approach into the pool to go along with his physical gifts. “Like many disciplines, experience is the best teacher in our sport. I try to visualize past plays and situations against coming opponents as part of my preparation. There is a lot of pressure on all of the players to make the team and it is of course a tremendous honor to represent the U.S. in anything, especially the Olympic Games. To do this with dignity and success is the goal of the group and for me.”

When asked about the most challenging part of the game, Beaubien replied, “You are never resting and always fighting the elements, treading water, breathing, stinging eyes, the glare of the sun off the water. There is no end to the pulling, punching, and grabbing that goes on during a game.”

Like Smith, Beaubien would like to see water polo at the pro level catch on in the U.S. “I would like to see the start of a professional water polo league in the U.S. so that we can keep good players in this country and be competitive with the rest of the water polo world.”

Under the direction of Head Coach Terry Schroeder, the winner of two silver medals in the Olympics during the 1980’s, the U.S. squad is ranked ninth in the world heading into the Olympic Games. The U.S. team qualified for the Olympics by winning the gold medal in the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

CHS Sailing Banquet Recognizes Team’s Fine Season

The CHS Sailing Team concluded their most successful campaign in several years with their post-season banquet, which recognized the contributions of each sailor on the team. The Varsity finished third in California and captured fourth place in the National Championships held in Annapolis, Maryland. In addition, the JV squad finished in first place in the state.

“The success of the team this year was directly attributable to the competitive environment created by the hard work and improvements made by the underclassmen,” said Head Coach Jon Rogers.

Program President Scott Harris recognized the sailing team’s board of directors, volunteers and chaperones and thanked them for assisting the team. CHS Team Advisor Kevin Nicolls distributed each sailor’s transcripts, recognized their collectively excellent academic accomplishments and presented the varsity and JV letters.

In addition, Rogers re-capped the season and presented the team awards with the assistance of 2008-09 Team Captain Alex Wood.

Recognized for their contributions to the team’s success were: Tom Ben Kiki, Katie Courtney, Kaitlin Dunphey, Hayley Eyer, Nick Gomez-Hall, Chloe Lozier, Brian Smith and Wood.

Team awards were presented as follows: ‘Top Gun’ Award for Best Varsity Skipper – Pike Harris and Ryan Sullivan; ‘Top Gun’ Award for Best JV Skipper – Philip Lozier; Most Improved Skipper – Sally Harris; Most Improved Crew – Karisa Chapa; The ‘Sam’ Award for Team MVP – Hans Henken; The ‘Jimmer’ Award for Top Crew – Cragan Smith.

Preparations for the 2008-09 season have already begun and the CHSST Training Camp starts September 16. For more information, contact Rogers at headcoach@coronadoyc.org.

Coronado Youth Basketballers Stay Busy During the Summer

The rising freshman basketball team from Coronado High School finished in second place in the City and South Bay Middle School League last weekend after beating Roosevelt Jr High in the semi-finals by the score of 70-42.  The group was experiencing summer club basketball for the first time together and accomplished a great deal in as they prepared for their high school playing careers.  

Several of the players have already begun to practice and play summer basketball for the high school teams.  The team, under the direction of Head Coach Darrell Hebert, included: Marcos Cepin, Brian Turley, Jake Meloche, Danny Hebert Collin Green, Harley Ralph, Eitan Peled, Chris Allen, Mike Snyder, Gunnar Kane, Alex Nurding, and Alfonso Alonso. 

Later that same evening the squad also defeated the South Bay Club Basketball Team 50-34 in a regular season game played in a different league.

Reflections on the U.S. Open Championships

In what amounted to a five-day commercial for the scenic and sun-drenched Southern California lifestyle, Tiger Woods took 91 holes to edge out Rocco Mediate for the U.S. Open Golf title at Torrey Pines last weekend. Mediate, who has never won a major title was paired with Woods, who now has his name etched on 14 trophies from major events.

Woods, competing on one good leg (his right) after surgery to remove cartilage from his left knee, covered more ground in the five days of the tournament than a motivated real estate broker. Seemingly most of the 358 shots Tiger took over the weekend were in the rough, nestled in sand traps, bounding over cart paths, or in some other scenic venue not where he wanted them to be.

Whenever I watch Woods play, I am struck by incredible number of fairways he misses with his tee shots, only to counter with seemingly impossible recovery shots and pressure putts. During Monday’s playoff with Mediate, Woods hit only four of his first 12 tee shots on the fairway.

Mediate won a lot of fans during the tournament, with his relentlessly positive approach and smiles for the fans. Savvy marketers should snap up Mediate, 45, and have golf’s new everyman pitch their products to the Baby Boomer generation.

Woods won the tournament, but other big winners included Mediate, the sport of golf, San Diego as a vacation destination and Torrey Pines as a new member of the ‘golf courses you have to play’ list. All in all, a pretty good week’s work for all concerned.