Morgan Hill – With an ever-dwindling student body at Live Oak
High School and a much lower participant turnout from years past,
the water polo program is forced to practice the girls and boys
teams together, something it hasn’t done in 29 years of
existence.
Morgan Hill – With an ever-dwindling student body at Live Oak High School and a much lower participant turnout from years past, the water polo program is forced to practice the girls and boys teams together, something it hasn’t done in 29 years of existence.
“This is the first time I’ve done this in my whole coaching career,” head boys coach Mack Haines said. “We’re just adapting to what’s happened to the school population. I’m looking at it as an opportunity to see who it helps and who it hurts.”
Already facing numerous waves of adversity, the Live Oak water polo program is charging head on into a rebuilding season.
Last week, for example, the Live Oak team was forced to practice at Sobrato High School because the Live Oak pool didn’t have heat, and the swimming facility didn’t have electricity.
“The district has made efforts to get us electricity and jump-start the heat,” Haines said. “We’re going to get new lights and a beautiful new locker room, but in the meantime things are difficult.”
All of last year’s leading scorers have graduated and two of last year’s stud juniors will not be returning.
“Our all-league goalie last season, Andrew Reimer, has a chronic knee injury that’s going to keep him out of the pool for the entire season, and definitely our fastest sprinter and valuable starter from last year has decided to concentrate on swimming so we’ve already faced our share of adversity … by November we’re going to be a competitive team.”
There has been a strong tradition at Live Oak of doing very well in aquatics, and on the boys’ side Live Oak has perennially been Central Coast Section Champions and top-10 finishers.
Haines has been coaching water polo at Live Oak for 22 years, leading the boys’ team to 17 league championships, and is looking forward to the challenge of developing a young team.
“We’re going to be playing a lot of young players and we’ll probably get pounded a little bit but hopefully we learn from that and we get better in the end.”
Last year Live Oak finished 17-7 overall taking second place in the Blossom Valley Athletic League behind Leland, who beat Live Oak in a sudden-death overtime win.
“Because of a bylaw mishap we ended up getting second .. but it was a typo, we actually won the league and won the league tournament,” Haines said. “We ended up losing to Leland in sudden-death overtime in league, and then in the league championships we came back and beat them.”
For 20 years it had always been: we play a single round robin playoff, and that seeds you for the championship tournament, Haines said.
“Whoever wins the tournament becomes the undisputed champion … any other year than last year we won the league.” he said. “That would be one that got away, so we have some incentive to play well against Leland.”
Haines said he is looking for strong leadership from senior and four-year starter Sam Cretcher, as he will be starting a couple of freshman and a couple of sophomores.
Haines will start freshman Danny Robinson, who was an honorable mention all-American on the National Junior Olympic swimming under-14 team, as goalie.
Other players to watch include juniors Cody Colemen and Steven Rick, strong swimmers who will provide speed.
“They’re gonna learn under fire,” Haines said. “We hope to carry on the tradition at Live Oak, which is to honor the game, play smart, and try to get better every time we play … we don’t really worry about the wins and losses.”
Live Oak Girls Water Polo
With Kevin Paulsen taking over as head coach, the girls program seems to be in good hands.
Paulsen, a 1998 Live Oak graduate, was an all-American goalie on the 1997 CCS championship water polo team, and like Haines will rely on mostly freshman and sophomores to fill his roster.
Like the boys’ team, all of last year’s leading scorers graduated, and Paulsen will look to his three seniors for leadership.
“Jessica Poon, a senior, will be a big time player,” Paulsen said. “She’s not necessarily a scorer, but she’s fast and good for a lot of assists.”
Senior Shelby Carillo, who was starting goalie and MVP of the JV team last year, will be the anchor of the Live Oak defense.
“She’s worked hard all through the summer and she’s probably gonna be our brain when it comes down to it,” Paulsen said. “She’s got a lot of experience with the defense.”
With a lot of swimmers the girls’ team has a lot of speed, and will probably benefit from practicing with the boys.
“Definitely a building year, but we have a lot to look forward to and a lot to learn,” Paulsen said.
Stepping out of the box with their practice techniques, the coaching staff of the Live Oak water polo program is hoping for the best, but realistic about their expectations.
“There are a lot of young players in both the boys and girls programs, and there’s going to be a lot of teaching and learning and we’re gonna take some lumps,” Haines said.
“We’re young and not real experienced, and yet we’re looking forward to the challenge.
There’s a lot to be thankful for and there’s a lot that we’ve already had to deal with … were just hoping to look for the positives.”
